Quick Start

The Quick Start section gives you a quick and simple view of the application Interface. A glance through this section will give you a fair amount of training on the usage of Cynapse InfoCryptor v1.50. Click on the window area to get help on the functioning of the respective window.

Managing User Accounts:

In order to secure your data through Cynapse InfoCryptor v1.50 you will primarily need to create a user account. Access, Update and management of any information within this account are permitted only after logging into the account. The application supports multiple users, which means that all the users of one computer can use InfoCryptor to store their information separately.

Managing a user account involves

• Creating a user account
• Accessing an account
• Deleting a user account

Creating a user account:
Launch the InfoCryptor application and Click the "Create New User …" button

Fill in the "User ID" and "Master Password". The "Confirm Master password" text should match the text in the "Master Password". This is confirmation of the Master password. This Master password is required each time you need to login into the account.

Click the "Next" button.

The Hint Question and Answer enables a user to retrieve his or her password if forgotten or misplaced. This feature can be disabled if you uncheck the "Enable Hint Question Support" .

Click the "Next" button.

The user can personalize his or her account to do the following.

• Display his or her User ID in the Login list on starting the application.
  
• Hide the password fields within each record
  
• Always confirm before removing a record
  
• Always confirm before saving a record. Turning this feature off will automatically save any changes made to your record.
  
• Specify the default directory for import, export, backup and restore operations.
  
• The user can specify the default view for a record as well as the criteria by which the records are sorted

Click on the "Next" button

Finally the user can also specify his default settings for the editor within the application. The Default Font, Font Size, Font Color and Font Style can be specified.
Click on "Finish" to activate your account.

In the course of creating a new user:
Click "Back" button to move to the previous page in the wizard.
Click "Next" button to move to the next page in the wizard.
Click "Cancel" button to abort the creation of a new user.
Click "Finish" button to activate the new user account.

Accessing an account:
Once you have a User ID and the Master Password, you can fill in the User ID and the Master Password in the Login page. Click the "login" button to access the account.

Note: If you have chosen NOT to "Display User ID in Login List" then the above list will not display your User ID. You will have to type the User ID.

Deleting a user account:
A user can delete an account only from within the account. In order to delete a user account, open the Options dialog under Tools menu. In the User ID Settings tab Click on the "Delete User ID" button to delete a user account.
Warning!: An account once deleted cannot be recovered unless you have taken a backup of your account. To learn how to take a backup, Click here.

The User Interface

InfoCryptor implements a customized window appearance that gives the interface a pleasant, user-friendly appearance.
The main Interface implements two modes to enable easy usage of the application. The two modes implemented are the "Normal Layout" and "Detail Layout".

Switching between the two modes is achieved by clicking on the "Normal Layout" or "Detail Layout" in the View menu.
You may also switch between the modes by clicking on the Maximize / Minimize button, located at the top right-hand corner of the document editor..

Normal Layout
The Normal Layout is the preferred mode when browsing through the various records within the application or when organizing your records. This layout displays the folders on the left in an easy to browse tree view. The records within a folder are displayed in the List View just above the record details.

Detail Layout
The Detail Layout is the preferred mode when editing a particular record. It gives a wider view of the record making it easier to edit a record. This view still supports browsing records within the current folder. Two buttons "Next" and "Previous" are provided to move to the next or previous record respectively.

The two modes have been designed keeping in mind the various kinds of usage requirements of the user. The detailed layout gives most of the screen area for the document editor, enabling users to format and edit large documents easily.

Retrieving your Master Password:

The "Retrieving Your Master Password" feature is enabled only if you have enabled Hint Support when creating a user account or when changing options. This feature retrieves your Master Password if you have somehow lost or misplaced the Master Password. This feature is only available at the time of Login. You will need to select the User ID for which the password is to be retrieved.

If the feature is not enabled for a particular user a message box is displayed.

If the feature is enabled the following dialog is displayed.

Fill in the Hint Answer and click on the "Get Password" button. This will retrieve your password if the Hint Answer provided is correct. If the Hint Answer is incorrect a maximum of 10 tries to fill the correct answer is permitted until a successful Login. This is a measure to prevent brute force attacks on retrieving the password by unwanted users.

The Hint Answer provided should preferably be difficult to guess to prevent Social Engineering hacks.

Managing Records and Folders

In order to easily manage your records and folders the preferred mode is the normal layout. The application provides two default folders. The "InfoCryptor Folders" and "Search Results". These folders cannot be deleted or renamed. Addition of folders will be to the root folder "InfoCryptor Folders". The "Search Results" folder displays your previous search results.

Managing Folders primarily involves

• New Folder
• Remove Folder
  
• Rename Folder

New Folder
A new folder is always added to the root folder "InfoCryptor Folders". InfoCryptor maintains a single level of folders to logically maintain your records. You can add a new folder by clicking on New Folder in the File menu.

Remove Folder
In order to remove a folder you will need to select the appropriate folder and then click on Remove Folder in the File menu. If the folder contains any records you will receive a confirmation to delete all records in the folder.

Rename Folder
Renaming a folder requires you to select the appropriate folder and click Rename Folder in the File Menu. Folder names have to be unique.

Managing Records primarily involves

• New Record
  
• Remove Record
  
• Rename Record
  
• Save Record

New Record
A new record is added to the current folder on clicking the New Record in the File Menu. You can only add new records to user created folders. This means adding a record to the root "InfoCryptor Folders" or "Search Results" is not permitted.

Remove Record
You can remove a single or multiple records from the application. You will need to select the records to be deleted and click on Remove Record(s) in the File Menu. Deleting a record will bring up a confirmation if you have set the option to "Confirm removal of records" in the Options dialog.

Rename Record
Renaming a record requires you to select an appropriate record and click Rename Record in the File Menu. Record names within a folder have to be unique.

Save Record
After editing a record click on the "Save changes" button to save your changes. Your save will be confirmed if you have set the option to "Always confirm before saving record" in the Options dialog. You will not be permitted to perform any operation unless you have saved the record. An attempt to perform an operation will bring up the save dialog if you have set the "Always confirm before saving record" option or else the application will automatically save the changes which cannot be undone at a later stage.

Organizing your records
Organizing your records involve maintaining your records in logically structured folders. It involves copying and moving records from one folder to another.

Organizing your records primarily involves

• Cut
  
• Copy
• Paste

Cut
You can cut records from a folder by selecting the appropriate records and clicking Cut Records from the Edit Menu.
A Cut and Paste operation in the same folder will prompt an error.

Copy
You can copy records from a folder by clicking Copy Records from the Edit Menu. An attempt to paste the records in the same folder will create a copy of the records.

Paste
A paste operation pastes records that result from a copy or cut operation. If a record with the same name exists in the destination folder the application displays a dialog to confirm replacing or preserving the old record.

The application maintains an internal Clipboard for copy and paste that can be cleared by clicking the "Clear Clipboard" in the Edit Menu.

Organizing your records

Organizing your records involve maintaining your records in logically structured folders. It involves copying and moving records from one folder to another.

Organizing your records primarily involves

• Cut
  
• Copy
• Paste

Cut
You can cut records from a folder by selecting the appropriate records and clicking Cut Records from the Edit Menu.
A Cut and Paste operation in the same folder will prompt an error.

Copy
You can copy records from a folder by clicking Copy Records from the Edit Menu. An attempt to paste the records in the same folder will create a copy of the records.

Paste
A paste operation pastes records that result from a copy or cut operation. If a record with the same name exists in the destination folder the application displays a dialog to confirm replacing or preserving the old record.

The application maintains an internal Clipboard for copy and paste that can be cleared by clicking the "Clear Clipboard" in the Edit Menu.

   

There are various modes available to maintain your records. You can Cut, Copy and Paste records using the main menu or the popup menu on right click in the folder view or the record view. The Drag-Drop feature is another method to organize your records. You can drag records from a folder to another. Keyboard modifiers like Ctrl and Shift can be used to control this operation to cut or copy records from a folder to another.

Advanced Search

Advanced Search
InfoCryptor incorporates a highly customizable search algorithm. The search can be a simple search for a record name or a search for text within fields in a record. The search can be further customized to retrieve very specific results. You can search for text within certain fields of a record or a combination of text within particular fields.

The three different search modes are listed below

• Search for Record
  
• Search for text in ALL fields
  
• Search for text in SPECIFIC fields

Search for Record:
This will search for records with the name(s) containing the text specified in the text box.

Fill in the text in the textbox (as shown above) and click the "Search" button.

Search for text in ALL fields:
This will search for records containing the specified text in any of the fields of a record.

Fill in the text in the textbox (as shown above) and click the "Search" button.

Search for text in SPECIFIC fields:
This will search specified texts in specific fields. You can give simultaneous entries for multiple fields.
Click on the check boxes to specify a particular search field criterion.
Match any criteria will search for either of the specified criteria and match all criteria will search for records that satisfy all the specified search criteria.

The search algorithm has been designed for both novice and power users. The highly advanced search makes it easy to search on any possible criteria.

Exporting records to a file:

Transfer and storage of information in a secure manner is possible by exporting the required information into an InfoCryptor (*.icf) file. You can either export selected records or export all records in a folder. The file can only be accessed from within InfoCryptor. The file will also be password protected adding an additional level of security to the information.

In order to export selected records you will need to select the records to export. Click on "Export Selected Records" in the File Menu to bring up the Export dialog. Click on "Export all records in Folder" to export all records in the current folder.

The dialog displays the number of records that will be exported and the folder from which the records are being exported. Fill in the name of the file and the path in the "InfoCryptor File:" textbox. You may also browse to select a file or path by clicking the "Browse" button. Fill in the password to lock the file. You will require this password to import the file. Click the "Export" button to begin the export operation.

Your exported records are now secure in an InfoCryptor (*.icf) file and can be transferred securely.

Importing records from a file:

Importing records from an InfoCryptor (*.icf) file is possible by clicking on "Import" on the File Menu. This brings up an Import dialog. Specify the file source and the password to unlock the file. You can also specify the folder in which to import the records from this file. Click on the "Create New Folder" button to create a new folder.

Clicking on Import will retrieve the records from this file to the folder specified provided the password specified to unlock the file is correct.

Customizing the user account settings:

In order to customize the user account settings click on "Options" in the Tools Menu. The user can customize his account settings to set various defaults like the Document Editor defaults, General Setting defaults, and Password Generator defaults. The user can also change his hint question and answer or his Master Password. There are various tabs in the options Dialog.

1. User ID and Password Settings:
The user can change his Master Password in this Tab. The user can also destroy his or her account by clicking the "Delete User ID" button.

2. Hint Question and Answer:
The Hint Question and Answer can be changed or disabled for the "Retrieval of the Master Password".

3. User Environment Settings:
The user can set general environment settings in this tab.
The user can choose to

• Display or hide his User ID in the Login List when launching the application.
  
• Display or hide the password text within a record.
  
• Confirm before removing a record
  
• Confirm before saving a record

The user can customize the application view by specifying the

• Default view for the record view
  
• The criteria to sort the records
  
• Default directory to open during an import, export, restore or backup operation

The user can also view the log file that maintains the sequence of operations within the account.

4. User Document Settings:
The Default settings for the Document Editor can be specified here.
Default Settings such as

• Font Name
  
• Font Size
  
• Font Colour
  
• Font Style

5. Password Generator Default Settings
The user can choose to automatically generate passwords on creating a new record.
The Default settings for the password can be specified

• Password length
  
• Password case
  
• Special cases like alphabetic, numeric or special characters in password
  
• Characters to omit
  
• Number of special characters in a password.

Viewing the Log File:

A Non tamper-able encrypted logging system maintains the sequence of events occurring within the account, to monitor and cross reference every action performed in the account. This log file can only be viewed from within the account. The log file can be viewed either by clicking Log File in the View Menu or clicking the "View Log File" button in the General settings Tab in Options Dialog.

   

A glance through the Log File will give you a fair idea of the chronological sequence of activities within the account.

Backup:

The user can regularly backup his or her account. A backup will be saved in an InfoCryptor Backup (*.ibk) file. The backup file creates a backup of the entire account including logical structure of the folders and the records. The backup also maintains the default user settings specified in the Options dialog in the Tools Menu.In order to initiate a Backup click "Backup" in the File Menu

Specify the file name and location of the InfoCryptor Backup File (*.ibk) and the password to lock the file.
Click on Start Backup to initiate the backup operation. After successful completion of the backup operation a report is created which displays statistics regarding the backup operation.

The report generated displays time of backup, duration of backup and count of folders and records during backup

Password Generator:

The Password Generator is an additional utility integrated within InfoCryptor, which generates customisable random passwords. The number of characters in the password, the case of the password, the numeric mix or special character mix can be set as per user requirements. The passwords generated are highly secure to use as they do not consist of dictionary words, which are easier to crack in brute force attacks.

This utility saves the user from coining different passwords for various accounts and services. Now that the user has a secure method of storing these passwords, the user need not worry about having passwords which are easy to remember and in turn are susceptible to Social Engineering Hacks.