Best place to store Important papers?

DullGreyGuy

Plasticman said:
The only thing that would be problematic for me is exam certificates. 

I had to get my A-Levels reprinted 15 years or so after I took them. Main challenge was finding which exam board it was for each subject but once that was sorted it was ok.

Professional qualifications, at least those I hold, are all checkable online so again the paper cert if more for decoration than use

victor2

Plasticman said:

Wow. Didn't realise having a fire safe was so common! I've always just considered passports, birth certificates etc as replaceable. If I'm due to go on holiday and my house burns down then I'm probably not going to be going anyway so the lost passport won't be my biggest worry. I have the paper deeds to my house but I don't think that these are essential any more are they as they're digitised now? The only thing that would be problematic for me is exam certificates. 

Most documents that originated in the UK can be replaced. Good point about exam certificates although I don't anticipate ever needing mine again!

Where it can be a problem is with foreign documents. I can't be the only person who got married abroad, and I know it would be next to impossible to get an authenticated copy of the marriage certificate. For that, I could wait for the hopefully intact firesafe to be recovered from my burnt down and collapsed house, while I tend to other matters.

andre_xs

I like to have mortice locks on some of the internal doors in the house. In the event of a burglary when we are not at home, the locked doors will be a small obstacle to slow the burglars down.
My grandparents used to lock all internal doors when they left the house for a bit longer, because of fear of burglars (another country, where it's standard to have keys to internal doors). Then they were burgled. End result: All internal doors were forcefully broken open, damaging them. Replacing the doors cost more than the valuables they stole...

Where it can be a problem is with foreign documents. I can't be the only person who got married abroad, and I know it would be next to impossible to get an authenticated copy of the marriage certificate.
For such cases I would make legally certified copies *now* (solicitor, embassy, consulate?) and store them at physically different places (e.g. work, family, friends).

_Sam_

andre_xs said:

I like to have mortice locks on some of the internal doors in the house. In the event of a burglary when we are not at home, the locked doors will be a small obstacle to slow the burglars down.
My grandparents used to lock all internal doors when they left the house for a bit longer, because of fear of burglars (another country, where it's standard to have keys to internal doors). Then they were burgled. End result: All internal doors were forcefully broken open, damaging them. Replacing the doors cost more than the valuables they stole...

This would make sense otherwise, but doors and other damage should be covered by the insurance. I do think it is a good idea to try and slow the burglars, we have cameras in couple of rooms that send a message to the phone if detecting a movement, gives a chance if I call the police (AND they attend right away oops) the criminals can be caught. Also the noise they may make when breaking the doors potentially alerting the neighbours, then neighbours calling the police. Or alternatively as most burglars are opportunistic they may simply desist and go away to look for an easier target.

victor2

_Sam_ said:

andre_xs said:

I like to have mortice locks on some of the internal doors in the house. In the event of a burglary when we are not at home, the locked doors will be a small obstacle to slow the burglars down.
My grandparents used to lock all internal doors when they left the house for a bit longer, because of fear of burglars (another country, where it's standard to have keys to internal doors). Then they were burgled. End result: All internal doors were forcefully broken open, damaging them. Replacing the doors cost more than the valuables they stole...

This would make sense otherwise, but doors and other damage should be covered by the insurance. I do think it is a good idea to try and slow the burglars, we have cameras in couple of rooms that send a message to the phone if detecting a movement, gives a chance if I call the police (AND they attend right away oops) the criminals can be caught. Also the noise they may make when breaking the doors potentially alerting the neighbours, then neighbours calling the police. Or alternatively as most burglars are opportunistic they may simply desist and go away to look for an easier target.

That seems to be the most effect an alarm has. If an opportunist sees 3 houses with alarms and one without, might as well go for the one without.

An alarm installer once told me the easiest way into a house is to go into the garden, look for patio doors and if they exist, chuck a heavy plant pot (or two) at them. Large glass panels have to be safety glass, which shatters like a car windscreen and doesn't break into large pieces that could injure the intruder. Said intruder will be in and out in no time, long before neighbours get annoyed by any alarm that might go off.

pmartin86

FreeBear said:

victor2 said: Today's encryption techniques may well succumb to future computing power, but I may not be around by then and there aren't any state secrets in there.

Many encryption algorithms can be cracked pretty quick today. Had some numpty send me a bunch of password protected PDFs in breach of the GDPA. Only took me a couple of hours to crack the password and find the address of the data subject (wanted to send him a letter so that he could raise a complaint with the ICO).

For more "secure" encrypted data such as messages sent to/from cash points, that can be cracked in a matter of hours using low cost "off the shelf" hardware - https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rnc1/descrack/DEScracker.html

The "Right" encryption though is practically unbreakable.  128/256 bit AES for example:

"However, while this seems significant, it doesn’t break either algorithm. With the right quantum computer, AES-128 would take about 2.61*10^12 years to crack, while AES-256 would take 2.29*10^32 years. For reference, the universe is currently about 1.38×10^10 years old, so cracking AES-128 with a quantum computer would take about 200 times longer than the universe has existed."

128 or 256 bit Encryption: Which Should I Use? - Ubiq (ubiqsecurity.com)

As with almost everything tech related, the "right" solution is often hard to come by, but if you get it right, you're as safe as can be.