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Introducing hushnote

This weekend I decided I wanted to fix my password problem. That is, I wanted my passwords secure and managed in the cloud.

Let me introduce hushnote, yet another host-proof, web-based password and secret information manager. I was inspired by the simplicity of Aaron Boodman's halfnote and Brett Cannon's Oplop. Combining the two felt natural.

Here is my suggested usage pattern for hushnote:
  • Think up a master password and enter it into the "Oplop password" box.
  • Think up a label (for instance, "hushnote", "foo", or "spam") for hushnote and enter it into the "Oplop label" box (which replaces the password box after entering your password). The Oplop algorithm will generate a new hushnote password for you based on the combination of your master password and hushnote label.
  • Copy the password into the "hushnote password" box and fetch your encrypted note.
  • Now, use the encrypted note to store your Oplop labels for other sites or any other secret information you want to keep track of.
Hushnote handles all hashing, encryption, and decryption locally in the browser. Your passwords, labels, and notes are never sent to the server unencrypted. Hushnote is served over SSL so you can be confident that it is actually hushnote you are connecting to and that it hasn't been modified in flight by any meanie-pants hackers.

The source code isn't complicated, but here's the highlight reel:
  • Your hushnote password is hashed to check if it matches the password used to encrypt the content stored on the server. This is sent along with the first AJAX call to retrieve your note.
  • Your hushnote password is then used to decrypt the content retrieved from the server.
  • Finally, your hushnote password is used to encrypt the note. Your encrypted content and password hash are sent to the server in the second AJAX call.
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