By Emma Wong

Oh no! A disaster has struck your home and all of your important documents are gone forever! How do you prevent losing your information in the future? The answer is a digital emergency kit.

A digital emergency kit is a collection of your most important documents stored electronically. This way, it doesn’t matter if the original, physical copies get destroyed or lost. Everything is easily accessible to you online at any time from anywhere, saving you a lot of headache and stress in case something unfortunate does happen.

What specific documents should I store digitally?

There is no exact list you should follow, so it is recommended to just digitize whatever information or items you feel like you would hate to lose in a disaster.

Below are some common examples.

For things you can’t store electronically, such as jewelry, bags, collectibles, and other valuables, take multiple, clear photos with different angles and then digitize those photos. To have proof of ownership, take additional photos of yourself holding the items or of any receipts you may still have. Insurance claims can take a long time if you can’t prove who you are, what you owned, or what it’s worth. Having these photos in your kit can get you your coverage sooner.

But where online should I store all of these things, and how will I know that my private information won’t get hacked?

You should keep your digital emergency kit in the cloud. Popular services like Dropbox, Amazon Cloud Drive, and Google Drive allow you to store your information digitally on their networks. Lots of photos and videos may also already be online on your phone or websites like Shutterfly or Snapfish. As for hackers, you can keep your kit safe by looking into encryption and having multiple authentication factors. Don’t put everything in one place and don’t have only one person handling the passwords. Spread your things across multiple clouds and discuss how to access your kit with trusted people such as your spouse, children or parents. 

Does building a digital emergency kit take a long time?

Packing your digital emergency kit can happen in one afternoon, but you have to maintain it over time. Whenever you have new documents or updates to older ones, add them to your kit. To further prevent the risk of getting hacked, change your passwords once or twice a year. But make sure that your trusted people still know how to access the information.

Taking each photo and digitizing each document might seem like overkill, but it’s definitely worth your time, just in case. It’s better to be prepared and not have something happen then to have something happen and not be prepared. It doesn’t hurt to pack a digital emergency kit. Your future self will thank you!