Why does F-Secure IDP make life so complicated for users?

etomcat

Dear All,

I don't understand how F-Secure Identity Protection works or at least it doesn't make any sense for me...

Let's assume a customer buys a 5-seat licence, because he/she has 5 devices (desktop, laptop, subnotebook, Apple smartphone, Android tablet). He installs FSC IDP on each device and uses the same subscription code to license them. Yet, passwords entered on one device still don't auto-sync to the others.

User has to generate one-time codes to sync pwds from desktop to laptop, from desktop to notebook, from laptop to notebook, from tablet to notebook, etc. Those one-time codes can only work if both devices are within the user's physical reach and turned on at the same time (which condition may even be impossible to fullfill, e.g. imagine two desktop PCs located at home and at the dacha, respectively...) Furthermore, the one-time codes apparently don't even have a lasting effect, they authorize just a single pwd sync event?!

But why do we pay for a subscription, as the above described procedure is even worse than keeping a USB pendrive with you all the time and exporting-importing pwds manually! (Except that FSC IDP on mobile OS doesn't support manual action, likely to force users buy subscription.)

Logically, pwd sync should automatically syncronize the data to a central repository, which is shared by all devices using the same licence key and the subscription fee shall pay for upkeep of such cloud infrastructure. F-Secure Corp. apparently doesn't want to do that (due to GDPR, scandinavian mindset or lack of manpower?) But couldn't you use blockchain or other advanced tech to solve the problem, because the current method is practically unusable?

Furthermore, why can't we tag passwords as belonging to Worklife / Private_life in FSC IDP? Thus when someone changes career or becomes unemployed, he/she could simply choose to delete all passwords tagged as Worklife and walk away quickly in a clear state, instead of spending a lot of time manually purging ex-work passwords through the GUI.

Thanks for your kind attention, Sincerely: Tamas Feher, Hungary.

Jaims

Hi @etomcat

Thank you for your feedback. Hopefully, I am able to address all the concerns that you have raised. 

F-Secure ID Protection, as opposed to the now obsolete F-Secure KEY, does not make use of activation code during the setup. It requires the registration of an account, just like F-Secure SAFE and TOTAL, and Log In during installation on each device. Hence you require purchase the exact number of seats for the number of devices you intend to cover. However, adding more licences at any point during the subscription is possible. 

As soon as you have setup F-Secure ID Protection on a new device, the next step is to synchronize your passwords across these devices via the Connect Device tab and this is only a one-time execution because subsequent addition of new passwords on your Vault will automatically sync to those existing devices. This means that you do not have to perform the sync again unless a reinstallation is carried out.

Since we have no way of decrypting any information that you have saved in the app and we cannot see any of your information at any stage, it's quite impossible to have your data stored in a central repository system. This is why the sync functionality has been designed to sync your passwords automatically by allowing these devices to communicate with one another, provided they have been synced at some point after the ID Protection installation.

F-Secure ID Protection is barely few months old and has undergone some stages of improvement since its release. We therefore kindly suggest you continue to provide us with more brilliant feedback such as the one mentioned about tags. Please remember to make use of our Feature Request board for such ideas so it can be seen by the relevant team.

Thank you.