There are many different definitions for digital safety deposit boxes. Some people assume it’s a physical safety deposit box with a numeric key, while others think it’s an online password manager.

But what is a digital safety deposit box, and how does it work?

A digital safety deposit box is an online storage platform that helps you manage documents securely. It’s a highly encrypted digital vault that keeps sensitive information safe and allows you to share access to trusted loved ones or family members. Trustworthy is the most secure digital safety deposit box.

Digital safety deposit boxes allow you to store all of your vital documents in one central location. However, it’s important that you fully understand how they work and what you should store inside them. This ensures complete protection and organization of your most sensitive information.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

• What is a digital safety deposit box

• What is stored in a digital safety deposit box

• How do digital safety deposit boxes work

• If digital deposit boxes are trustworthy

• The features of a digital safety deposit box

• Digital safety deposit boxes vs physical safety deposit boxes

• Digital safety deposit boxes vs password managers

• When not to use a digital safety deposit box

• Examples of a digital safety deposit box

What Is A Digital Safety Deposit Box?

In simple terms, a digital safety deposit box is a modern tool that securely stores and manages your family’s important information. It’s the modern version of old-fashioned safety deposit boxes found at banks.

Nowadays, families have more documents than ever before. From financial documents to medical papers, organizing everything is challenging and inconvenient. 

A digital safety deposit box offers an innovative solution as families are looking to move away from paper-based systems. Rather than having important documents scattered throughout your household, you can digitize them and store them online in a digital safe deposit box. 

Therefore, a digital vault is the most comprehensive solution if you want to safeguard your family’s information, plan your family’s assets, or share important documents.

What Is Stored In A Digital Safety Deposit Box?

Although you can’t store physical items such as family heirlooms and cash inside of a digital safety deposit box, there are dozens of items you can store.

These items include:

• Life insurance

• Home insurance

• Car insurance

• Wills 

• Medical records

• Legal documents

• Medical care guidance

• Emergency babysitter instructions

• Social Security, 401(k)s, and pensions

• Marriage license

• Stocks and bonds

• Checkings and savings accounts

• 519 college savings

• Financial planning information

• Mortgage documents

• Passports and Social Security IDs

• Driver’s licenses

• Usernames and passwords for online accounts

• Business contracts and patents

• Family photo albums

• List of locations for physical items

In essence, you can store digital copies of anything you want inside of your digital safety deposit box.

How Do Digital Safety Deposit Boxes Work?

A digital safety deposit box acts as a digital vault where you can store essential information. Digital vaults let you upload documents and place them in organized folders based on what type of information a document contains. You can also digitize documents by scanning them with a flatbed scanner, photocopier, camera, or phone.

Digitizing your documents creates a picture of the document that you’re saving. Then, you can access the picture and review the document whenever and wherever you need it. 

For example, let’s pretend you need your partner’s passport number to book international flights for a future vacation. Instead of hassling your partner and asking them to send it, you can log in to your digital safety deposit box and find a digitized copy of their passport. As long as the passport was previously uploaded, you can access it at any time.

This is the core essence of how a digital safety deposit box works. It offers a convenient and secure way of storing, managing, and organizing all of your family’s crucial information. Best of all, you don’t have to rely on physical storage. Instead, you can access your digital safety deposit box from a phone or computer from anywhere in the world.

Are Digital Deposit Boxes Trustworthy?

Digital safety deposit boxes are highly encrypted with advanced security protocols and features. As such, they are extremely trustworthy and safe to store information inside.

The best digital safety deposit boxes prioritize security due to the nature of storing information online. There is no shortage of hackers and people looking to steal data, so digital vaults need to provide as much protection as possible. 

For this reason, digital safe deposit boxes use multiple techniques to ensure nobody else can access your information. These techniques include 256-bit encryption, aliasing, audits, and receiving security certifications. 

Furthermore, a digital safety deposit box provider will never share or sell your information without your permission. 

Features of A Digital Safety Deposit Box

A digital safety deposit box offers ample storage space, accessibility, sharing capabilities, and state-of-the-art security.

With ample storage space, you can upload as much information as you’d like. You can expect 30 to 75 GB of vault storage space with Trustworthy, the most advanced digital safety deposit box.

A digital safety deposit box’s sharing capabilities allow you to share specific documents with specific people. For example, you can share your family photo album with your entire family. However, you can choose only to share your financial documents with your partner.

However, a digital vault’s best features are its convenience, accessibility, and organization. Digital safety deposit boxes allow you to keep all your documents in relevant storage sections or folders. This way, you can easily access whatever document you need at any time.

As I covered the security features a safety deposit box offers in the previous section, you know that security is the number one priority of any competent digital storage software. 

Digital Safety Deposit Box vs Physical Safety Deposit Box

The key difference between a digital safety deposit box and a physical safety deposit box is apparent in their names. One offers digital storage, while the other offers physical storage. Furthermore, you can access a digital safety deposit box from anywhere in the world, while you can only access a physical safety deposit box at your bank. 

Physical safety deposit boxes are a great place to store your important documents after digitizing them into a digital safety deposit box. However, it’s essential to upload your information to a digital vault before storing it in a physical safety deposit box. This is because it’s highly inconvenient to run to your bank every time you need to review a document.

Another key difference between the two storage options is that you can store tangible items like family heirlooms and collectibles in a physical safety deposit box. Although you can store cash in a physical safety deposit box, it’s not recommended because the contents of your safe deposit box are not insured by the bank or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

Let’s discuss the pros and cons of a physical safety deposit box:

Physical Safety Deposit Box Pros

• A cost-effective way to keep valuables private and safe

• Offers more security than a home safe

Physical Safety Deposit Box Cons

• Small and can only hold a few items

• Must keep track of your key

• You don’t have 24/7 access

• Items are not automatically insured

• Items can still get damaged due to natural disasters and fires

• Items can still be stolen

Digital Safety Deposit Box vs Password Manager

Digital safety deposit boxes and password managers offer two different solutions. A password manager stores, generates, and manages passwords for local applications and online websites. On the other hand, you can use digital safety deposit boxes to upload and share information securely.

Digital safety deposit boxes are not equipped with a password manager. This means you can’t generate and auto-login to websites with a digital safety deposit box. Password managers such as 1Password and LastPass allow you to manage your passwords across all your accounts. 

Even if you have hundreds of accounts, all you need to remember for your password manager is your master password. With your master password, you can log in to your password manager and access all of your accounts. 

However, it’s essential to keep your master password safe. I recommend storing your master password inside a highly secure digital safety deposit box like Trustworthy. You can combine the use of a digital safety deposit box and a password manager for the most secure password management possible.

Let’s discuss the pros and cons of a password manager:

Password Manager Pros

• One master password for everything

• Automatically generate complex and unique passwords

• Advanced security features

• Works across multiple devices

• Sharing capabilities

• Offers unlimited passwords

• Can be combined with a digital safety deposit box 

Password Manager Cons

• Single sign-on poses a risk

• There’s a learning curve

• Password managers are a target for hackers

Should You Use A Digital Safety Deposit Box

Digital safety deposit boxes are ideal for families that want to easily access, organize, and securely share sensitive information. 

As such, digital safety deposit boxes are an excellent fit for:

• Adults who want to optimize their lives

• Married couples that want to share their lives together

• Parents who want to prioritize their children’s future

• Your aging parents who may be retired and making a plan for what comes next

• Families that want to stay connected and be prepared for all of life’s situations

• Individuals who are terminally ill and want to put their home in order

• First responders and servicemen and women in the military who face daily risks

• Families that live in regions with natural disasters, floods, wildfires, tornadoes, and hurricanes

For example, suppose you ever need to quickly access your financial documents, your partner’s medical care guidance, your partner’s social security number, or your child’s passport number. In that case, you can use a digital safety deposit box. 

When Not To Use A Digital Safety Deposit Box 

In the modern age we live in, everyone should use a digital safety deposit box. Solely using physical documents is highly unorganized, and you are at risk of losing or accidentally destroying them. Furthermore, you’re at risk of thieves stealing your sensitive information.

Digitizing your information is the only way to keep it secure and conveniently accessible. As such, there are inherently no situations of when not to use a digital safety deposit box. 

However, it’s important to use a digital safety deposit box correctly. You shouldn’t share documents with people you don’t trust. Also, you shouldn’t upload unimportant documents to your digital safety deposit box. Nonsensitive information can be kept on your computer or email account. 

Examples of Digital Safety Deposit Boxes

Now that you understand how digital safety deposit boxes work let’s discuss a few options.

1. Trustworthy

Trustworthy is an exceptionally secure digital safety deposit box that helps your family upload, collaborate on, and securely share sensitive information. It’s the Family Operating System® that offers customizable templates and categories to make organization a walk in the park.

This digital storage software offers a charming and straightforward interface that makes it simple to keep track of all your documents. Trustworthy features bank-level security with AES 256-bit encryption so you can have peace of mind knowing all of your information is secure. 

When you get started, Trustworthy walks you through a step-by-step process of what documents to upload and how to organize your information. Each plan comes with a 30-minute personalized onboarding session with a dedicated expert to show and teach you how to use the platform.

Key Features

Let’s discuss the key features Trustworthy offers as a digital safety deposit box:

Accessibility

The key feature any digital safety deposit box offers is 24/7 accessibility from any location. Trustworthy goes above and beyond by offering an iOS mobile app to make accessing your documents even more effortless. Nonetheless, you can access your Trustworthy account from any device using the browser website.

Instead of scrambling around your house and digging through filing cabinets to access your documents, you can simply log in to Trustworthy and find them. This level of convenience and accessibility is unmatched.

Furthermore, paper documents are vulnerable to getting lost or destroyed. It can be challenging or even impossible to replace them when this occurs. 

Security Protocols

Trustworthy features state of the art security tools such as biometric security, YubiKey, and granular sharing permission. Trustworthy also requires you to set up two-factor authentication. Once you enter your password, you’ll need to use a second code sent through SMS, voice verification, hardware security keys, or authenticator apps.

Security is the number one priority of Trustworthy. This software is designed to keep your information safe from breaches or other threats. Trustworthy works with multiple security providers to enhance the platform’s security architecture. 

Furthermore, Trustworthy has many compliance and security certifications, including:

• SOC2 & HIPAA

• PCI DSS Level 4

• McAfee TrustedSite Certified Secure

• Norton Secured by Verisign

• BBB Accreditation 

Organization

Trustworthy offers the best techniques to keep your documents organized and tidy inside its digital safety deposit box. After uploading your documents to the appropriate section, you’ll never have trouble finding them again.

Trustworthy has built-in sections to separate:

• Property documents

• Insurance policies

• Estate documents

• Emergency planning

• Family archives

• Bank accounts

• Passwords

• Family IDs

You can also create customizable templates to organize your family’s information the way you want. Best of all, your information will be stored at a single location. This means you’ll never lose your documents again and never forget where you placed them.

Sharing Capabilities

Trustworthy allows you to share your documents with whoever you choose. You can also connect your financial planner, lawyer, or other advisors to Trustworthy so they can easily access relevant information.

Limited sharing accessibility is a key feature of a digital safety deposit box.

2. Dropbox

Dropbox is an online storage platform that allows individuals, families, and companies to organize and share their information. This digital safety deposit box offers quality security features and ample storage space.

However, Dropbox lacks the guidance and structure that’s seen in Trustworthy. For example, unlike Trustworthy, Dropbox doesn’t offer a roadmap to help families gather their legal, medical, and financial documents. 

Dropbox is better suited to store extensive video and photo folders. In addition, Dropbox offers its Dropbox Vault, a pin-protected folder in your Dropbox account to store your most sensitive information. But you won’t be able to share documents inside of the Dropbox Vault. 

3. Google Drive

Google Drive is a cloud storage solution that makes sharing and collaborating on files and folders from multiple devices easy. However, Google Drive was not explicitly designed for family information management.

Instead, Google Drive is mainly used by companies and individuals to store informal documents and files. We believe that you can use Google Drive in unison with Trustworthy. You can store less sensitive information and miscellaneous files on Google Drive and store crucial documents on Trustworthy.

To guarantee the protection of these critical documents, I recommend using our digital storage platform Trustworthy (click to start your free trial).

Other Safety Deposit Box Resources

• Can I Give Someone Access to My Safety Deposit Box?

• Are Safety Deposit Boxes Fireproof?

• Do Safety Deposit Boxes Cost Money (Cost Breakdown)

• 7 Different Types of Safety Deposit Boxes in 2022

• Is A Safety Deposit Box Worth It? (Yes, Here's Why)

• I Lost My Safety Deposit Box Key: Now What?

• 5 Best Safety Deposit Box Alternatives (With Better Security)

• 7 Best Lock Boxes For Paperwork & Documents (2022)

• How To Find Safety Deposit Box of Deceased (Step-By-Step)