Data Security

1. At a Glance

The messages you leave behind are among the most personal data there is. Here is how LastWithYou protects them:

• Letters & text records: stored encrypted with AES-256-GCM
• Videos, photos & audio: kept in a private area that cannot be reached by URL
• Account passwords: stored as irreversible hashes — even we cannot see them
• All traffic: encrypted with HTTPS
• Access: only you and the recipients you designate can view your records

2. Letter Encryption at Rest

Letters and text records are encrypted with AES-256-GCM before they are written to our database — the same encryption standard used by banks and government agencies.

• The encryption key is kept in a protected area separate from the web server's public files
• Even someone looking directly at the database would see only ciphertext
• Every record uses a unique random initialization vector, so identical letters produce different ciphertext

3. Encryption in Transit (HTTPS)

All communication between your browser and our servers is encrypted with TLS (HTTPS).

• HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) is enforced for one year, so browsers always use the encrypted connection
• Every upload — videos, photos, letters — travels only through this encrypted channel

4. How Files Are Stored

Uploaded videos, photos, audio, and documents are stored in a private area outside the web server's public directory.

• Files cannot be accessed directly by URL, even if someone knew the address
• File names are replaced with random tokens — original names cannot be guessed
• Files are only served after an access-permission check passes
• Server-side file permissions are restricted to the minimum necessary

Note: media files are protected by access control; the files themselves are not additionally encrypted. For highly sensitive text such as account passwords, we recommend using a letter (encrypted at rest) rather than a photo or document file.

5. Password Protection

Your account password is stored as a bcrypt one-way hash.

• It cannot be reversed to the original password — even our team cannot see it
• Login attempts are rate-limited to block brute-force attacks
• Password-reset links use single-use tokens that expire after a short time

6. Access Control — Who Can View Your Records?

• While you are here: only you can view and edit your own records
• At delivery time: each designated recipient receives their own private, unique link
• Recipients can only view the content assigned to them — never another recipient's records
• Every viewing is logged

7. Complete Deletion on Account Closure

When you close your account, all uploaded content files, recipient information, and memorial pages are deleted immediately. Your email address is anonymized, and no personal data remains except payment records we are legally required to keep. See our Privacy Policy for details.

8. Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Is it safe to leave sensitive information like email passwords in my legacy records?

Letters (text records) are encrypted at rest with AES-256, so we recommend leaving sensitive details such as account credentials as a letter. We do not recommend uploading passwords as photos or document files — files are protected by access control, but the files themselves are not encrypted.

Q. Can LastWithYou staff read my letters?

Letters are stored as ciphertext, so ordinary database access reveals nothing. Because the system must decrypt letters to deliver and display them, this is not full zero-knowledge encryption — but our policy is that staff never view member records, and every administrative view is separately logged.

Q. I have more questions.

We are happy to answer them — contact us anytime.