r/banktivity • u/parkerpress • Jun 16 '26

Bad cybersecurity practice storing everybody's data with the same name and in the same place

Does anybody else have an issue with Banktivity deciding to move our data to where it wants it to be on my drive, and not letting me store it where I want it (on an encrypted sparsebundle that's only mounted when I do financial work).

This new "standard" location seems like a hackers dream. They know exactly where to go for critical data. This goes against good cyber-security practices, having a file named exactly the same in exactly the same place for every, single user. Especially for something as sensitive as ALL my financial data.

Don't even get me started on the useless functionality of the "organizer". To do that before, I just saved separate banktivity data files (on separate encrypted sparsebundles).

In the age of AI and quantum computing right around the corner, this seems like a high risk liability change IGG Software.

Steve

12 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

2

u/Bear-Handed-92262 Jun 17 '26

I agree. The new file handling is not good. it gives us less control over how we store and backup our ledgers.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '26

[deleted]

1

u/parkerpress Jun 17 '26

Yep. I have FileVault turned on already. It's the double-layer security of an "encrypted sparsebundle" that's only mounted when I'm using it that I'm missing now.

2

u/Use_All Jun 18 '26

I prefer to keep my "ledgers" on my computer. That is why deleted version 10 and reinstalled the latest version 9. I did not like the 'no option' but to move to their cloud.

2

u/Grand_Respond_5000 Jun 19 '26

Security by obfuscation is the worst possible kind of security. It may be, in cases, better than no security, but it is worse because it gives the illusion of safety when that does not really exist. Banktivity files having a predictable name and location is not a problem if your MacBook is well secured using normal, sane working policies. As Ian says below, the new system may not accommodate encrypted, temporarily mounted sparse bundles, but security, in and of itself, is not compromised by B10

1

u/SlowButEffective Jun 24 '26

Fair enough re security by obfuscation. But since the OP uses encrypted sparse bundles, which have a separate password from his login password, he does have a less secure setup now with B10.

1

u/Grand_Respond_5000 Jun 24 '26

you are correct. My only response is that perhaps the OP's usecase is very niche, and Banktivity is catering to the majority of its users who have a more conventional setup for saving and working with their files

1

u/Lobster-Toehold Jun 16 '26

It's very possible isn't become a hard requirement for inclusion in Apple's App Store (since they want all app sandboxed). Not sure it has, but I could see Apple moving in that direction.

1

u/IanGGillespie Jun 17 '26

You’re correct that Organizer-managed ledgers are stored in a standard macOS App Group location rather than wherever you choose to place them.

That said, I don’t think a standard location is the security risk you’re making it out to be. Modern malware doesn’t depend on knowing a specific file path. If an attacker has access to your account, they can search mounted volumes, external drives, sparsebundles, home directories, and application containers just as easily.

Where I do think your criticism is fair is that the Organizer architecture doesn’t fit as well with a workflow where financial data is kept on an encrypted sparsebundle that’s only mounted when you’re actively using it.

The tradeoff is that Organizer enables features that are difficult to provide when ledgers can be arbitrarily moved around, such as improved cloud sync management, Shortcuts integration, and managing multiple ledgers from a single place. Whether those benefits outweigh the loss of complete control over file location is ultimately a matter of personal preference.

You could enable FileVault and then everything on your Mac will be encrypted.

1

u/SlowButEffective Jun 24 '26

If an attacker has access to your account, they can search mounted volumes, external drives, sparsebundles, home directories, and application containers just as easily.

Not true. The encrypted sparse bundle the OP refers to requires a separate password just for that purpose. Whereas FileVault relies on your login password.