Preparing for the unexpected, or the inevitable, is never comfortable or easy. But for the sake of our loved ones and those who depend on us, thinking ahead to what they need should something happen to us is essential. And with all that we do online these days to manage our lives, it’s critical that we think ahead about the accounts and logins that others would need in order to carry out our final wishes and manage day-to-day life in our absence.
If something were to happen to you, would the people who depend on you have the passwords they need? Do you worry about your partner, spouse, family or friends not having access to important accounts, like paying bills or the mortgage? Have you given thought to how you want your digital legacy managed?
Adding someone as an Emergency Access contact requires that they have a LastPass account. This is due to the way that the encryption and security work. LastPass never wants to have access to a user’s vault, so having your Emergency Access contact create an account allows the secure encryption keys to be generated without passing that data to LastPass. If your trusted contact does not yet have a LastPass account, we will help you send them an invitation for them to join LastPass, so that you can then add them as an Emergency Access contact.
Requesting Emergency Access is straightforward, but should only be done in the case of a true emergency. If you simply want to share logins with another user, check out our Shared Family Folder feature instead. Emergency Access is only intended to be used after an unexpected event that would require you to actually manage and control someone’s vault, rather than just share passwords, so it merits careful consideration before being activated.
The 30 seconds it takes to set up Emergency Access is more than worth the pain and headache it will spare your loved ones. By thinking through who would need access to your vault should something happen to you and setting up Emergency Access in advance, you’re taking a critical step to ensure that your loved ones can not only carry out your final wishes, but can also manage day-to-day life in your absence.
Secure your Digital Will with Emergency Access
LastPass Emergency Access offers an easy way to give others the passwords and logins they'd need to manage accounts on your behalf after an unexpected emergency or death. With Emergency Access, you can prepare for the unexpected and ensure your loved ones don't get locked out of important accounts. In the event of an emergency or crisis, your designated Emergency Access contact(s) can request access to your account and securely receive the passwords and notes stored in your vault. We’ve talked before about the importance of a Digital Will, and how LastPass can help you think through that process and create one for your loved ones. LastPass helps you collect all the important passwords, files, and other pieces of information that your loved ones would need, all in one convenient place. Because it’s all filed away and secure in your LastPass Vault, you can have the peace of mind that the information will be accessible when they need it, but is safe in the meantime. With Emergency Access, you decide how much time should pass before they're given access once they request it, and you can decline their request to access the vault if it's requested before it should be. Emergency Access can also be used as an alternative account recovery feature, if you worry about ever forgetting your master password and want to ensure you have a backup way of recovering your vault.Enabling Emergency Access
It only takes a few minutes to set up Emergency Access. Once you have everything in your vault that your loved ones would need - such as your passwords, account logins, and Secure Notes - you can set up your Emergency Access contact(s). Just designate your trusted contact from the Emergency Access tab in your vault.
Adding someone as an Emergency Access contact requires that they have a LastPass account. This is due to the way that the encryption and security work. LastPass never wants to have access to a user’s vault, so having your Emergency Access contact create an account allows the secure encryption keys to be generated without passing that data to LastPass. If your trusted contact does not yet have a LastPass account, we will help you send them an invitation for them to join LastPass, so that you can then add them as an Emergency Access contact.
Requesting Emergency Access
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