Condensing Your Life on to a USB Flash Drive? 888
Fear the Clam asks: "My wife and I figure that if we plan for the worst, it'll never happen, so we've been putting together 'If public transportation bites it and we have two minutes to grab our stuff and start walking, never to return to NYC' getaway knapsacks. With luck they'll live in the closet forever.
Coincidently, this morning the New York Times has an article about what to take when you have to leave home in a big hurry [DNA verification required], and they suggest making a list of all of things like Social Security and credit card numbers, scanning birth certificates, marriage license and tax returns, and saving it all on a USB flash drive. Since this would be a complete identity kit, encryption is of utmost importance. What's the best solution? A flash drive that claims to encrypt or a platform-independent, self-extracting, encrypted file on a regular drive? Any suggestions for sturdy drives?" Of course, the choice of USB flash drive covers only a part of the problem. What other data would you put on this piece of "contingency hardware", and how would you protect the drive itself in case you did have to "swim for it"?
Living in the other target city (DC) (Score:5, Insightful)
What's the best solution? (Score:3, Insightful)
Encryption (Score:5, Insightful)
hrm.... (Score:2, Insightful)
Computer Acess? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I'd take a backup of my backup. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:stick it on the web (Score:3, Insightful)
If you live in New York though, it's a good alternitive. The only kind of problems that I can think of that would make you need to flee New York and make data stored in San Fransisco irretreivable are the sort of problems after which you don't need your identity anyway.
Safe Deposit Box? (Score:4, Insightful)
Really, why make it so complex by trying to put everything on USB drive and trying to figure out what encryption's best and scanning everything and...and...and... It's a waste of time.
Re:Living in the other target city (DC) (Score:3, Insightful)
Indeed. Besides, any (unforseen) situation that would render a major metro area uninhabitable probably means you aren't getting out alive anyways. If New Orleans couldn't be properly evacuated with several days notice, getting out of the beltway would be pretty damn tough. New York would be impossible.
Re:Linus Torvalds' Solution (Score:4, Insightful)
Encrypt it and send it to your gmail account, your Yahoo briefcase, and maybe your hotmail account. Not to mention storing it on your USB drive.
BTW your best bet for security for your USB drive is physical security. If you are really worried about someone taking it carry a spare full of fake data.
Re:Computer Acess? (Score:2, Insightful)
If somehow that manages to get lost, anyone who is going to offer assistance that would require proof of identity is going to have a reasonably late-model computer with USB ports.
As for laminated copies, they have no security at all, and when you think of the stuff you'd need, you could
carry dozens of USB drives more conveniently. In fact, that's a good idea--having several drives with the info would provide a good level of redundancy.
Re:contents (Score:5, Insightful)
all of which leads me to the following question.
Why not just upload encrypted versions of this info to your YAHOO mail, and have it there in a folder "personal stuff", as attachments? That way, you don't depend on just the USB drive? Yeah, the USB would also be good for redundancy, but the easiest access is probably by YAHOO mail, and it automatically scans for malware as it goes.
Re:If there's a (thermo)nuclear attack... (Score:2, Insightful)
The theoretical electromagnetic pulse effect would hypothetically be created by a multimegaton nuclear explosion in suborbital space in which a massive burst of hard radiation interacts with the upper atmosphere. This is pure science fiction.
In real life, the electrical-magnetic coupling effect of a hard radiation burst from a nuclear explosion is all absorbed by the stuff -- buildings, people, air --within the actual blast radius itself. Meaning that if your computer is close enough to a nuclear detonation to be harmed by a voltage spike from an electrical-magnetic couple effect, you will be very disappointed for however many milliseconds it takes for your computer to be reduced to atoms by the blast.
Re:PGP (Score:3, Insightful)
Family photos. (Score:5, Insightful)
Apart from my wanting these images to survive, they are an important part of my children's and my extended family's legacy.
Re:Living in the other target city (DC) (Score:5, Insightful)
If DC is your home, and it gets wiped off the map, let's just hope that you survive. And if you do survive, you'd certainly be glad to have anything that you did manage to bring with you.
Re:contents (Score:5, Insightful)
Dan East
Useless-get copies from the authorities! (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:contents -- Wear Glasses or Contacts? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Living in the other target city (DC) (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Just Plain Stupid (Score:3, Insightful)
How about we reverse this and wonder why our credit cards and other valuable information AREN'T more secure, so that life wouldn't suck so bad when you lose your wallet/purse. Thankfully, some companies are starting to wise up, but many things are still way too vulnerable.
Re:contents (Score:3, Insightful)
Scenario A: The world is totally fucked -- having a scan of your 8 year old DL and passport, plus three litres of pure water, can trade for a pack of smokes.
Scenario B: The world's fine, but your house is destroyed -- w00t. You have a scanned copy of your passport. Try to use that anywhere. Try to use a scanned copy of your birth certificate to get a new passport. Ain't nuthin doin. Maybe --MAYBE-- if there's some change in rules to enable similar people in your situation, but since most of 'em won't have scanned copies anyhow, what's the point?
The real lesson here is not to digitize and encrypt your documents, but to keep them in a centralized location in your house (preferably that's small, waterproof, and fireproof), so you can grab 'em in a hurry, and/or if you have to leave them (at work when the shit hits the fan?), they have a decent chance of survival.
Re:Living in the other target city (DC) (Score:4, Insightful)
People tend to think of the "worse case scenerio," but it often falls short of this. Yes, escape with your life, but remember that at some point you'll likely want to rebuild it in a civilized society.
The living victims of the Tsunami, Katrina and Cherynobl all had to rebuild their lives. The living victims of Hiroshima and Dresden all had to rebuild their lives. Even the jews who survived Aushwitz had to rebuild their lives.
Short of total world destruction or your personal death, you will need to rebuild yours as well. It would be easier to do if you could convince your insurance company to cut you a check for your obliterated house.
TW
Re:Just Plain Stupid (Score:3, Insightful)
Nobody said anything about a nuclear war, you fucking moron. Nobody's really afraid of a nuclear war any more. What people are afraid of, and with good reason, are things like hurricanes, tsunamis and 9/11s. In the case of a hurricane, you'll have several days' notice; in the case of a tsunami, you'll have hours. In the case of a 9/11, you'll have no warning at all, but if you're a survivor you might want or need to get out of town after the fact. If the attack includes a nuclear or radiological component, you might need to get out of town in order to be safe.
Hurricane Katrina taught like five million people to be prepared. Here's a guy who's trying to be prepared, and your upbraiding him? You fucking moron. You motherfucking moron.
Re:Computer Acess? (Score:3, Insightful)
When the shit hits the fan they will have a fair chance of making it through but you might have to take off for a while until the situation calms down... or you may be away from home... or home may become a smoking pile of rubble...
In those cases the original documents may not be accessable or even in a safe location may end up destroyed. In that case copies are your friend. Highly portable copies are even better... that is what makes the USB or DVR idea attractive... once you collect the files there isn't anything that prevents you from putting a copy in the safe with the original documents... a copy in your bug-out bag and a copy in your normal commute bag.
Maybe it is because I was a boy scout... maybe it is just because I am a geek and we tend to get in to planning for things like this... but I have 3 kits.
A fairly extensive kit for sheltering in place at home that will keep me quite happy for about 14 days.
A bug-out bag that lives in the trunk of my car. If I have to go in a hurry I can just run. It is portable so if I had to leave the car I could still bring it with me with out being overly encumbered, it will keep me comfortable for about 5 days with out external support or a motel with room service.
A micro kit that lives in my daily commute bag. Nobody wants to have an 80lb backpack with them all the time, but it is still a good idea to have some minimum items with you... micro first aid kit... flash light... radio... leatherman charge... snacky kinda food / emergency food bars... It would be pretty spartan but with some water it would keep me going long enough to get home or to my car. I really should keep a bottle of water in my commute bag but I keep drinking it.
thumbdrive (Score:1, Insightful)
Pelican case for storage (Score:1, Insightful)
They also make larger cases often used to protect sensitive equipment from harse environments. Their cases are designed to be waterproof and bomb proof. They have air pressure valves to compensate for changes in air pressure, and they can withstand a car driving over them.
Very tough stuff, i'd try their small case to protect a usb key with that kind of info on it. It should keep such a key protected from pretty much everything. And if you have other things to protect you'd probably want to look at their normal size cases.
no whining. (Score:1, Insightful)
Once your data is crypted with your
Other small valuable items (Score:5, Insightful)
If you can find one, a hand-crank flashlight with super-bright white LED bulbs and a hand-crank radio would be good too. An unusual item that might be useful would be a software program for the USB keychain that has a 10000-word English/Spanish dictionary/phrase book. A PDF file of wild edible plants (with photos and drawings) would be more useful than a cannibal cookbook.
Don't encrypt! (Score:2, Insightful)
Blowfish hasn't been broken yet.... (Score:1, Insightful)
might be fried, the program you used my implement the encryption in a strange way, so you need that software too.
Not to mention if the shit really hit the fan, who cares about that kind of data anyway. Make up a new name for yourself
and move on.
Data Wills? (Score:2, Insightful)
We decided that we'd each get a USB thumb drive and put a password protected RAR file that contains a text document that includes login/passwords to all our personal accounts, lists of online acquaintances who should be informed of our passing and details of our desires for what will be done with personal hardware and data. We've then taped the thumbdrive to the inside of the case of our main desktop computer. We then appointed another person in the group to be our guardian, to then come and retrieve the drive and carry out our wishes.
It's all ad-hoc for now, but when I get around to making a real will, I want to include this as a clause and make it 'official'.
Opinions?
Re:Living in the other target city (DC) (Score:4, Insightful)
Walk seems to be correct. However since the army will be al over it, and there is more terrorist threat, you will be shot trying to leave a suspect area. By foot is most dangerous, a bus might be more appropiate.
If you do not believe me look a New Orleans. Many people failed to leave the area in the days after because roads were close by men with guns. And in that case there was no terrorist threath.
So make sure you have a stash of money to buy your way out of a disaster area. That is worth far more than your encrypted
Storing that data encrypted on the internet on a offshore site might help you not to worry about picking up that usb stick.
Re:Living in the other target city (DC) (Score:4, Insightful)
Burning that and sending it to your parents and in laws is a minor charge and can prove usefull. Even only for a regular robbery.
Of course, if the earth was to explode, I woudn't care about that stuff anymore. But life is not all black and white. Most of the time, it is grayish.
Re:I would think that... (Score:2, Insightful)
I accidentally put my pen drive through the washing machine. Then the tumble dryer. It was lovely and dry when it came out, but the USB plug had been broken off the board.
Quick soldering job later and I plugged it in, to find all my data intact.
Definitely more robust than a floppy disk. Comparatively, looking at them in the wrong way was enough to corrupt them at times.
Re:Living in the other target city (DC) (Score:4, Insightful)
I do assume that even in a mild emergency a USB key would be useless. Heck, the Florida storm shelters are pretty much the best case emergency situation and a USB key is pointless while there. A good marine ziplock bag (or just a freezer bag) stuffed with some documents and tucked into a small bag you carry with you is a hell of a lot more useful. Keep them stored at all times in a waterproof bag and you might get lucky and avoid having them turned to pulp when the fire department floods your house to put out the fire in the next room over. Mine are in a freezer bag in the file cabinet I keep my records in. Need to leave? Grab the bag out of the folder.
If your house burns down you have aid workers helping you replace your documents, and I don't see that having them scanned on a USB key is any better than photocopying them and handing or mailing them to a trusted friend or family. And if you don't have someone you can trust like that, that's step one, way before you get a USB key.
--
Evan
Yes but (Score:1, Insightful)
too much paper and crap in our lives (Score:2, Insightful)
Government requires too darn much record-keeping these days. If the pioneers were required to retain as much paper as we do for taxes and the like, the US would still be stuck on the east side of the Mississippi River. Can't we just cut through the regulation burden and get rid of all that crap in our lives? If I want to escape from a natural or man-made disaster with the things that are necessary/important to me, I sure as heck hope I'd be grabbing kids, pets, food/clothes/gun (depending if it's an apocalypse), and a few treasured keepsakes rather than tax returns, licenses, and paperwork. Anyone else yearning for a more libertarian society or is it just me?
That said, the article did have make some good points. A "bug out" bag is a wise idea (as is a bomb shelter - y'all have one of them too, right?). Thank goodness for technology, so that all the important "crap" can be reduced to a USB stick. I deal with information so much better if I don't have to mess with the physicality of the (paper) records. (Yes, my natural filing system is heaps and stacks. Thank God for my wife or I wouldn't be able to find my desk.) I think the advice about medical records was the most useful. Now that's something I'd want if I had to pick up and move fast.
Re:I'd take a backup of my backup. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I'd take a backup of my backup. (Score:3, Insightful)
I've lost count how many times my little 128 MB Dell has made the trip through the washing machine. It works fine. My 512 MB Lexar drive had to be replaced when I was troubleshooting someone else's computer and it stopped working. Lexar replaced it without any problems. Now, if we had that scale of a problem. Take my advice. Don't worry, don't keep anything on you except your driver's license. You'll be taken care by the red cross and the feds will have declared marshal law and everyone in the nation will be issued biometric ID cards anyway. If your rich, you should have a vacation home in an out of the way local that isn't on anyone's hit list. If you aren't rich, the best thing to do is try not to live in any major high profile cities or political points. I'd think Mt. RushMore http://www.nps.gov/moru/ [nps.gov] and The Statue of Liberty http://www.nps.gov/stli/ [nps.gov] would be better targets than anything else though.
Goal isn't to kill people. It is to creat mass choas, panic and terror. I'd target New York City's Water Supply System http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/watersup.html [nyc.gov] rather than the city itself. The panic and terror that would create would be much more than if NYC was wiped off the face of the map.
Re:I'd take a backup of my backup. (Score:2, Insightful)
I have used this method in the past with the old buckling spring keyboards... Someone spills coffee in one, you submerge it in warm water with Dawn dish detergent and swish it around a bit, then rinse, then submerge in alcohol (this is back in the day when a keyboard was much more expensive that 4 or 5 bottles of rubbing alcohol) then take it out, let it dry for an hour or two and plug it in. *THAT* I have done many, many times with no problem. Never a short, never a rusted spring.
Re:If there's a (thermo)nuclear attack... (Score:2, Insightful)
From Wikipedia:
The majority of the on-board avionics was based on vacuum tube technology, not solid-state electronics. Though the Mig-25's electronics were ridiculed in the West, many experts found it ingenious and quite practical to use vacuum tubes as they were less suceptible to radiation compared to transistor technology in case of nuclear warfare
Re:Cool Desert Island discs for survivalist geeks (Score:2, Insightful)
Besides, if I save my wife, the world gets a quantum chemist with teaching experience. Plus it's in a pretty package. Fall of year twelve we open the first university back up. ;)
--
Evan
Not just swim for it... (Score:3, Insightful)
Nuclear blast areas: (20 megatons at 17,500 ft airburst)
8.5 miles - vaporized.
35 miles - 15% dead, 50% injured. Cite [serendipity.li]
??? miles - EMP so strong that internal components of chips melt. Cite [fas.org]
Hmm. Paper seems safer, easier to deal with without computers. And if I live, so does the data. Anyway, it's not likely someone would get a 20 megaton bomb. More likely 10 Kt to 1 Mt. Revise that for "Best be more than 50 miles away." Make that 150 miles for a 20 megaton.
Can I go live on a planet where we don't have this madness?
Re:In case of emergency, scream... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Cloned start-up drive (Score:2, Insightful)
I've heard the same distorted, egocentric behavior from IT managers in DRP meetings over and over. Back up in 24 hours my ass.
Re:My objection to the article: (Score:2, Insightful)
I know that; and you know that, but you'd have to be an idiot to explain it to the guy who's willing to give you ammo and food for gold, now wouldn't you?
The stuff doesn't have any real value now, except for that fact that some people think it does. Read Thoreau's "Life Without Principle." He deals with this very issue in it.
KFG
Re:Fireproof files only have to resist 451 F! (Score:3, Insightful)
Nobody has mentioned EMP. Those flash drives will probably all be garbage in the case of a nuke, even if you survive.