The FIRM Guide

The Encryption Module

The encryption you rely on — full-disk, encrypted containers, encrypted backups — what is protected, with what tool, and how access is recovered.

Download template Nothing is entered on this page — you fill the template in privately.

Text file — the flexible one. Use it as-is, open it in any editor, or paste it into an AI tool to reshape the blank form to fit your family: rename a field, add a row, drop one you don't need.

Print / PDF — the ready-to-use one. Print it and fill it in by hand, or choose Save as PDF and complete it in your own offline PDF app. Either way it stays with you — the finished Secure Guide template goes inside your Vault.

One rule: only ever give an AI tool the blank template. Never paste your real information — passwords, account numbers, anything you'd keep secret — into an AI tool, an online service, or anywhere outside your own Vault. Customizing an empty form is fine; filling it in happens privately, offline. That's the same rule this site follows: nothing sensitive ever leaves your hands.

Secure Guide Starter Template

Store this inside your Vault. Create one entry per encryption tool or container. Link to credentials in your password manager rather than recording them here.

Tool or container label (e.g., "encrypted volume — Vault", "full-disk encryption — laptop").
Encryption; family-guide; System
What is protected (laptop drive, external SSD, cloud folder).
e.g., full-disk encryption, an encrypted-container tool, an encrypted-folder tool.
Where the encrypted item is backed up, if applicable.
Where the passphrase or key lives, by reference. The key itself is high-friction — password manager or physical Vault, never here.
Yes/No + where it is stored (sealed envelope, password-manager entry).
Optional. Only if no recovery method exists — and only a hint a stranger could not derive.
e.g., annual verification; passphrase review every five years.
Date the container was last opened successfully from a backup copy.

Family Guide Starter Template

This template contains no sensitive information. It can be stored with household documents.

One sentence, no specifics (sensitive records are kept in encrypted storage).
The pointer pattern — the passwords that open it are in the password manager; a written recovery copy exists.
Steward and verification cadence.
What a trusted person does first — do not guess passwords; start with the password-manager note.

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