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Web-Based Private File Storage?
steve802 writes "Recently, someone died in our company, and word is getting around that the admins who were given access to his Outlook account have found personal things that are embarrassing at best (the rumor mill differs on what was found). No matter, it raises a question. I have personal stuff in Outlook folders that I would not want someone in IT to see if I suddenly dropped dead: emails to the wife, photos of the kids, that kind of thing. I also keep a journal at home that I save to a server; personal reflections that I never want anyone else to see, especially if I die. So I was thinking that some sort of web-based storage for files, individual emails, and perhaps even Outlook folders would be perfect. All my most private personal stuff in one place. I found CryptoHeaven, which seems to offer some of what I'm looking for — but it is pricey. I'm willing to pay, but something less than $400/year would be nice. Best would be a service with a dead-man's switch, so that if I don't access it in, say, three months, it auto-purges. Any thoughts?"
Dont use personal info on work systems. Often time anything in there is usually subject to scrutiny.
Web-Based Private is an oxymoron. Why does this have to be web-based?
It would be pretty trivial to set up a Linux distro with two hard drives, one with the simple operating system and the other an encrypted drive with a passphrase, and set up the OS to nuke the second drive if the current time is ever greater than three months from the last time the passphrase was successfully supplied.
Solution: Don't do personal stuff on your work account...
They can already read your emails..
I've got to ask the question, but... why?
I mean, if you don't want anybody to find this stuff when you're dead, why bother collecting it when you're alive?
And for the 'pictures' of the wife, what's wrong with a Truecrypt store?
When you die, your writings and works are the only thing left of you. They are the only way for someone to try to dig deeper into your mind and build up an understanding of your true character. A lot of crazy shit happens in a lifetime, someone may really appreciate you leaving a book of your reflections behind.
Any web service, just create a TrueCrypt container. As long as you sync the container between your computers regularly it shouldn't be an issue. I've been doing it this way for about 3 years now (I keep all of my important data there for when I'm on the road). Works perfectly fine with Windows and Linux.
"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
I'm kind of surprised I haven't seen any comments on the bigger issue - the IT folks entrusted with this data who let data leak (or at least rumors of the content). As a system admin - if you're at that level you're already not trustworthy enough to keep that postion and would probably be reassigned depending on the severity. Understandably if it's something illegal then it needs to be report it but even still - discretion is still required. It's no one else's damned business.
Compare this to your HR person - would you like them to spill your SSN randomly here and there? Just because the guy is dead doesn't mean his data requires less care.
Anywho - as far as technical solutions 1) don't put personal stuff on a work computer, 2) even some web space and an ftp account should be nearly sufficient if you just need a place to store files remotely that isn't easily accessible.
Which is what the two key "Plausible Deniability" feature is all about:
http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/?s=plausible-deniability
WinRAR? Turn over your geek card.
At least, use gpg to encrypt it and Dropbox to automate uploading/downloading. Bonus points for an automated encryption system (encfs mount point, for example).
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Portable TrueCrypt requires admin rights.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
photos of the kids
If you are afraid IT will see pictures of your kids, either you got ugly kids or you took the wrong kinda pictures.
THL phish sticks
>>>Mac OS X
False advertising. Ooops. It doesn't work with all of Mac OS 10.x - only the more recent versions.
It probably says it runs Windows, but doesn't run on Windows 1.0, either...Lying bastards.
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If he really wants to protect it, then he should also encrypt it.
My brother passed away a couple of years ago and I was able to gain access to his web server. I knew the CC used and the email address used. There wasn't anything on there, but the expected files, but if he wants to keep it secret permanent after death, then encrypt with a long key.
After 10 unsuccessful attempts at entering the passphrase in a row, it destroys the key, never to be recovered again.
If I was transporting a copy of the data across national borders, and I didn't want customs to get a copy... a self-destruct sequence makes a lot of sense. But to have a permanent sword of damocles dangling over the data by a thread... If I valued the data so much that I was willing to go to extremes to protect it... and then set it up to be irrevocably trashed that easily... I might as well just delete it now to save myself the aggravation.
All this for stuff after you're dead. Who the Hell cares? You're either in heaven, hell, limbo, reincarnated with no knowledge of previous life, or worm food, and in any of those cases you've got bigger things to worry about (or nothing at all ever depending). I can see someone else wanting life insurance on you, but not you wanting it for yourself, since when it gets used you won't care, and that's a much bigger thing than whatever sicko porn collection you happen to have for whatever reason. Your reputation with other people means nothing once you die. Either there's some omnipotent being that already knows all that crap about you, or there isn't and either way, who the hell cares?
Why use TrueCrypt with OS X when you can do the same thing with built-in Disk Utility?
Cross platform compatibility, source code which can be inspected, and a choice of ciphers and other security options.
Yeah, really! I don't know why anyone is paranoid about Google at all when your ISP and cellphone providers have all your data activity records on hand.
I pay a bit extra for the "business" tier of service, so I can actually run my own web and email server on my home machine. I've pretty much been hosting everything on my own server since my college days. Never used / needed a USB stick for working on school projects, just pulled it in over the internet using PuTTy/PSFTP or more likely VNC+ssh. I even presented some final projects over VNC running a little opengl thing over VNC.
I don't have a "smartphone" (call me old skool), but if I did all I'd need is a good ssh client (such as midpssh) and a good VNC client, and I'm in business. Works fine on my Palm TX PDA tethered to my dumbphone.
For offsite backups, I occasionally rsync my home dir over to a friend's server, which I've donated hardware for (including hard disks, among other things). The sensitive stuff like financial records and nekkid pics of the wife are encrypted with PGP. The rest of the porn we all share.
Frankly I'm more worried about data being lost forever than data getting "out". If I get hit by a truck, my dying words scrawled in a pool of blood will be the master password for my keyring vault so my wife can pay the bills online. I'll pass away very anxious about whether she can decipher the special characters properly.
Probably those mp3's that get you high....and he doesn't want anyone messing with his 'stash'!!
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
It could be that you want to ensure that people you care about won't be emotionally harmed by things you did and kept secret. In the military, if one is killed, they sanitize personal effects, destroy "little black books" and the like, just so that the wife or whomever back home doesn't find out about your time with the Thai hooker in Bangkok or the mistress you had while TDY in England. Frankly, it's a policy that keeps the "loved ones" from being harmed by things that it really doesn't do anyone any good to know about. Really, who is it going to help to know what a shit you were in private after you're gone?
Because your secrets could possibly affect other people. For example, your wife might not be looked upon too highly if people know that she married a guy that was into some weird fetish. Also, their secrets might be stored with your stuff as well. Those things should not be released.
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