password

schallquant

Hello,
I would like to have a password request before it is possible to open my zotero library. Is it possible to integrate this feature into zotero?
Thanks
Daniele

adamsmith

what's the goal/use case here?

It might (!) be possible to do something that requires a password, but in all honesty that'd be security theater: your database would still be on your computer in unencrypted form and anyone with physical access to the computer could copy it and then open it in their version of Zotero anywhere. That's also the reason Firefox never implemented this.

schallquant

Can't zotero encrypt the zotero folder to make both sides secure?

adamsmith

why don't you start with my first question? What's the goal here? If you want to secure data on your computer, it's a much better idea to do so at the harddisk/account level rather than trying to lock down individual applications.

schallquant

It's not! If I secure on the account level, I would need to make an account for guests which is not enough to hinder guests from copying files from the zotero folder. I could not leave my computer without locking it down if I am on my account. Everybody who uses my computer and uses firefox could use zotero and copy everything I saved and I wrote.

Why do you have a password for the online version of zotero? Leave it open, if you think you can leave your knowledge to everybody and nobody would misuse it!!!

I have sensible data in my zotero and do not want that everybody who might use my internet/firefox can get these information! Second, if my computer gets stolen it is like having two barriers, first they would need to crack the windows password, second they would need to crack the zotero password...

What's the problem in locking down an individual application which has tons of personal data in it (chronic, passwords, ...) and in my case sensible data and knowledge which I cannot leave open to everybody? Do you really think I am the only one who has sensible data in zotero which deserves protection?
For a lot persons it is a big part of their work which they save in zotero!!!!
You really think this does not deserve protection?

dstillman

Almost no software does what you're asking for, and for good reason — cryptography should be left to cryptographers. This should be handled either at the system level with full-disk encryption (with a proper guest account that can only access the internet, as on macOS) or with software that creates encrypted volumes on your disk, which you can use with any software containing sensitive data. It doesn't make sense for individual programs (other than some highly specialized ones, like password managers) to implement custom encryption.

Presumably your browsing history is also sensitive, but there's nothing preventing people you let use your computer from accessing that.

If you don't want people accessing your private data, don't give them non-guest access to your computer.

DWL-SDCA

Not setting up a guest account means that other users could do worse damage than copying files. Malicious users could delete the files even if the files are encripted. A system-level solution is the only safe and secure way to solve this kind of problem. You said that you have protected your system with a password as a safety measure against your computer being stolen. Are you allowing other users to log-in with that password--your password? I presume you already have 2 accounts the Administrator account and your own individual account with some restrictions on privleges. If not, any user logged-in with your password could already do almost anything.

LiborA

> Do you really think I am the only one who has sensible data in zotero which deserves protection?
No, you are not alone. But, if somebody cracks my PC and windows password, then there is tonnes of more sensitive data. I agree with Dan Stillman, protection of sensitive data should be based on system tools, not on an application level.