Accepting the invitation to create your Safe4 User Account

You have been invited to become a user of Safe4 either within a provider account, or within one of the vaults in Safe4. The invitation will be issued by the organisation that is providing the Safe4 service. This short guide is intended to help you to set up your account and gain access to the system.

Your invitation to become a Safe4 user will look similar to this:

Note that the invitation uses branding for Alpha and Omega. This is not a real organisation, but is the name of the provider that has issued the invitation, and will be used throughout this guide and the help pages that you will be able to access when you have set up your Safe4 account.

Responding to an invitation

By clicking “Click Here to accept this invitation”, a Create Account page will be presented as follows:

This page offers the options of creating a new account or using an existing account. If you are a new user you should complete the panel on the left-hand side of this page. If you already have an account in Safe4 and are being invited to register for another provider account or vault, the right-hand side of the page should be completed.

Creating a new account

The left-hand part of the page should be completed as follows:

Username:  Your username must be unique and contain at least 8 characters; it is important to remember it as it is never displayed within Safe4 for security reasons. If your username is forgotten, it can be recovered by emailing [email protected]. Most browsers will allow the username and password to be saved; this should only be done if the computer being used to access Safe4 is always under the total control of the authorised user. For subsequent logins, the username is not case sensitive.

Password:  The Safe4 password must contain between 10 and 150 characters, and can include any combination of alpha and numeric characters and symbols, as well as spaces. Passwords are case sensitive. You are required to choose a password or phrase that contains a combination of upper and lower case alpha characters, as well as numeric digits and special characters such as punctuation marks. Following the advice of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, we recommend using a longer pass-phrase that may be a favourite saying, or a line from a poem or song. Such phrases are much more difficult for unauthorised parties to crack, and are easier to remember.

Safe4 applies a Password Strength Checker, which will require you to select a password that is sufficiently strong to reduce the risk of unauthorised intrusion. As each of the password criteria are satisfied, the list of requirements will be updated. When all of the requirements have been met, the status bar will turn green.

If you have chosen a password that has already been compromised on another website, the system will inform you. You can still proceed with the chosen password if you wish, although this may be less secure than using a unique one.

The password will then need to be entered a second time.

If you already have a Safe4 user account

Your username and password should be entered into the form on the right-hand part of the Invitation page. There is no limit to the number of vaults that a user can access within Safe4.  Please note that when entering your username and password on this screen, they are BOTH case sensitive.  The username entry on the normal Safe4 login page is not case sensitive; the Safe4 password is always case sensitive. You will then be presented with the Safe4 login screen.

Logging In and Out

When accessing the Safe4 system, enter the following URL into your web browser:

https://www.safe-4.com/login

This will bring up the standard login screen:

Please note that your provider may have given you an alternative URL, which contains the branding specific to that provider. This will bring up the same screen, but with different branding:

If you have forgotten your password, the “Forgot your Password?” link on the login page can be used. The system will send you a temporary password, and will prompt you to set up a new permanent password when you login.

If an incorrect password is entered more than 5 times, you will be locked out of the system and will have to restart your browser before you can login. If you are unsure of your password, it will be safest to request a new one from the system.

2-Factor Authentication (2FA)

If the provider of the Safe4 service has chosen to apply 2-Factor Authentication, you will be required to enter your mobile phone number so that you can be sent a code by text when you log in. Once you have registered this number against your user account, your device will receive a text message for subsequent logins. Each text code has a life of 24 hours, so it will only need to be entered once a day.

To log out of Safe4, click your username in the dark band at the top right of the screen, and select the Logout option.

Confirmation of your User Account

When your account has been set up, Safe4 will send you an email confirming the details for logging in whenever you need to enter the system subsequently. As stated in the email, it is recommended that you save the URL in your browser as a favourite:

The Home Page and Vaults

After logging in, the first page displayed is known as your “Home Page”. More information on the various elements displayed on this page is given in the Home Page section in the User Guide. This will be available to you from within the Safe4 system.