How we protect your logins

Pinrates keeps your state portal logins so returns can be filed and the right portal is one click away. Here is how they are stored, who can open them, and what that does and doesn't protect against.

• Passwords are encrypted before they're saved. Each password, sign-in code and note is encrypted with AES-256-GCM. The readable text never sits in our database.
• The key isn't kept in our database. It lives only on our servers, apart from the data. A copy of the database, a backup, or a leaked database key gives up nothing but scrambled text.
• Each login is locked to your account. An encrypted login copied into another account won't open.
• Every opening is recorded, and you can see the record. When a person, or our filing system, opens a login, a record of who opened it and when is written in the same step that hands it over, so a login can't be opened without leaving that trace. The records can't be edited or deleted, by anyone, including us. You see them on your logins page.
• Who can open a login. Your own team, the compliance firm you've connected to your account, and Pinrates staff. When you remove a firm's access to your account, its access to your logins ends at the same moment.
• Usernames are shown; passwords are not. Like a password manager, the list shows each username so you can tell logins apart. A password stays hidden until someone chooses to open it.
• The key can be replaced, and has been. Keys are versioned so we can replace one without taking logins offline. We replaced ours in October 2026.

What this doesn't protect against

Someone who had both our database and the key on our servers could read the logins. We accept that because Pinrates has to sign in to state systems to file for you without a person typing a passphrase each time. It's the reason every opening is recorded, and the reason you can see that record.