How secure is Google Drive for holding bank information?

JustAnotherSaver

AndyPix wrote: »

inside excel, when you open it, you have tabs across the bottom which can contain different spreadsheets.
These are worksheets


They are contained in the workbook, which is the whole thing

Ah right. Yeah i've used the tabs - my accounts, wifes accounts, joint accounts, mothers, brothers, sisters.

Nothing details any actual money like balances as that will vary a lot but they just detail things like direct debits, standing orders and typical amounts (as some D/Ds will change from month to month).

I just called the whole thing a spreadsheet

Eco_Miser

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

HOWEVER....hopefully it's going to be quite some time before i do die. Even if it isn't then whatever machine they use to access this would have to be able to open a MS Office Excel 2010 file. My PC is password protected

If you save the details in a plain text file (*.txt) that should still be readable in the future by any program that handles text.
For security, zip it with a password, or my password manager, PasswordSafe, has a facility to encrypt and password protect any file. Make sure the password is available to those who will need it.

JustAnotherSaver

Eco_Miser wrote: »

If you save the details in a plain text file (*.txt) that should still be readable in the future by any program that handles text.
For security, zip it with a password, or my password manager, PasswordSafe, has a facility to encrypt and password protect any file. Make sure the password is available to those who will need it.

When starting this i did think about a number of programs that could be used. I decided pretty much instantly that being on paper (especially with the way accounts get opened & closed between us) was a bad idea. I know some people do that but i didn't think it'd be very good for us.

I did originally try out a word document (Was actually MS Word but i guess notepad is essentially the same, just less fancy) but i wasn't happy with how it laid things out.

If it was just sort codes and account numbers it would probably be fine but my wife requested direct debit and standing order information too as well as descriptions about each account - such as why they exist (perks/interest) and in the event i can no longer deal with it all (death or some major illness) instructions on what to do with what account - as i'm the only one who's actually interested in chasing rates & cycling money, the rest of them just would rather 1 bank account & 1 savings account, so say i drop dead tomorrow then a lot of accounts would need to be closed and they wouldn't have a clue what to do with what.

So i found all this info in a text document type of program to be quite clunky i suppose which is why i opted for a spreadsheet in the end.

18cc

You can't open a Word/Excel file without knowing the password. Period. The document is saved with 128bit AES encryption which is uncrackable even by large nation states. The security then comes down the the triviality (or otherwise) of the password used.

Yes, you can TRY password attacking programs (brute force, dictionary etc) and they MAY work if you have a weak password but if you use a decent password they won't.

benjus

I think certain people on this thread are getting a bit confused over the different security options in Microsoft Office applications.

There's a summary here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office_password_protection

If you choose to Encrypt the document (not just protect it from modification etc) and you are using a reasonably recent version of Office (at least Office 2007) with strong encryption, and you choose a strong password, then your document is safe.

Eco_Miser

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

I did originally try out a word document (Was actually MS Word but i guess notepad is essentially the same, just less fancy) but i wasn't happy with how it laid things out.

Plain text files (eg from Notepad, also available from Word via the Save As dialogue) just contain the characters you can see, plus tabs and carriage returns/line feeds.
Word documents contain much, much more - information about styles and fonts and positioning, all wrapped up in a zip file (or in early versions, something unique to MS Word). How programs other than the originating version handle these extras varies, sometimes to the extent of refusing to read them at all.
If you're concerned about the file being able to be read by a different version go with plain text.

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

If it was just sort codes and account numbers it would probably be fine but my wife requested direct debit and standing order information too as well as descriptions about each account - such as why they exist (perks/interest) and in the event i can no longer deal with it all (death or some major illness) instructions on what to do with what account - as i'm the only one who's actually interested in chasing rates & cycling money, the rest of them just would rather 1 bank account & 1 savings account, so say i drop dead tomorrow then a lot of accounts would need to be closed and they wouldn't have a clue what to do with what.

So i found all this info in a text document type of program to be quite clunky i suppose which is why i opted for a spreadsheet in the end.

The spreadsheet version of plain text is Comma Separated Value (.csv).
Again if you want to be sure the data can be read by any spreadsheet application, use .CSV , possibly save both a CSV version and an XLSX version together.

sausage_time

But of course plain text would not have any encryption or password protection unless you use an external program. But if you choose an external encryption program you are depending that being available and working and the person decrypting knowing how it all works.

I'd vote for a recent version of Excel with a very robust password. Chances are you will update from time to time as you add or remove accounts or other details, so you know it will always work with the latest version. Recent versions of Excel (and Word) have been good at reading files created by older versions of the program.

AndyPix

18cc wrote: »

You can't open a Word/Excel file without knowing the password. Period. The document is saved with 128bit AES encryption which is uncrackable even by large nation states. The security then comes down the the triviality (or otherwise) of the password used.
Yes, you can TRY password attacking programs (brute force, dictionary etc) and they MAY work if you have a weak password but if you use a decent password they won't.

Double sigh .Please educate yourself

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/office_resource_kit/2013/01/23/now-you-can-reset-or-remove-a-password-from-a-word-excel-or-powerpoint-filewith-office-2013/

JustAnotherSaver

Eco_Miser wrote: »

Plain text files (eg from Notepad, also available from Word via the Save As dialogue) just contain the characters you can see, plus tabs and carriage returns/line feeds.
Word documents contain much, much more - information about styles and fonts and positioning, all wrapped up in a zip file (or in early versions, something unique to MS Word). How programs other than the originating version handle these extras varies, sometimes to the extent of refusing to read them at all.
If you're concerned about the file being able to be read by a different version go with plain text.

Think we may have crossed wires here.

I was saying that i didn't like the lay out. I felt that noting it down in notepad or even word wouldn't make things as clear as possible for the person reading it. I could understand it but then i know the ins and outs of all the accounts.
If i looked at it thinking like someone who didn't have a clue then i wanted it to be as clear as possible and i don't believe i could achieve that in a notepad file.

That's what i was saying (or at least trying to, badly)

The spreadsheet version of plain text is Comma Separated Value (.csv).
Again if you want to be sure the data can be read by any spreadsheet application, use .CSV , possibly save both a CSV version and an XLSX version together.

I wasn't aware of that. Thanks.

JustAnotherSaver

Just a thought here with all this talk of passwords & encryptions...

Ok details of insurance policy numbers aside, the rest of it is info you'll get on a cheque or debit card - sort codes & account numbers.

So what do you guys do when paying for something via cheque or for when you take your debit card out of the house?

Now obviously you don't keep your debit card in a triple padlocked safe, you keep it in your wallet or purse. Also i'm sure you don't personally hand cheques to their destination 100% of the time & then hawk what the person at the other end does with it - you'll maybe at times send cheques off in the post.

So with you carrying this information around with you, how does it differ to keeping a collective version of that in a Google Drive, minus all these passwords & encryptions?



Now i don't want anyone to go spitting the dummy out. I'm not asking this from the viewpoint of shooting down the idea of passwords & encryptions. I'm just wondering why you'd password & encrypt such a file when you have the same details easily accessible on the cheques & cards you don't guard as much as the computer file?