Security update
Why Card 1 Has Special Authority
TL;DR
- Cards 1A and 1B carry the Owner Share. With card 1 (or your typed 24 words) you open the vault at once.
- Every owner unlock restarts the Owner Timelock. Without card 1, the other cards are the estate and open the vault only after the timelock has run out.
- You keep full control while alive. Your heirs get a safe, delayed path after you are gone.
Any 2 of 3 cards open the Vault Drive
Shown for the six card set: numbers 1, 2 and 3. A pair of cards takes one of two paths.
Owner path
A pair that includes card 1, or your typed 24 words, opens the vault at once.
Estate path
A pair without card 1 is the estate. In the design, it waits for the Owner Timelock to run out.
Owner path and estate path
Any set of cards that includes card 1 opens the vault at once. A set without card 1 is the estate. It opens only after the Owner Timelock, our name for the Owner Alive Check, has run out.
A dead man switch
Every owner unlock restarts the timelock clock. Heirs cannot restart it. As long as you keep opening your vault, the estate path stays closed.
Holders cannot open it early together
Two heirs with their cards and the PIN cannot open the vault before the timelock ends in the Citadel Vault application. Our design goes further: the card itself will enforce the wait, so it cannot be bypassed outside the application.
Card level enforcement is part of the design and is still being built.
Clear custody
Setup refuses to hand cards 1A and 1B to anyone but the owner.
Owner only actions
Making a later backup (B) card set needs the main cards, including 1A. In our proposed design, shortening or switching off the timelock needs a secret that only the owner's vault can make, never the heirs' cards.
Emergency override
All shares together can still open the vault.
After the release
Once the timelock has really run out, the estate becomes the owner and may make a new card set.
Your six Vault Cards
Your box holds six black Vault Cards in two sets of three. Each number is one card twice: the A card and its B copy.
Note: six cards (2 of 3) is the Vault Core set. Vault Pro and Vault Pro+ owners have ten Vault Cards: a 3 of 5 share set, five A cards and five B copies.
Main set (A)
Card 1A is the owner card.
Backup set (B)
A spare copy of each main card. Keep it in a different place.
How the B set relates to the A set
A B card is a spare copy of the same card: 1B holds the same share as 1A, so 1A and 1B are one card twice. It is not a separate set with different secrets. A card from the A set and a card from the B set work together, so 1A with 3B opens the vault just as 1A with 3A does.
The B set is for losing or damaging a card. With a second copy of every number, one lost or broken A card does not lock anyone out, and the estate path survives it too. Each copy is written and checked against its main card.
Both sets are made when you set up your vault. In the design, a backup set can also be made later from your main cards, and that needs card 1A.
Where to keep them: store the A set and the B set in separate places, and never keep two cards of the same set in one place.
Questions?
Email us at vault@citadelvault.org or book a free call with our team.