Are backed up wallets still encrypted?

[Daily Anarchist]

My wallet is encrypted on my Satoshi client. If I make a backup of the wallet and put that file on a removable hard drive, and that hard drive gets stolen, is the wallet they have possession of still encrypted?

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[DeathAndTaxes]

yes. the backup is simply a copy of the wallet.dat which has been renamed.  The Satoshi wallet copies decrypts keys only when needed to complete a transaction, otherwise they remain encrypted.  To be perfectly clear the Satoshi wallet only encrypts the private keys, other elements of the wallet are readable.  Your funds are safe BUT if you are seeking privacy you may wish to encrypt the encrypted wallet.

[silverbox]

What if Daily Anarchist dies and no one knows his Encryption key!!  They will be able to see all those stranded BTC, but never access them...

Oh the humanity!!!

[Daily Anarchist]

What if Daily Anarchist dies and no one knows his Encryption key!!  They will be able to see all those stranded BTC, but never access them...

Oh the humanity!!!

I wonder if judge.me is capable of setting up wills and keeping my super secret password safe until I die.

[silverbox]

What if Daily Anarchist dies and no one knows his Encryption key!!  They will be able to see all those stranded BTC, but never access them...

Oh the humanity!!!

I wonder if judge.me is capable of setting up wills and keeping my super secret password safe until I die.

I wouldn't trust it..  Written instructions in a sealed envelope in a safe deposit box seems like the way to go..  Or you could just take it with you

[TangibleCryptography]

I wonder if judge.me is capable of setting up wills and keeping my super secret password safe until I die.

Do you want the crypto nerd answer?  

Timelock encryption
http://www.gwern.net/Self-decrypting%20files

Encrypt the private key using a timelock encryption algorithm so that it will take roughly 10 years to solve with a single processor (timelock algorithms are designed to make parallel processing impossible).  Then as long as you are alive just move the funds every 5 years and publish a new timelock encryption problem.     Make the timelock algorithm and current encrypted private key part of your will and when you die your heir can get the funds in 10 years by simply solving the latest problem.  

* It doesn't have to be 10 years.  Smaller is possible but requires more frequent changes and if there is a computing revolution or cryptographic flaw it gives you less time to move funds.

[unclemantis]

I wonder if judge.me is capable of setting up wills and keeping my super secret password safe until I die.

Do you want the crypto nerd answer? 

Timelock encryption
http://www.gwern.net/Self-decrypting%20files

Encrypt the private key using a timelock encryption algorithm so that it will take roughly 10 years to solve with a single processor (timelock algorithms are designed to make parallel processing impossible).  Then as long as you are alive just move the funds every 5 years and publish a new timelock encryption problem.     Make the timelock algorithm and encrypted key part of your will and when you die your heir can get the funds in 10 years by simply solving the latest problem.  

* It doesn't have to be 10 years.  Smaller is possible but requires more frequent changes and if there is a computing revolution or cryptographic flaw it gives you less time to move funds.

I like this idea!