Geo-destruction rules let you list the countries your Encrypted Vault may be opened from. If it's opened from anywhere else, the vault is locked or every file is destroyed. This guide explains how to set rules up safely.
Read this first if you use a VPN. The check uses the IP address you're connecting from. If you're connected to PremierVPN or any other VPN, that's the VPN server's country, not yours. Add the countries of the VPN servers you use, or disconnect the VPN before opening your vault.
Set up geo rules
- Open Vault and click Security at the top. This opens the Vault security page.
- Under Geo-destruction rules, tick Turn on geo rules.
- Under Allowed countries, tick every country you might open your vault from, including any VPN server countries you use. You can type in Find a country to search the list.
- Under If it's opened from anywhere else, choose:
- Lock access, keep my files: the vault won't open, but nothing is deleted.
- Destroy everything permanently: every file and folder in your vault is deleted from storage. This can't be undone.
- Optionally tick Email me on violations, with the country and IP address. You get at most one email an hour for each country.
- Click Save geo rules.
If you turn the rules on but don't tick any countries, they have no effect.
The page shows which country you're connecting from right now. The rules won't save if that country isn't ticked, so you can't lock yourself out by mistake.
The country list doesn't include every country. If you'll be somewhere that isn't listed, you can't allow it: don't use the Destroy action, and expect the vault to lock while you're there (or turn the rules off for that time).
How it works
Whenever you open your vault or do anything in it (upload, download, share and so on), we look up the country of your IP address using an IP geolocation service and compare it with your allowed list.
- Allowed country: the vault opens as normal.
- Country not on the list: the action you chose happens straight away, and you see a page saying Your vault is locked here or Your vault has been destroyed. Before destroying anything, we check the country with a second lookup. If the two don't agree, the vault is locked instead.
- Country can't be worked out: the vault opens as normal.
If your vault is locked, open it again from an allowed country, or go to the Vault security page and update your country list. That page always opens, wherever you are.
Violation log
If there have been any violations, the Vault security page shows the last 10 under Recent geo violations, with the country, IP address, how long ago and whether the vault was Locked or Destroyed. If you see one you don't recognise, change your portal password and turn on two-factor authentication. See How to Set Up Two-Factor Authentication (2FA).
Travelling? IP location isn't always accurate, and it's easy to forget a rule is on. Use Lock rather than Destroy unless losing your files would genuinely be better than someone else seeing them, and update your country list before you go.