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So hijacking this a bit: What do people have set up in case of more an "unexpected death" situation? I have basically all information someone would need to ac

So hijacking this a bit: What do people have set up in case of more an "unexpected death" situation? I have basically all information someone would need to access any of my accounts in a password repository, but I don't have the key or password shared with anyone. Obviously that would be an issue if I was incapacitated. What is the recommended way to handle these things?

corndoge 6y ago
Encrypt it all, print out the plaintext private key and put it in a small safe, give your parent/friend/so the physical key
- dividedbyzero 6y ago
  Make sure they are actually able to do this, too, and will be able to do this years from now, when everything you may have told them will be long forgotten. Most people have no idea what gpg is, have never used a command line, and have only a really basic idea of how encryption in general works.
  - war1025 6y ago
    This is a concern I've had. If I told one of my coworkers that I use `pass` [0] to keep my passwords encrypted and synced into an online git repository, they would know what that means. My wife would have no idea. So then it's not just a matter of "here are the relevant credentials", it's also "Here are the relevant technologies and X would know how to piece it all together" But then at the same time, maybe it just doesn't really matter and I should just get a safe deposit box at the bank and put everything relevant in there in paper form. [0] https://www.passwordstore.org/ https://www.passwordstore.org/
Grimm1 6y ago
I've been thinking about this a bit. Safety deposit box at a bank for sensitive info, draft a will with a lawyer with instructions of who to give the box's keys to and leave the keys with the lawyer and copy of the will. Then give the contact information of the lawyer to any party you believe should contact the lawyer for said will if you die and keep a "in the case this person is dead or severely incapacitated call this number" card in your wallet in a prominent space. That's what I've worked up so far.
- ghaff 6y ago
  Either a safe deposit box or a fireproof box. The former is a bit safer. The latter has more space than most safety deposit boxes and makes it easy to add/replace documents. Arguably at least documents that aren't especially sensitive but are important (e.g. insurance information) can be in the cloud somewhere and you can give a lawyer (and/or people you trust) the password.
scollet 6y ago
Time-locked safe with an encrypted hardware dongle whose key is hidden in volumes of relevant literature classics and personal notes, buried at the end of a cave, at the end of an elaborate treasure hunt, of course.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
Out of curiosity, what kinds of accounts do you have that are so important that they are worth preserving in the event of your death? I can only think of financial stuff and those already have beneficiaries and whatnot specified when I set them up.
- war1025 6y ago
  > I can only think of financial stuff and those already have beneficiaries and whatnot specified when I set them up. My financial accounts are probably the main things. I don't know that I have any beneficiary stuff set up on them. I was maybe overly specific in my asking. Basically the thing I am wondering is: What do I need to have in place to make sure my wife / kids have access to my assets, etc. in the event that I die unexpectedly?
  - ghaff 6y ago
    At a minimum, all your important information--including how to access any important online accounts--should probably be stored in a somewhat concealed fireproof box. This would also protect in the event of most fires and other natural disasters.
- dividedbyzero 6y ago
  Social media presences come to mind, especially anonymous ones. I'd like my online friends to know I won't be back. If you have a blog, or otherwise publish, at least a brief announcement there might also be something you'd want to happen. It would make cancelling subscriptions not needed anymore or transferring them to another person much easier I guess.
- bluGill 6y ago
  I'm more worried about my pictures of the kids. A few generations will care about them.
  - ginko 6y ago
    Print them and collect then in books.
dividedbyzero 6y ago
1Password family accounts can have multiple admins; my partner and I are both admins and can reset each others passwords and disable MFA in the event that such a thing should become necessary; that's handy in another way as well, as we also have our parents as non-admin users in there, and we're able to reset their passwords if they forget them etc. Both our accounts have strong passphrases and are secured with MFA of course.
yosamino 6y ago
I maintain an encrypted vault-file containing some instructions and passwords accessible at a url that is printed on a piece of paper. Along with it is a "share" of a password which I split up using SSS[0]. I laminate those along with a piece of dark cardboard (to make it more difficult to peek) and instructions. They are distributed among friends and family to be cut open in the event of my death. It's based on the trust that not more than 5 of those 10 people will conspire against me while I am still alive, but also at least 5 of them will be able to find one another, and unlock the password should I pass. ... good reminder, it's due for an update [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamir%27s_Secret_Sharing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamir%27s_Secret_Sharing
- ZackJ37 6y ago
  This is exactly something I intend to add to my document storage platform... I have some notes about it here: https://www.fideliusvaults.com/roadmap/ https://www.fideliusvaults.com/roadmap/. There's a balance of security and convenience that I've been calling the 'paranoia scale', and this sits on the far end towards 'least convenient, most secure'.
- war1025 6y ago
  I have heard of Shamir's Secret Sharing algorithm a few times in the past six months or so. Today I finally decided to read the Wikipedia page and figure out how it works. Really neat. Uses the fact that you need `k` points to uniquely define a `k-1` degree polynomial. So if you want the secret to be recoverable by any `k` pieces, you just need to define a `k-1` degree polynomial and generate a series of points along that curve, with the secret at a known location on the curve Basically it sets your secret to the polynomial constant term (i.e. the y value for x=0), generates random coefficients for the rest of the polynomial factors, and then computes however many points you requested. The shares are just encoded (x,y) pairs. There is slightly more complicated math it to better obscure the secret, but in essence that's all it is. I thought that was really neat.
duxup 6y ago
Buried in Google's settings you can set up a system that will hand over your account (or even delete it) to someone you specify if some events play out like not logging in and etc.

corndoge 6y ago

Encrypt it all, print out the plaintext private key and put it in a small safe, give your parent/friend/so the physical key

dividedbyzero 6y ago
Make sure they are actually able to do this, too, and will be able to do this years from now, when everything you may have told them will be long forgotten. Most people have no idea what gpg is, have never used a command line, and have only a really basic idea of how encryption in general works.
- war1025 6y ago
  This is a concern I've had. If I told one of my coworkers that I use `pass` [0] to keep my passwords encrypted and synced into an online git repository, they would know what that means. My wife would have no idea. So then it's not just a matter of "here are the relevant credentials", it's also "Here are the relevant technologies and X would know how to piece it all together" But then at the same time, maybe it just doesn't really matter and I should just get a safe deposit box at the bank and put everything relevant in there in paper form. [0] https://www.passwordstore.org/ https://www.passwordstore.org/

Grimm1 6y ago

I've been thinking about this a bit. Safety deposit box at a bank for sensitive info, draft a will with a lawyer with instructions of who to give the box's keys to and leave the keys with the lawyer and copy of the will. Then give the contact information of the lawyer to any party you believe should contact the lawyer for said will if you die and keep a "in the case this person is dead or severely incapacitated call this number" card in your wallet in a prominent space. That's what I've worked up so far.

ghaff 6y ago
Either a safe deposit box or a fireproof box. The former is a bit safer. The latter has more space than most safety deposit boxes and makes it easy to add/replace documents. Arguably at least documents that aren't especially sensitive but are important (e.g. insurance information) can be in the cloud somewhere and you can give a lawyer (and/or people you trust) the password.

scollet 6y ago

Time-locked safe with an encrypted hardware dongle whose key is hidden in volumes of relevant literature classics and personal notes, buried at the end of a cave, at the end of an elaborate treasure hunt, of course.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago

Out of curiosity, what kinds of accounts do you have that are so important that they are worth preserving in the event of your death? I can only think of financial stuff and those already have beneficiaries and whatnot specified when I set them up.

war1025 6y ago
> I can only think of financial stuff and those already have beneficiaries and whatnot specified when I set them up. My financial accounts are probably the main things. I don't know that I have any beneficiary stuff set up on them. I was maybe overly specific in my asking. Basically the thing I am wondering is: What do I need to have in place to make sure my wife / kids have access to my assets, etc. in the event that I die unexpectedly?
- ghaff 6y ago
  At a minimum, all your important information--including how to access any important online accounts--should probably be stored in a somewhat concealed fireproof box. This would also protect in the event of most fires and other natural disasters.
dividedbyzero 6y ago
Social media presences come to mind, especially anonymous ones. I'd like my online friends to know I won't be back. If you have a blog, or otherwise publish, at least a brief announcement there might also be something you'd want to happen. It would make cancelling subscriptions not needed anymore or transferring them to another person much easier I guess.
bluGill 6y ago
I'm more worried about my pictures of the kids. A few generations will care about them.
- ginko 6y ago
  Print them and collect then in books.

dividedbyzero 6y ago

1Password family accounts can have multiple admins; my partner and I are both admins and can reset each others passwords and disable MFA in the event that such a thing should become necessary; that's handy in another way as well, as we also have our parents as non-admin users in there, and we're able to reset their passwords if they forget them etc. Both our accounts have strong passphrases and are secured with MFA of course.

yosamino 6y ago

I maintain an encrypted vault-file containing some instructions and passwords accessible at a url that is printed on a piece of paper. Along with it is a "share" of a password which I split up using SSS[0]. I laminate those along with a piece of dark cardboard (to make it more difficult to peek) and instructions. They are distributed among friends and family to be cut open in the event of my death. It's based on the trust that not more than 5 of those 10 people will conspire against me while I am still alive, but also at least 5 of them will be able to find one another, and unlock the password should I pass. ... good reminder, it's due for an update [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamir%27s_Secret_Sharing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamir%27s_Secret_Sharing

ZackJ37 6y ago
This is exactly something I intend to add to my document storage platform... I have some notes about it here: https://www.fideliusvaults.com/roadmap/ https://www.fideliusvaults.com/roadmap/. There's a balance of security and convenience that I've been calling the 'paranoia scale', and this sits on the far end towards 'least convenient, most secure'.
war1025 6y ago
I have heard of Shamir's Secret Sharing algorithm a few times in the past six months or so. Today I finally decided to read the Wikipedia page and figure out how it works. Really neat. Uses the fact that you need `k` points to uniquely define a `k-1` degree polynomial. So if you want the secret to be recoverable by any `k` pieces, you just need to define a `k-1` degree polynomial and generate a series of points along that curve, with the secret at a known location on the curve Basically it sets your secret to the polynomial constant term (i.e. the y value for x=0), generates random coefficients for the rest of the polynomial factors, and then computes however many points you requested. The shares are just encoded (x,y) pairs. There is slightly more complicated math it to better obscure the secret, but in essence that's all it is. I thought that was really neat.

duxup 6y ago

Buried in Google's settings you can set up a system that will hand over your account (or even delete it) to someone you specify if some events play out like not logging in and etc.