Is the family plan as secure for each member as it would be if they had individual accounts?

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photog
photog
Community Member

I am considering updating to Version 7. Is there a master password for each member of the family? Is security for member #1's vault still secure if member #2's vault is compromised? Is the family plan as secure for each member as it would be if they had individual accounts? This is important as different people have different sensitivity to security which could result in a breach of a members vault.


1Password Version: Not Provided
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: OSX 10.14.1
Sync Type: Not Provided

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  • photog
    photog
    Community Member
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    Should I conclude that the family plan is not as secure for each member as it could be if they had individual plans.

  • Ben
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    @photog

    The only things I think may be worth mentioning here are:

    1. Familiy organizers have recovery abilities, so if an organizer could also gain access to a family member’s email account it is possible they could perform the recovery process and gain access to the family member’s account.
    2. Organizers can add themselves to shared vaults. They never have access to anyone else’s personal vault, but any shared vaults can be accessed by the family organizer if they add themselves to it.
    3. At the end of the day organizers do have “all the keys to the castle.” They aren’t allowed to use them, but it is within the realm of possibility if they were able to obtain their keys and also obtain someone else’s encrypted data that they could decrypt it. There are a number of safeguards in place to make sure this doesn’t happen, and as far as I’m aware no one has ever been able to prove they could do it, but it is theoretically possible.

    In short there is some level of trust required between folks who are part of a family membership together. If that trust doesn’t exist it is probably wiser to utilize separate individual accounts.

    Ben

  • photog
    photog
    Community Member
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    Thank you Ben. I was not thinking of distrust between members of the family. I do have concern in the event one member inadvertently exposes their 1password. If that were to occur would that exposure compromise other family members vaults. I think I now understand that this cannot happen unless the member whose 1password is exposed is the organizer and even then there is only a very remote possibility. Is that correct. Sorry to persist on this question but it is about security.

  • Ben
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    That sounds about right, @photog. :) Obviously the ideal situation would be for everyone to protect their credentials adequitely but a non-organizer family member being compromised is probably not the end of the world for the other family members (obviously that is a very bad day for the compromised family member). Certainly anyone who you do not trust to protect their credentials should not be made an organizer.

    Ben

  • photog
    photog
    Community Member
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    Got it. The single point of failure for all is the organizer.

  • Ben
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    An organizer being compromised would be a bad day for the others that are part of the membership, yes. A compromised organizer could delete the membership.

    Ben

This discussion has been closed.