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Keychain Items

There are three types of keychain items: passwords, cryptographic keys, and digital certificates. Each type of keychain item has a unique set of data or attributes associated with it. In addition, there are attributes that are common to all keychain items, such as the item type, creation date, description, modification date, and comments.

Keychain item data is encrypted. A default keychain has a lock interval timer, which locks the keychain automatically after a period of time that you specify. This feature is useful for security reasons. Without a lock interval timer, a user might forget to lock the keychain before leaving the computer, and anyone else with access to that computer can potentially access the user's passwords. When a keychain is unlocked, the user's passwords are available to any application running on their machine.

Your application can use keychain item data to record and track passwords the user has chosen in your application.


© 2000 Apple Computer, Inc. (Last Updated 20 July 2000)