The Death Envelope: a Medieval Solution to a 21st Century Problem

Architecture and Background

DEF CON 16 - Matt Yoder: The Death Envelope: A Medieval Solution to a 21st Century Problem While many aftercare solutions and recommendations cover "average American" needs, none have tackled, full-on, the needs of the rapidly growing high tech segment of the population. As the amount of passwords and other secret "brainspace-only" information grows for many, many, individuals, it becomes obvious that a solution is needed for the dispensation of this information in the event of one's death or extreme disablement.

Vulnerability Analysis

It turns out that this solution may be the humble paper envelope. This talk begins to examine an approach to handle this problem, offering many suggestions, from the extremely reliable low-tech end, through hybrid and high tech solutions to the problem.

Exploitation and Demonstrations

It covers, as well, recommendations for what to include in one's envelope, and how to ensure its safety, security, and integrity. It also discusses why a wax stamp, sealed by a signet ring, no less, may still offer the best envelope tamper detection that exists.

Remediation and Defensive Strategies

Matt Yoder brings more than 15 years of general IT experience to this talk, including extensive time in systems administration of all flavors, including multiple forms of network devices. He has also spent time, in multiple stints, performing direct security consulting, including assessment and auditing, security systems support, and firewall deployment. When this experience is combined with a love of pen and paper, a detailed examination of the Death Envelope is the result. He currently spends his days, and earns something resembling an income, assisting with server administration for a major University in Colorado, which prefers to go unnamed. For copies of the slides and additional materials please see the DEF CON 16 Archive here: