About TrustWord

In 2016 I got my first slack message from a colleague saying they were ready to give me the password to the site I'd asked about.

Except I hadn't emailed my colleague! Someone had signed up for a gmail address and used public information to try to gain acccess to various systems. Not the most sophisticated attack, but it almost worked.

We beefed up our training and internal awareness, and even began randomly testing our team becuase over the years this has happened more and more frequently. In late 2024, I watched a wave of AI voice cloning scams hit the news, including parents who thought their daughter had been kidnapped. They got her voice from instagram, and as someone who regularly speaks in public, I found it unnerving just how easy voice cloning had become.

I also travel frequently and have family living all over the world. Often I'm unreachable due to timezone differences. All of these factors increase risk. In short, I wanted to find a solution to this problem!

Experts agree that you should set up a secret code word with your family. But nobody actually does. And even if you do, a static word can be overheard, forgotten, or guessed. Plus, I needed code words with multiple people in my life, including colleagues!

I wanted something better. TrustWord generates a unique, rotating passphrase for every pair of contacts, derived using standard cryptography principles. You don't have to remember anything. You just open the app, listen for their word, tell them yours, and you know who you're really talking to.

I built TrustWord because I needed a solution. It was also a fun project! Now you can use it too.