Emergency Access

Emergency Access enables users to designate and manage trusted emergency contacts, who may request access to their Vault with a configurable level of permissions.

How it Works

Emergency Access uses public key exchange and encryption/decryption to allow users to give a trusted emergency contact permission to access Vault data in a Zero Knowledge/Zero Trust environment:

1. A PassageWay user (the grantor) invites another PassageWay user to become a trusted emergency contact (the grantee). The invitation (valid for only 5 days) specifies a user access level and includes a request for the grantee’s public key.
2. Grantee is notified of invitation via email and accepts the invitation to become a trusted emergency contact. On acceptance, the grantee’s public key is stored with the invite.
3. Grantor is notified of acceptance via email and confirms the grantee as their trusted emergency contact. On confirmation, the grantor’s Master Key is encrypted using the grantee’s public key and stored once encrypted. Grantee is notified of confirmation.
4. An emergency occurs, resulting in grantee requiring access to grantor’s Vault. Grantee submits a request for emergency access.

5. Grantor is notified of request via email. The grantor may manually approve the request at any time, otherwise the request is bound by a grantor-specified wait time. When the request is approved or the wait time lapses, the public-key-encrypted Master Key is delivered to grantee for decryption with grantee’s private key.

6. Depending on the specified user access level, the grantee will either:
   • Obtain view/read access to items in the grantor’s Vault (View).
   • Be prompted to create a new Master Password for the grantor’s Vault (Takeover).

Trusted Emergency Contacts

Emergency Access relies on public key exchange within PassageWay, therefore trusted emergency contacts must be existing PassageWay users, or will be prompted to create a PassageWay account before they can accept an invitation.

A user’s status as a trusted emergency contact is tied to a unique PassageWay account ID, meaning that if a grantee changes their email address there is no reconfiguration required to maintain their emergency access. If a grantee creates a new PassageWay account and deletes the old account which had been specified as a trusted emergency contact, they will automatically be removed from the grantor’s list and must be re-invited.

There is no limit to the number of trusted emergency contacts a user can have.

User Access

Trusted emergency contacts can be granted one of the following user access levels:

• View: When an emergency access request is granted, this user is granted view/read access to all items in your personal Vault, including passwords of Login items.

  Tip

  As the grantor, you may revoke access to a grantee with View access at any time.

• Takeover: When an emergency access request is granted, this user can create a Master Password for permanent read/write access to your Vault (this will replace your previous Master Password). Takeover disables any Two-step Login Methods enabled for the account.

When the grantor is a member of an Organization, they will be automatically removed from any Organization(s) for which they are not an Owner. Owners will not be removed from or lose permissions to their Organization(s), however a Master Password Policy will be enforced on takeover if enabled. Policies that are not usually enforced on Owners (e.g. Two-step Login) will not be enforced on takeover.

Using Emergency Access

The following sections will walk you through establishing a trusted emergency contact, and executing on emergency access:

Invite a Trusted Emergency Contact

As a grantor, complete the following steps to invite a trusted emergency contact for your Vault:

1. Log in to the Web Vault.
2. Select Settings from the top navigation bar.
3. Select Emergency Access from the left-hand Settings menu.

4. Select the Add emergency contact button. In the Invite Emergency Contact window:

   

   • Enter the Email of your trusted emergency contact. Trusted emergency contacts must have PassageWay accounts of their own.
   • Set a User Access level for the trusted emergency contact (View-only or Takeover).
   • Set a Wait Time for Vault access. Wait Time dictates how long your trusted emergency contact must wait to access your Vault after initiating an emergency access request.
5. Select the Save button to send the invitation.

Accept an Invitation

As a grantee, complete the following steps to accept an invitation to become a trusted emergency contact:

1. In the received email invitation, select the Become emergency contact button in the email to open an Emergency Access acceptance page in your Browser:

   

2. Log in to your PassageWay account to accept the invitation. If you don’t already have a PassageWay account, you’ll need to create one.

Confirm an Accepted Invitation

As a grantor, complete the following steps to confirm an accepted invitation:

1. Log in to the Web Vault.
2. Select Settings from the top navigation bar.

3. Select Emergency Access from the left-hand Settings menu.

   In the Trusted emergency contacts section, the invited user should appear with an Accepted status card.

4. Hovering over the user, select the gear icon and select Confirm from the dropdown menu.

   

To ensure the integrity of your encryption keys, verify the displayed fingerprint phrase with the grantee before completing confirmation.

Initiate Emergency Access

As a grantee, complete the following steps to initiate an emergency access request:

1. Log in to the Web Vault.
2. Select Settings from the top navigation bar.
3. Select Emergency Access from the left-hand Settings menu.
4. In the Designated as emergency contact section, select the grantor whose Vault you wish to access.

5. In the Request Access window, select the Request Access button.

   

   You will be provided access to the grantor’s Vault after the configured Wait Time, or when the grantor manually approves the emergency access request.

Approve or Reject Emergency Access

As a grantor, you may manually approve or reject an emergency access request before the configured wait time lapses. Complete the following steps to approve or reject emergency access:

1. Log in to the Web Vault.
2. Select Settings from the top navigation bar.
3. Select Emergency Access from the left-hand Settings menu.
4. Hovering over the user with the Emergency Access Initiated status card, select the gear icon.
5. From the gear dropdown, select Approve or Reject.

Access Grantor’s Vault

As the grantee, complete the following steps to access the grantor’s Vault once your request has been approved (manually or through lapsed wait time):

1. Log in to the Web Vault.
2. Select Settings from the top navigation bar.
3. Select Emergency Access from the left-hand Settings menu.
4. In the Designated as emergency contact section, hover over the grantor the grantor whose Vault you wish to access, and select the gear icon.
5. Select the option from the dropdown that corresponds with your assigned access:
   • View - Selecting this option will display the grantor’s Vault items on this screen.
   • Takeover - Selecting this option will open the Takeover dialog box. Enter and confirm a new master password for the grantor’s account. Once saved, log in to PassageWay as normal, entering the the grantor’s email address and the created Master Password.

Revoking Access

The steps to take to regain exclusive access to your Vault after using Emergency Access depend on which access level was granted:

Revoke View Access

Trusted emergency contacts who are given View access will be able to view your Vault items once they are approved and until their access is manually revoked. To manually revoke access, use the gear dropdown to Reject access:

Revoke a Takeover

Trusted emergency contacts who are given Takeover access will, once used, have created a new Master Password for your account. As a result, the only way to revoke access involves:

1. Obtaining the new Master Password they created for your account and using it to log in the Web Vault.
2. Changing your Master Password to one that they do not know.