To keep a copy of my old Apple KEYCHAIN
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@Pandatol: If you're referring to the actual macOS Keychain, this should help:
https://support.apple.com/kb/PH20122
But if you mean a 1Password vault like AgileKeychain or OPVault, you just need to make a copy of that file (actually a bundle/folder). Cheers! :)
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Thank you for your prompt reply but can you tell me how i can just export a copy of the macOs keychain to a memory stick so that if i need to I can refer to it in the future please?
i have heard that some malware can hack the macOs keychain if they should get access to my computer. So just leaving it where it is could be an unwanted risk.
Pandatol0 -
I think you may have some misunderstandings about the macOS Keychain, both local and iCloud.
The Keychain contains many types of items, most of which are created when you connect to various services or servers, or when the system performs certain internal activities. These are of no value to you, since worst case, they are regenerated as necessary (the Mac will ask you for your computer password to, say, connect to some service).
The items you do care about, would typically be any login passwords you stored in apps or services such as Safari, your Airport Express/Extreme, Time Machine, etc. But these passwords you should have stored already in 1Password, and if they are not, you should do so.
You certainly do not want to delete the various macOS keychains or their entries at random or in bulk. That would be a problem for your system, and would make normal operations a challenge.
If you have not already saved the key passwords in 1Password, the newly updated keychain converter to help you do this. Use the 1.10 version of the converter suite which is located in Testing Bits mentioned in the first post of the thread. See the README.pdf.
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@Pandatol: Thanks for clarifying, and to MrC for sharing that information. The only thing I have to add is that when you're talking about having malware on your computer, having it access the system Keychain will be relatively low on the list of concerns. At that point, someone else is in control of the machine, so they can simply collect information as you access it. The real risk of Keychain vulnerabilities is when apps you install can access each other's entries. Apple patches issues that are discovered, so make sure you update. But suffice to say that's just one more reason 1Password doesn't have an option to save the Master Password permanently, though it's something we're asked for fairly regularly. The problem of malware potentially accessing the Keychain is less sever than having malware in the first place. But we can stay safe by practicing good, skeptical security hygiene, and not installing unknown apps from untrusted sources. Stay safe out there!
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