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You're missing my point. It's not that I'm ignoring security; I was responding to JabavuAdams' pointing out that if someone accesses my electronic records, I li

You're missing my point. It's not that I'm ignoring security; I was responding to JabavuAdams' pointing out that if someone accesses my electronic records, I likely wouldn't know about it, while I'd find out if someone broke into my home and accessed my physical records. Since there are other places that my data can be accessed electronically, it seems short-sighted to avoid digitizing my copies to avoid undetectable access to my documents, since that can happen anyway. Having said that, I really am not worried about someone accessing most of these documents, and certainly not enough to go through the hassles of what you outline in your comment. If someone wants to go through the hassle of breaching my security so they can pour through my phone records for the last five years, or peer at my receipts for lunch at the restaurant around the corner, they're welcome to. What exactly are we worried about here?

b_emery 16y ago
You mentioned rental properties (mortgage docs?), tax papers, both of which likely have SSN's, maybe you have credit card numbers and bank acct numbers in these pdfs. I'd think you'd want this stuff encrypted. Thanks for a great post though, I'm totally inspired.
- ryanwaggoner 16y ago
  Meh. I was in the military, so my SSN has been spread far and wide. Plus I probably get 2-3 letters a year from companies who managed to lose this info. I keep an eye on my credit report for issues, but nothing so far. Credit cards and bank account numbers are slightly more of an issue, but in the US your liability for theft from these sources is quite limited, even if you disclose the info. Plus, my bank account number is on the bottom of every check I write. What kind of scheme is that, anyway? Don't get me wrong, I shred any paperwork with personal info, and I use encrypted services for backups, etc. But I don't lose any sleep over the worst case scenario of someone gaining access to this data.
evgen 16y ago
One difference between the threat model of the original query and your response is that if someone hacks into BigCo and accesses the digital records between you an BigCo then they know about all of your transactions with BigCo. If they hack your home document system then they know about your transactions with BigCo and with every other company you have ever done business with. The level of paranoid protection being suggested is probably not warranted, but unless you can think of a good reason why you would need to access these docs remotely it is probably a good idea to keep the drive with this data separated by an air gap from your systems when it is not in use...

b_emery 16y ago

You mentioned rental properties (mortgage docs?), tax papers, both of which likely have SSN's, maybe you have credit card numbers and bank acct numbers in these pdfs. I'd think you'd want this stuff encrypted. Thanks for a great post though, I'm totally inspired.

ryanwaggoner 16y ago
Meh. I was in the military, so my SSN has been spread far and wide. Plus I probably get 2-3 letters a year from companies who managed to lose this info. I keep an eye on my credit report for issues, but nothing so far. Credit cards and bank account numbers are slightly more of an issue, but in the US your liability for theft from these sources is quite limited, even if you disclose the info. Plus, my bank account number is on the bottom of every check I write. What kind of scheme is that, anyway? Don't get me wrong, I shred any paperwork with personal info, and I use encrypted services for backups, etc. But I don't lose any sleep over the worst case scenario of someone gaining access to this data.

evgen 16y ago

One difference between the threat model of the original query and your response is that if someone hacks into BigCo and accesses the digital records between you an BigCo then they know about all of your transactions with BigCo. If they hack your home document system then they know about your transactions with BigCo and with every other company you have ever done business with. The level of paranoid protection being suggested is probably not warranted, but unless you can think of a good reason why you would need to access these docs remotely it is probably a good idea to keep the drive with this data separated by an air gap from your systems when it is not in use...