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Ask Slashdot: How Do You Securely Store Private Information For Posterity?
An anonymous reader writes "In the event of my untimely demise, my wife and family will need access to all of my private data (email, phone, laptop password, SSN, etc) and financial accounts and passwords (banks, 401(k), mortgage, insurance, etc). What's the best way to securely store all that data knowing the data is somewhat volatile (e.g. password changes) and also that someone else who is not technically savvy will need to access the most up to date version of it? Suggestions include a printed copy in a safe deposit box, an encrypted file, a secure server in the cloud, or maybe a commercial product."
Safety deposit box is probably the only reasonable solution. A file stored in the cloud or on a hard drive is likely to get deleted or the service will die before you do. Any documents/passwords/items your family needs should be stored in a safety deposit box. If the data changes frequently and your family absolutely needs access to it, which is unlikely, then keep them written down in a safe at home and make sure your family has the combination.
Not even a year ago, almost the same thing.
http://ask.slashdot.org/story/11/11/01/1414234/ask-slashdot-how-to-securely-share-passwords
Encryption is when you want to keep people out. In the scenario you've outlined, you need to let people in, but only certain people. That screams physical security. Your online passwords and all that crap can all be bypassed by a court order, which would be issued to the executor of your estate, authorizing the holder(s) of your assets to grant access to them. You don't need to keep a record of your passwords anywhere... once you're dead, they can just reset them. The rest might have value to you, but it is unlikely to have value to anyone else. Nobody's going to care about your licensed copy of Microsoft Office, or need to decrypt your secret collection of porn, music, and videos.
This is not a technical problem. This is a legal problem. This is the wrong forum to answer those kind of questions. You need to make a list of what assets you want (it's called a will) to pass on, and then simply make sure those assets are accessible. Call the companies up that maintain your online stuff and ask them. You don't have to worry about banks, mortgages, or physical assets: That's the executor of estate's job to sort out. Your Will provides all the legal power necessary.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
Let me expand that a bit.
If your family absolutely needs the information MAKE SURE IT IS IN A PHYSICAL FORMAT and stored in a secure location.
Electronic formats are not reliable enough for critical information. Particularly if your family members are not sufficiently tech savvy.
If in Europe, you might prefer paper tape, but I doubt it.
PS Anyone got an open source program to print card images onto A4 paper? (readable by Lottery hardware)
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
um... no. cloud vendors can disappear without notice in which case you're out of luck. lastpass was hacked last year so that isn't the safest choice either. see http://lifehacker.com/5799036/the-best-password-utilities-that-dont-store-your-data-in-the-cloud so this is a real problem. the fact that you;re thinking about this means you're planning which is like better than probably 80% of people out there. so what i would do is come up with something that works for you and have your spouse/next of kin actually try to follow the agreed procedure without you around and have them report back on problem areas. a lot of businesses have disaster recovery plans which they try to play out once or twice a year. trying it definitely finds some problem areas.
It might be worth mentioning that Banks will provide access to your Safe Deposit Box to law enforcement in various circumstances. I'm confident you can dig up news articles of consumer complaints that police accessed private SDBs with little (if any) proper process or authority. I've also come to understand that banks are required to turn over SDBs to the state in the event that the account holder dies so that the contained property can be included Probate into the estate for valuation and taxation purposes. If your credentials are in there it widens the scope of what can be seized for probate or snooped upon.
The "cloud" (both free or commercial) is very far to being a suitable solution for long term, secure store for private data. See the megaupload cease or even the stories of AWS outrage.
Anything network attached or even IT related is not suitable for what you are looking for. Probably the best solution is paper copies in a safe box with off site back up copies in safe-deposit box.
Easy, just write them on post-its and attach it to your monitor at work. It's the most secure location there is.
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...it's that your valuable information should be transcribed onto a special medallion, which is then quartered with each quarter piece buried in a deadly dungeon in a far flung corner of the land. That's what passed for "Cloud" storage in my day. (yes yes I know.)
Allowing access only to your heirs, and only when you're dead is impossible unless you've got *lots* of money. After 9/11 and the destruction of Swiss banking secrecyt, it's probably impossible.
But you don't have that much money.
So, since as others have mentioned, law enforcement can get your stuff if they really, really want it, all you can reasonably hope for is to make your documents tamper obvious
Thus...
So, if someone tries to steam open the envelope and then reseal it, you'll notice since they won't be able to exactly line up the two halves of the envelope and thus your signature will be misaligned.
(This is a variation on the old displaced strand of hair trick.)
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
Hm, can you name for me all the famous nihilists who did something other than be raving, depressed nihilists?
Does it matter?
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
No, it wasn't hacked, and that won't change just because you keep repeating it. If you don't select a bad password on purpose (LastPass rates it) you have nothing to fear from brute force tools. Rainbow tables don't help with services that understand salting - and LastPass most definitely know their stuff as compared to a lot of other services.
No LastPass accounts were compromised from the incident that _maybe_ happened. I fail to understand why you seem to purposely want to misrepresent the facts. Your two links have not supported your statements, at all.
LastPass + Wuala is still the best, and most secure, way to solve the question asked.
it's in my head
My way is getting the info into an /. article.
After that, the editors will take care that it is periodically available again as if it was a new article.
Why can't
A family trust can pass assets to your surviving spouse or other beneficiaries without having to go through probate. (it can provide some tax advantages, too). Put your bank account and other assets, including title to your house, in the name of the trust, and then the trust document controls what happens to them when you die.
I don't have mod points, so I'll just repeat for emphasis.
Set up a Family Trust and make sure all of your assets are in it. Besides avoiding the hassle of probate, you can gain some tax advantages potentially, and (this last part may not be unique to Trusts) easily lay out your wishes for who will take care of your minor children should you and your spouse die together.
Ceci n'est pas un sig.