Securing the Physical Aspects of the Digital Estate
| Author | James Normington |
| Pages | 87-89 |
7 Securing the Physical
Aspects of the Digital
Estate
Security isn’t a dirty word, Blackadder.
Crevice is a dirty word.
General Lord Melchett, Blackadder Goes Forth
It is not surprising that probate practitioners and/or executors need to act
with all due diligence to secure the assets of the deceased. In the same way
that the personal representative and/or executor would physically lock the
deceased’s home and garage, so should they be conscious of the need to
secure the deceased’s digital estate.
There are a number of different matters to consider in terms of digital
security. It is helpful to consider the wholly digital risks to the deceased’s
estate in terms of hacking, spoofing, general malware and viral infections.
For further information on those digital matters, see 5.1.4.
In order to secure the digital estate we have to consider the deceased’s
digital pathways, and this will ultimately mean considering the deceased’s
physical hardware. The hardware is a vital part of the digital estate and is
often overlooked. It is the repository of information which, if it can be
secured and accessed, can lead to meaningful insight into the deceased’s
habits and show the probate practitioner the deceased’s digital pathways
from beyond the grave.
7.1 Securing hardware and devices
Recommended precautions that should be taken to prevent unauthorised
access to the decedent’s accounts include taking physical custody of
smartphones, laptops, computers and hard drives. If the practitioner does
not wish to physically take these items of hardware into their custody, it is
essential to restrict access. Restricting access may take one of two forms:
first, the hardware may be physically locked up or otherwise secured in a
property or, second, the access information may be erased from the
device’s history. Erasing the information means deleting usernames and
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