Suggestions Wanted: Safe Location for Emergency Kit?

MerryBit

I have been using 1Password for very close to a year now, with my subscription up for renewal in about a week. Upon receiving my subscription renewal reminder, I started thinking about how much I use 1Password and if it would be worth extending my subscription. There are a lot of things to factor in, but in the end I realised that I use this product several times daily, and wouldn't want to be without it, so I ended up buying a $99 gift card, so I won't have to think about renewing again for the next couple of years.

Because I store so very many important things in 1Password, I also think about how I can best store my emergency kit so that it is always accessible. Sure, I could print out a copy or two and give it to a friend or family member, but that is so... ordinary, and who knows if I could trust that friend or family member to be able to retrieve that piece of paper years from now?

Enter a more cloak-and-dagger kind of idea for safe storage of the emergency kit that wouldn't require trust in anyone and would leave the safety of the emergency kit in the hands of people renowned for their ability to keep things in order... the local public library. :)

I wouldn't leave a printout of the emergency kit and my master password per se, but perhaps a post-it note with the secret key on the inside of one book and the master password in another. I would also refrain from labeling them "SECRET KEY" and "MASTER PASSWORD", of course. :)

There is a risk that the books I choose would be taken out by someone else, but I know a perfect part of the library where they keep very old books that are rarely borrowed, and even if that were to happen, the books would be returned sooner or later.

I'd be interested to get other suggestions for recommended locations for storing the emergency kit that doesn't involve trust in third parties such as friends, family, or attorneys.

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ag_ana

Hi @MerryBit!

The most common suggestions that I have heard so far are storing the Emergency Kit in a safe, bank deposit box or something similar, if you prefer the printed approach, or sharing the Emergency Kit in a shared vault directly inside 1Password. This would address your concerns of people forgetting where they put the Emergency Kit :)

jmjm

I ended up buying a $99 gift card, so I won't have to think about renewing again for the next couple of years

Thanks for this reminder. Not trying to be morbid but I think doing such is good planning in case one is unexpectedly and 'permanently' no longer in the picture. This would be one less thing for a family member to be concerned with ie a 1PW renewal on say an expired CC.

[Deleted User]

@MerryBit some ideas for safe places to keep your Emergency Kit not already mentioned: print & fit behind picture on wall; print & fit below false draw bottom; save as PDF to CD-ROM disk; save as PDF to non-internet connected device, e.g. camera, USB flash drive

williakz

@MerryBit, where are your medical directives, powers of attorney, will, trusts, deeds, etc? If these documents are inaccessible by others when needed, your express wishes have little chance of being carried out. In other words, make sure you don't lock the house keys away in the house safe.

jpgoldberg

This very good question and insightful discussion highlights the tension between two (of the three) arms of data security: confidentiality and availability.

Things like medical directives have a high availability requirement (they must be quickly accessible in some emergency situations) while things like banking passwords have a high confidentiality requirement. If you lose access to your banking password, it may be difficult and even costly to get it reset by the bank but it isn't as bad as an attacker acquiring the password.

The availability requirement for your Secret Key is enormous. If the devices that you have it on get damaged or need to be reformatted or are lost, you are in bad shape. But if you have a good Master Password then the confidentiality of your Secret Key isn't that important. So having the Secret Key (without the MP) on paper in a number of locations (including something fire proof) is generally a good idea.

But a different kind of recommendation is that if you are using an individual account, see if you can move to a family account. This can allow others to help with recovery. I also share my Secret Key (but not my master password) with my family members (well, not with the dogs). This way as long as one of them (the people, not the dogs) can get to the family account they can get me my Secret Key. This may not be the right approach for everyone, but I did want to add it to the list of things to consider.