Hubapps (http://hubapps.com) has released Vault 1.1 (http://hubapps.com/vault) for Mac OS X, a solution for creating and using encrypted file storage vaults on the Mac. It requires Mac OS X 10.6 or higher and costs US$9.99. It’s available exclusively through the Mac App Store in the Utilities category.

It sports an animated, point-and-click interface and a set of built-in actions for files contained in vaults. Vault lets anyone create, access, and safeguard “encrypted disk images” — basically secure folders on the Mac.

You create a new vault with a password, and then it can be opened and closed at leisure. Files dropped in the vault will be visible while the vault is open — and not visible when the vault is closed. Vaults are portable and can be opened with (and only with) the correct password, and are protected with 256-bit AES encryption (superior to Blowfish).