When you write a letter on Dear Forward, you're entrusting us with something deeply personal — words meant for the people and moments that matter most. We take that responsibility seriously. Your letter's security starts the moment you hit send and continues through every stage of storage, archival, and eventual delivery. We use industry-standard AES-256 encryption to protect digital copies of your letters, attorney-backed escrow to ensure independent legal custody, ISO 9706 archival paper that lasts over a century, and annual confirmation systems to keep delivery information current. This multi-layered approach means your letter is protected from both digital and physical risks, giving you genuine peace of mind. Here's exactly how we do it.
How Does Dear Forward Encrypt My Letters?
The moment your letter reaches our servers, it's protected by AES-256 encryption — the same encryption standard used by banks, government agencies, and security organizations worldwide. AES-256 uses a 256-bit key, which creates 2^256 possible combinations. To put that in perspective, even with the fastest computers available, it would take billions of years to crack a single AES-256 encrypted message through brute force. Your letter isn't stored in plain text anywhere in our system. It exists only in encrypted form until the moment it's ready to be printed and delivered.
But encryption alone isn't enough, which is why we implement additional security layers. Your password is hashed using industry-standard bcrypt algorithms, meaning even our team cannot see it. Your account activity is logged and monitored. And all data transmission between your device and our servers happens over HTTPS, encrypting everything in transit as well as at rest.
What Is Attorney-Backed Escrow, and Why Does It Matter?
This is where Dear Forward's approach differs from most digital services. Rather than keeping all letter data exclusively in our own systems, we work with independent escrow agents — licensed attorneys who hold copies of your letters in legal custody. Think of escrow like a neutral third party who serves as an impartial custodian.
Here's why this matters for your peace of mind: if anything ever happened to Dear Forward as a company, your letters wouldn't simply vanish. The escrow agent has independent legal authority and obligation to fulfill any pending deliveries. Your letters are no longer tied solely to the success of one startup. This is the same mechanism used in real estate deals, settlements, and other high-stakes transactions where trust and security are paramount. It's a legal safeguard that goes far beyond what most digital services offer.
Why Is ISO 9706 Archival Paper So Important?
When your letter is printed, it goes on ISO 9706 certified archival paper — a paper specifically engineered to last centuries, not decades. Regular printer paper contains lignin, an acid that breaks down over time, causing yellowing, brittleness, and eventual deterioration within 20-50 years. ISO 9706 paper is acid-free, lignin-free, and contains an alkaline reserve buffer that neutralizes environmental acids, protecting it from degradation.
This means your letter, printed on this paper and stored in a climate-controlled environment, can remain readable and intact for 100+ years under proper conditions. The same paper standard is trusted by the Library of Congress, major museums, and government archives around the world. When we say your letter lasts, we mean it literally — your words are preserved on a physical artifact designed for permanence, independent of any digital infrastructure.
How Do Annual Confirmations Protect Your Letter?
One often-overlooked risk with future letters is outdated contact information. If you write a letter meant to be delivered in five years, but the recipient moves or changes their contact details, how does anyone know where to send it? Dear Forward's annual confirmation system solves this problem. Every year, we reach out to confirm that delivery instructions are still current and that contact information is accurate.
This simple step prevents wasted letters, undelivered messages, and the frustration of preparing something important that never reaches its intended recipient. You have the ability to update delivery instructions anytime through your account, ensuring that even if circumstances change, your letter will still find its way to the right person at the right time.
What About Physical Storage Security?
Your printed letter doesn't sit in a closet or filing cabinet. During the archival storage phase, letters are kept in climate-controlled facilities specifically designed for document preservation. Temperature and humidity are carefully monitored to prevent aging, mold growth, and deterioration. This matters because even the best archival paper can degrade in the wrong environment — extreme heat, humidity swings, and moisture exposure all accelerate aging.
When your delivery date arrives, your letter is retrieved from storage, placed in a premium envelope with your personalized Dear Forward seal, and sent via registered mail with tracking. The recipient gets a letter that looks and feels beautiful, with the knowledge that it was treated with the care and consideration it deserved from the moment it was written.
Why Trust Matters More Than Ever
Trusting an organization with a legacy letter is different from trusting them with most digital services. There's no undo button. There's no "refresh the page." Your words are meant to persist beyond the moment, beyond yourself. That's why we've structured Dear Forward with redundant protections: encryption for digital safety, escrow for legal independence, archival-grade materials for physical permanence, and annual confirmations for delivery certainty.
You don't have to take our word for how secure this is. The mechanisms are transparent and independently verified. Escrow agreements are legal documents. ISO 9706 certification is internationally recognized. AES-256 encryption is the security standard you depend on every day with banking and government services. When you write your letter on Dear Forward, you're choosing a service built on layers of protection designed to deliver your words safely, no matter what.