Lately I started including what happens to my data in case I die unexpectedly in my threat model. As of now I’d like for everything to stay private. All my accounts have a strong password that I store on a keepass datbase that I store only on encrypted devices which themselves are protected only by PIN or Password with no biometrics (I use the pin only on my phone which is set up to get wiped after 20 failed unlock attempts to mitigate bruteforce attacks). As for what I post online, I keep it to a minimum and nothing really personal, preferring only viewing content through clients with no account when possible. I know some services allow to set up what happens after a certain period of inactivity but I was wondering if you guys can suggest anything else. Maybe some program that wipes the computer’s drive after a period of inactivity? Some other tools or some tips I didn’t consider?
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Hard to implement, but I would like to have a dead man’s switch that just erased every single trace of me, then post an obituary that says: 404 - person not found.
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https://www.piped.video/watch?v=v2FsCkYVfhw
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I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
To those that “Humpf, don’t care, my data dies with me”, PLEASE remember the significant people in your life will have to deal with admin stuff after your death. And it’s on you to make that process a misery or not for them.
Maybe make sure they have at least access to whatever’s needed to deal with stuff after your demise?
If you don’t have friends and family or hate all humans, don’t mind me of course.
What administrative stuff?
Bills still need to be paid.
Bank accounts need to be accessed.
Doors need to be opened.
Etc…etc…
Sure there are ways around most of this. Presentation of a death certificate usually will get you access to most things eventually. But sometimes that takes time and a lot of administrative for the family.
At least that is what I have heard, thankfully I haven’t had to deal with a family death personally.
You’re the second person writing about this. I think it varies by country? Like… for how I see it, other than my car I don’t plan on having other loans. As for bank accounts and other financial stuff I think there is some kind of process that starts once the death has been announced in some formal way. Everything else should just be forgotten. Like just do what people did in the 50s or sum. There was no common technology in which to store important stuff. Just do the same things as back then for whatever matters, everything else is in my phone and pc shouldn’t be so crucial.
In the US it can even vary by state. Dying without a will or transfer on death assets can be a nightmare for the deceased family. My father died without a will and my mother and I spent a year jumping through hoops and dealing with lawyers trying to get everything straightened out.
I encourage everyone to take a look at their local laws related to the subject. You may be surprised at how things would work out without some planning on your part.
My watch will have ended. Give zero fucks about the things in my life left over that will erode in two generations, if not sooner.
If you want to make sure the data’s never recoverable, just use a password in addition to your hardware keys to unlock your computers. So when you die it’s completely gone forever. No one will ever decrypt it
If you want to make sure people can open your archives after your death, but only after your death, you could look at bit warden’s emergency release functionality.
You could also implement Shamir’s secret sharing, on some print out paper, so that two or more people would be required to collude to unlock your secrets. And if they’re trusted people in different jurisdictions, you know they’ll only do that after you’re dead. Then they could use that to get to your digital legacy, your crypto wallets, your decryption keys etc. https://github.com/cyphar/paperback
Wow this paperback thing is a cool idea. I was looking to not share anything but I’m sure I can apply it to other cases.
Yeah it’s really neat. There’s a couple other projects. But I think this is the most polished.
If you do use it, for long-term archival, make sure you get acid-free paper heavy stock. And use a nice quality printer. You might want a laminate it as well. Just to be safe I would print out two copies of everything, and only laminate one copy. And store them in separate folders wherever you’re going to store them. That way if there’s any issue if the lamination process the original data would just survive in the paper.
It’s a great way to do your backups. You can store your encrypted data backed up in the cloud to multiple places. But you can store your keys offline with Shamir’s secret sharing.
None. I don’t feel any need for the privacy of my corpse.
Honestly, nobody is going to care enough to try to understand the overengineered hell/beauty that is my home data centre where I keep all my stuff. I’m at peace with the fact that stuff is as good as bit rot if I kick the bucket for some reason any time soon
I don’t really care about what happens to my body or my stuff after I die. Growing up in a hoarding home, my goal is enjoy what I have now and minimize what others have to deal with when I’m gone.
If I go unexpectedly, the people in my life need easy access to my stuff to ensure they’re not fucked by rapacious corporations trying to profit off “sorry thesmokingman died someone didn’t cancel the electric so you owe a ton.” Any assets I have (after student loans, of course) should be easily accessible. The people close to me might want some token of me or some insight into what data I like to hoard. I’ve got a dead man’s switch with my password manager that goes to specific people. They can have it all.
If there’s no one in your life, by all means, nuke your shit. If there are people in your life, why do you care what happens to your things when you’re dead? You’re dead.
I assume most of that will be taken care of eventually. The only loan I have is for my car and either it’s gonna be paid off soon or I have insurance that will pay it for me be it the case I die next week. For the rest there is nothing really. I guess there is some way for my family to get into my bank account (after all even if I left my device unlocked it’s not like they could access the account easily). Other than that it’s mostly personal accounts and data. Maybe I’m missing something but I don’t really plan on taking other loans or whatever else that won’t be automatically be taken care off after sending some kind of notice about my death.
The biggest reason I set up a dead man’s switch was for incapacitation over death. I don’t live anywhere near my family (who I trust to manage my affairs; not the same for everyone) so when the ‘Rona hit I wanted to make sure my life wouldn’t end if I got hospitalized for months on end. I feel that there is value in considering that possibility especially if you’re already considering an unexpected death. What about your rent/mortgage, your electric bill, your subscriptions, the things that keep your life moving? Some you want paid, others you want canceled without screwing your credit score (if you live in the US). If I miss a rent payment, I get evicted in a month.
On the other hand, if you’re dead, why make it harder for the people that have to clean up for you (“taken care of eventually”)? My family knows how to delete my presence from everything once they have access to my stuff so I can’t exist as a digital zombie forever.
Shared passwords in BitWarden with important notes. Easy to keep up to date.
While online I have most of my items under lock and key, my personal computer at home is set to boot automatically with my password (since the attack vector of “having the feds raid my home” is fortunately not an issue for me). So in the rare case that I’m no longer available, my family can just get my user names and passwords from my computer
Maybe some program that wipes the computer’s drive after a period of inactivity? Some other tools or some tips I didn’t consider?
I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a dead man’s switch in the form of a telegram bot that monitors my profile for automatic account deletion, if thats even possible. I’d have it send my partner an email with everything she needs to get into bitwarden and to cash out hidden assets. Having it trigger a mass deletion instead would fit your use case.
I don’t post pictures or personal info online at all, but I do want my family to have access to personal storage of pictures and poetry etc so I do have a piece of paper that contains a master key they can use to get further access to my stuff. My kids all know where it’s stored so they can get in.
I don’t have any data anyone else would care about after I’m dead. My friends and family have some pictures and videos. What else would they want? My code?
You immediately reminded me of this song: https://youtu.be/FUPstXCqyus?si=e-YTy6fC-bu9ERfa
Lmao the first part is really like “why yes I do have a keepass database locked with a password, key file and hardware key inside of a password protected zip inside a veracrypt container inside a pin protected USB which I keep inside a safe of which I melted the keys and now unlockable only with a PIN”
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/FUPstXCqyus?si=e-YTy6fC-bu9ERfa
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
