Applications providing online security have usually been welcomed with hesitation. How secure can your sensitive information be in the cloud?
With Myki, the cloud is no longer a concern.
Myki is a mobile application that allows you to securely store and manage passwords as well as sensitive information such as credit cards, government IDs, and secure notes. Myki does not store data in the cloud which is why your data remains stored in your possession. As someone who was concerned about my passwords and credit card information floating about in the cloud and saved in various places around the web, Myki presented an innovative space that ensured my security.
So if not the cloud, then where?
Myki securely stores your passwords and sensitive data offline, on your own smartphone. The Myki app acts as a vault that keeps an encrypted copy of your passwords and sensitive data. You unlock the vault with your fingerprint. Because your passwords are not stored in the cloud, hackers will be unable to access your accounts in case the Myki servers get compromised.
Myki does not only provide an autonomous security service, but it is also user-friendly.
The way the application works is that you pair your Myki app to any computer via the Myki browser extension; this step takes a few minutes to set up. It then creates an encrypted P2P link between the browser and the Myki app—basically a distinctively secure line of communication.
Think less ‘cellphone’, and more ‘two cans and a piece of string’.
It’s impenetrable and quite impressive. When the extension notices that you haven’t logged in yet or logged out, it sends a login request to your smartphone via a push notification.
And then the magic happens; as if compelled by the powers of Dumbledore, you approve the notification with your fingerprint which encrypts the password and sends it directly to the extension that decrypts it and injects it in the webpage. Voila! Or better yet, Alohomora!
But what distinguished Myki from other tech companies?
As previously mentioned, your passwords are never stored in the Myki servers in any shape or form. Instead, the Myki servers act as relay servers which means that they contain no sensitive data in case they get compromised—contrary to cloud-based password managers. From your standpoint, it’s very simple: every time you want to login on any device, approve the push notification that you receive on your smartphone, and you are in.
If you are anything like me, you’re prone to change your phone regularly. Does this little owl companion have to be reset when it is introduced to a new phone?
Myki gives you the option to generate a secure continuous backup of your accounts on any computer that you pair your Myki app with, which happens automatically when you make a change to your vault. This allows you to recover your data in case something happens to your phone. You can also create manual backups of Myki that will generate a ‘.myki’ file that you can store in any location that you deem secure. Myki is also working on adding a ‘backup with a friend’ feature that allows you to keep a secure backup of your passwords on a friend’s Myki app very much like a spare key. The friend would not be able to access your Myki vault unless you grant them access to it.
Another interesting feature in the app is what I like to call the Anti-Spy Shield; Myki just call it logging out remotely. If you walk away from your laptop, Myki can disconnect you from a computer that you are paired to which automatically logs you out from all the accounts that Myki logged you into on that computer. No more embarrassing Facebook statuses written by someone else.
Personally, this little green owl has also become my shopping companion—never judging, always helpful. Instead of having to grab my credit card,tap, and type in those super sensitive numbers every time I order a manousheh or a new pair of shoes, it’s owl and fingerprint for me now. Working in the same way as the password authenticator does, the credit card feature means my details are filled out and then disappear—no more saving credit card numbers.
With 81 accounts housed safely on my phone, my dependency is strong. As with Instagram and Whatsapp, I struggle to remember life before Myki. It’s secure and beyond convenient. It doesn’t even rely on Myki cloud infrastructure. All it relies on is a little green owl and my fingerprint.