How can I store credit card information securely on my computer?

Question

I want to store my credit card details on my Mac, but I know the security risks involved with just leaving it in a text file.

Is there an app for OS X that is able to encrypt data like this? I am aware of TrueCrypt, but that feels like more of a cludge.

Answer 1

The built-in app, Keychain Access, can do this in the Secure Notes category. The linked article was written for Mac OS 10.4, but still applies.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh1616.html

You can also create a small, read/write, encrypted DMG with Disk Utility and store your text file in there.

Additionally, 1Password is amazing, but also $40.

Answer 2

You can user KeePassX.

KeePassX saves many different information e.g. user names, passwords, urls, attachments and comments in one single database. For a better management user-defined titles and icons can be specified for each single entry. Furthermore the entries are sorted in groups, which are customizable as well. The integrated search function allows to search in a single group or the complete database.

The complete database is always encrypted either with AES (alias Rijndael) or Twofish encryption algorithm using a 256 bit key. Therefore the saved information can be considered as quite safe. KeePassX uses a database format that is compatible with KeePass Password Safe. This makes the use of that application even more favourable.

Answer 3

Mac OS X's built-in Keychain Access utility has the ability to store "secure notes".

/Applications/Utilities/Keychain Access.app

File > New Secure Note Item…

Answer 4

As mentioned keychain is a good tool to store passwords. When it comes to things like creditcards etc my absolute favorite app is 1 Password.

If you only want to store a creditcard it might be a bit overkill to get 1 password, but it has a lot of nice features.

• auto generate passwords and auto film it in on registration forms.
• works with safari and Firefox and can auto fill username and passwords for your sites.
• you can store items like db access, server access etc setup with all the unique info you need for each type.
• iPhone app that can sync via wifi or dropbox.

This is just a summary over the most important stuff. It's also a very polished app that's nice and easy to use.

Answer 5

While both build-in Keychain or 1Password do the job I suggest using Keypass or TrueCrypt. They are both cross-platform, as long as the datafile can be rescued you can access your crucial data from any system.