ARE YOU LEAVING A DIGITAL WILL?

Most of us have lots of downloads and information stored online, but what would happen if you died? We look at how important it is to leave a digital will.

MAKING YOUR DIGITAL WILL LEGAL.

Security for online data has deliberately become more complicated in order to thwart hackers. Some accounts need numerous passwords, codes sent to mobiles and physical keycards to access them. But if you leave the correct legal procedures in place, your family and friends should also be able to access your accounts.

You could of course, simply write down all your passwords and give it to your next of kin, but this poses a security risk. One way to safely pass on your details is to include in your will details of which relative or friend should have access to each account.

WHAT ABOUT BIOMETRIC TECHNOLOGY?

The rise of biometric technology, which uses facial recognition and fingerprint scans, instead of traditional passwords, to identify the correct owner of an account. It’s one of the most secure alternatives to typed passwords, but it raises the question of what would happen if you died and access to your accounts became impossible.

Websites and services that use biometric logins have plans for getting people access to their accounts if the technology fails or is faulty, which usually involves a master password or a series of security questions. But that only works when the user is still alive.

We asked several companies that use biometric technology how families could access an account after the owner dies, but none of them had specific plans in place. It’s worrying that this technology effectively means peoples accounts will be permanently locked after they die.