Every so often a situation or use-case arises that requires you to share sensitive information such as:
- Login Information to a service, site, or server.
- Credentials/Password(s) to secure systems.
- Private URL’s and other Sensitive Data.
This type of information is intended to be private and secure at all times, sending any of this information over email, is insecure. While the process may seem redundant “So you’re telling me we need a password, to access a password?” in short, yes! In order to share this information, you can encrypt i.e. “salt” the information using a third-party service such as Saltify.io and share it securely!
How can I salt information I need to share securely?
1. Visit Saltify.io and click “Add Salt to Taste” as shown:
2. Salt your Information!
Enter the sensitive information into the “Your Secret” box:
Next, set the Expiration (this is actually a drop-down selection box, click to view your expiration options).
*Please Note: If you’re providing information to North Star for support-related purposes, set the “Expires In” option to seven (7) days.
For this information to be secure, we do need to slide the bubble to the right for the “Yes, I want to use an optional passphrase” and then a new box will appear for you to enter the password for this information, be sure to enter in a long and secure password then click “Share your Secret!”.
You’ll now be presented with the URL to view this information:
Click the “Copy” button to copy the URL to your clipboard.
3. Providing this information takes place in two parts (A then B):
3a. Provide ONLY the URL to the Secret in your reply, Example:
https://www.saltify.io/en/halophilic/d4443d68287daf0059a1a533b04a72b61b75829c3fbab505cb55aaaf0695c980/bb2e3099544f2b30dbeeb233250ae43c4d4bac713c242ef01edcc0c9a1a64b9c
3b. Provide the password you previously set for this information, in a completely separate (new) email to ensure the URL and password to access the information aren’t included within the same email, as that would defeat the purpose of this entire process.
*Some situations and use-cases may require a better understanding, or explanation of why you’re going through this process so it’s clearly understood, which is:
Transmitting secure information, in a safer manner!
Tip: Be sure to retain the information securely (locally) in case you need to re-salt the information in the event, it’s not accessed within the allotted time, and the link expires. Most information can be re-entered, however, some information may not be as easily recoverable and may need to be regenerated in the corresponding system, then re-salted and the new Salted URL and Password provided.