Is it safe to store confidential documents online?

[CarolF Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close CarolF]

In the event of a natural disaster, where can I store and get access to my confidential info? I'm thinking of scanning passports, driving licence, medical, credit card, banking info etc then storing it in an email account so I can access it if all paperwork is destroyed. Is this is a sensible/safe option?

There was no warning for many people in our bush fire disaster, some survivors were left with only the clothes they were standing in

I had always assumed that I would be able to grab my evacuation box of important documents, treasures, hard-drive then run, but this may not be realistic. Hence my latest idea to set up an "emergency email" which will only be used in the event of an emergency. I'm not computer savvy and really need some help to understand the ramifications (if any) of doing this.

[idahodude Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close idahodude]

I'm not a total computer wiz, but....

I don't think this is a very safe idea. Email is not terribly secure. If someone did hack into your account, they would have a heyday with the information that they found. I would recommend a good fireproof safe or posssibly and online data storage site with some sort of guarantee about the security and safety of your information. This would be significantly more secure than email, IMHO. You could consider an old-fashioned safe deposit box at a bank as another option. Do you have family/friends in another area that you could trust to keep a small folder in a secure place for you? That's also a possibility.

[Jya-Ning Silver Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Jya-Ning]

If you don't set some password protection on the attched file, it will like put in public's eye (eMail). That is all I know about it. With all the cheap disk, it probably better you store them in one of those storage disk, and put in a bank's safe box. Or write down all the account number that can be used to trace back them with word or Excel, and keep that in bank's safe box. I doubt you need all the photo copy, you can always call the issuer with the account #.

Jya-Ning

[gophish Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close gophish]

I think that I would probably not use email as the store for sensitive data but there are several on line storage/backup services that you can use to store data and get encryption of that data.
You could also physically copy the data and scanned immages as was suggested and put the media in a safe deposit box. In this case I would use a jump drive to store the data on as they are pretty small and don't take up much room. You can get them now in pretty large sizes.

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

There are companies that rent storage space on there system that allows you to store your information. It is usually to allow the hard drive to be backed up for secure storage, but certainly you can put a file on there with your specific secure data back up.

I know Geek Squad has this, I think Google has something like that. I would check Yahoo too.

[PigsDad Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PigsDad]

I agree w/ Vintner -- there are plenty of companies offering secure, online storage services. They will provide the encryption and backup protection that would be needed for your use. Standard online email accounts are weak on encryption.

The other option would be to burn CDs / DVDs periodically and store them at a different physical location. Safety deposit box, or even at your place of work would be a decent backup.

But with any kind of manual backup, it is only good if you consistently keep up with it. The online solution would most likely be easier to do, and therefore more likely to be updated more frequently.

Kurt

[dale7 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dale7]

I would not depend on a fireproof safe. In the Oakland hills fire which burned very hot there was nothing left in a few of the safes.

[CarolF Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close CarolF]

Thanks for the info everyone .

Seems I will need to investigate some more options. I wasn't aware of the online secure storage systems so I will certainly follow them up. The fire safe wasn't appealing, I am concerned that it wouldn't withstand the temperatures and also getting access afterwards could be problematic if there is a lockdown on the area (the Aussie locations were declared a crime-scene). I'd forgotten about the old fashioned bank safety deposit box too.

[basham Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close basham]

Since we seem to have gotten away from the online aspect, When I first went down to the Big Smoke I wore a money belt.

Now I use a varient of that and have my passwords, account details, essencial spreadsheets on a usb drive that I wear around my neck sometimes . If I wanted to have it with me at all times I'd put it on my keyring.

There is still that old fashioned alternative of keeping it with you, although putting in a number of places also appeals.

[basham Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close basham]

I was looking around tonight where I have posted.

Between my last posting here and now, I ran across adrive.com, and have copied my timesharing information to it.

Some years of knowlege are still on the usb drive but also on adrive, which is recommended.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

There are companies that rent storage space on there system that allows you to store your information. It is usually to allow the hard drive to be backed up for secure storage, but certainly you can put a file on there with your specific secure data back up.

I know Geek Squad has this, I think Google has something like that. I would check Yahoo too.

Geek Squad and Dell have limited space and MobileMe too and they are expensive for additional space. We use Carbonite (unlimited space) for our Mac and PCs and MobileMe (iDisk) for the Mac and iPhone. Both use encryption for backing up so should be safe or secure over the internet. In that case, you could make photo images of your important documents and store them in your computer and they will get backed up automatically by Carbonite but not by MobileMe. You have to load them up to your iDisk yourself. This is why I use Carbonite for everything now. We had two crashes in one week (a computer HD and an external HD too) so we learned our lesson.