With Cerby, you can share your items with external users through a public link.
This feature enables you and your company to collaborate with external parties, such as contractors, agencies, partners, vendors, and clients who don’t have a Cerby account. By sharing a link with them, you can grant temporary access to the account and secret details.
For security, you can set the following controls on the link:
Expiration
One-time access
Only users with the Owner role on the accounts or secrets are able to use this feature through the Cerby web app. Currently, you can share accounts with or without two-factor authentication (2FA) turned on and secrets without attachments.
This article describes how to share items with external users via a public link.
IMPORTANT: Before using this feature, make sure you read the Security considerations section because it describes how this feature works, the security considerations, and usage recommendations.
Security considerations
Although the item details are encrypted and protected by Cerby, sharing public links involves some risks that you must keep in mind, because you are granting direct access to sensitive corporate information without requiring external users any authentication from an identity provider (IdP).
Cerby recommends that you adhere to the following security best practices:
Share accounts and secrets only with people you trust and who follow security best practices.
Make sure to set controls on the link expiration time and access when generating the link.
Rotate the password manually for your accounts as soon as the link expires or if you detect suspicious activity or misuse.
Use secure, encrypted, and direct communication channels when sharing the link, for example:
Encrypted messaging apps: Apps like Keybase, Signal, or Telegram offer end-to-end encryption to protect and delete your messages.
Encrypted video conference apps: Apps like Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or Zoom offer end-to-end encryption for video calls.
Encrypted email service providers: Email service providers like ProtonMail, Tutanota, and Mailbox.org offer end-to-end encryption for your messages. Emails are not inherently encrypted solutions; therefore, Cerby recommends asking your IT or Security department about the protection level of your corporate email.
IMPORTANT: Avoid using public and insecure channels, such as social media posts, regular emails, public Wi-Fi networks, shared spreadsheets and documents, and SMS messages.
Avoid clicking links if they come from untrusted or suspicious sources.
By using this feature, users assume responsibility for the security of shared information. Cerby is not liable for any unauthorized access resulting from improper handling of the link.
Share items via a public link
To share items with external users via a public link, you must complete the following steps:
Log in to your corresponding Cerby workspace.
Go to the view that corresponds with the item you want to share:
To share an account
Select the All accounts option from the left navigation drawer. The All accounts view is displayed.
To share a secret
Select the Secrets option from the left navigation drawer. The Secrets view is displayed.
Click the Share icon of the corresponding account or secret card. A drop-down list is displayed.
Select the Share via public link option. The link share dialog box is displayed, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Link share dialog box
Set the following controls on the link:
Expiration time
Click the This link expires in drop-down list to expand it.
Select the option that corresponds with the link expiration time you want:
1 hour
12 hours
1 day
5 days
One-time access
Select the Can be viewed only 1 time option if you want the link to be inaccessible after the item is viewed by anyone with the link.
Click the Get link button. The Confirm your identity to get the link dialog box is displayed, and a push notification is sent to your Cerby mobile app.
Click the It’s me! button in the Confirmation Request screen of your Cerby mobile app. A dialog box with the link and a QR code is displayed in the Cerby web app.
Copy the link or take a screenshot of the QR code, and share it via the secure communication channel of your choice.
Click the Done button. The dialog box closes.
Now you are done.
View the item shared with you via a public link
To view the details of the item shared with you via a public link, you must complete the following steps depending on the item type:
Account
Open the link that was shared with you or scan the QR code using your mobile phone. The A shared item is waiting for you page or screen is displayed.
Click the View shared item button. A page or screen is displayed with the account details, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Account details page of the public link
Use the corresponding Copy icon of the Username and Password fields to copy the content to the clipboard and paste it in the login page or screen of the app.
Set up your authenticator app if 2FA is turned on for the account by performing the following actions:
NOTE: With an authenticator app installed on your mobile phone, you can retrieve the verification codes you need to log in to the account. Some examples are Google Authenticator, Okta Verify, Microsoft Authenticator, Duo Mobile, or Authy.
Open the authenticator app on your mobile phone.
Follow the instructions to add an account by scanning the QR code. The account is added to the authenticator app, and a time-based verification code is generated.
NOTE: If you cannot scan the QR code, copy the 2FA key provided in the account details page and follow the instructions to add an account to your authenticator app by entering a key manually.
Secret
Open the link that was shared with you or scan the QR code using your mobile phone. The A shared item is waiting for you page or screen is displayed.
Click the View shared item button. A page or screen is displayed with the secret details.
Click the Copy icon to copy the body of the secret to the clipboard.