A safe way to share sensitive info?

StewedApple

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82125933#Comment_82125933

Proton Drive has an encrypted shared drive facility and is well-regarded in most security circles. You can save documents to this which those you share with can access.

My problems with this as a solution are two-fold:-

1. It is always possible that any IT security system can become vulnerable in the future - all IT security is an evolving arms-race. How important/how vulnerable your data is (and therefore how big a risk) is something which you can assess.
2. If the person(s) you intend to share this data with in the event of your death/incapacity is not familiar with it e.g. they use it every day then it's security may prove an insurmountable obstacle to their accessing it.

You're always looking at a trade-off between security and accessibility, I would probably not use this method. My reasoning would be that if the person I entrusted this too were to be killed with me (e.g. in a car/plane crash) who then would deal with my estate if the data were inaccessible to anyone else?

You may find a combination of solutions e.g. some data secured in one way and some data secured in another is the best way to resolve this challenge.

B0bbyEwing

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82126344#Comment_82126344

Interesting. Thanks.

Dead at the same time is something I've recently thought about (due to flying) and so this whole thing is not about leaving info to my wife. She already has that. It's about leaving the info to my siblings for them to sort. The chances of us dying at the same time are virtually zero.

I do wonder with this security & people poo-pooing encrypted cloud storage...

... What do these people do with cheques? Do they refuse to use them because they contain sort code & account number? What if they get mugged in the street? What if they drop the cheque & it blows away & some dodgy character picks it up?

Because that's all this file would be containing - the same info as a cheque.

oldernonethewiser

Not specific to your query but have you had a read of this?

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/team-blog/2022/03/how-to-prepare-your-digital-life-for-when-you-die/

From you comment about cheques it sounds as if storing the info in a paper notebook would suffice for your needs.

StewedApple

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82126351#Comment_82126351

Cloud storage in those circumstances would be low-risk/low-impact if it were hacked.

My challenge is around accessibility, the link about digital life is useful. Ultimately, it's what you're comfortable with, there may not be a one-size fits all solution, but more about managing risk.

You really want to make your estate management to be easy for those who have the job (as you won't be there to answer questions which seem obvious to you but may not to them), whilst making the process as difficult as possible for anyone who's attempting to steal your data.

You also need a mechanism which makes this process updatable because you may be opening/closing bank accounts throughout your life.

You may also decide at some point to reduce the number of institutions you deal with and forego the highest-rate ISA because it's easier for your executors to deal with a couple of institutions than to gain another 20 quid per annum from yet another account somewhere else. I imagine there's nothing worse than having to send yet another copy of a death certificate to some institution to liberate £500 from some regular saver account because that institution hasn't signed-up to the Tell Us Once process or some such.