Show HN: DeadSwitch – Encrypted USB vault with dead man's switch

2 points

3 months ago

I built DeadSwitch after realizing that if I died tomorrow, my family would have no idea how to access any of my accounts, crypto wallets, or important documents.

$120 billion in Bitcoin has been permanently lost — most of it because the owner died without passing on access. That number haunts me.

DeadSwitch is a portable encrypted vault that runs entirely from a USB drive. No cloud required — your data never leaves your device unless you want it to.

How it works: - Store passwords, crypto wallets, financial accounts, documents, medical info, legal info, and personal video/audio messages - Assign specific items to specific beneficiaries (your spouse gets financials, your kids get personal messages) - Set a configurable check-in schedule — if you miss enough check-ins, it automatically delivers everything to the right people - Print an emergency card PDF for each beneficiary with instructions and a secret code

Tech: AES-256-GCM-SIV encryption, Argon2id key derivation, XChaCha20-Poly1305 for video/audio. Multi-platform (Windows, macOS, Linux). Open source.

Adding an optional $10/mo cloud vault backup for belt-and-suspenders protection.

Happy to answer any questions about the crypto/security implementation.

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