4 ms·

What people should do is have a small SD card with all of their private keys and passwords stored away safely. This SD card should be kept in cold storage (e.g.

What people should do is have a small SD card with all of their private keys and passwords stored away safely. This SD card should be kept in cold storage (e.g. in a safe where you keep personal belongings), and never be accessed unless in absolute emergency (lost your YubiKey etc and can't get in anywhere, etc.)

Lifelarper 4y ago
SD cards are horrendous for long term storage. Probably the worst medium for such a task.
- adamiscool8 4y ago
  What is the best? Cursory googling suggests SD cards last ~decades at normal usage [0], and in this context where it's barely accessed, maybe longer? [0] https://www.sdcard.org/consumers/faq https://www.sdcard.org/consumers/faq
  - 0x073 4y ago
    If you go to bluray.com you probably can read the same only for blu-ray. Better search for a neutral source.
  - _whiteCaps_ 4y ago
    I wrote some scripts to generate QR codes, then printed them to photo paper. https://github.com/alexjh/gpg-backup/blob/master/Makefile https://github.com/alexjh/gpg-backup/blob/master/Makefile Back then I thought that QR codes were a bit of a gimmick but now I'm way more confident that I'll be able to read them in the future.
  - Brian_K_White 4y ago
    laser print
  - justinclift 4y ago
    Probably depends on the quantity of data. If you're talking GB's or TB's of digital data, then maybe "archival grade" DVD's or BluRay's. https://www.verbatim.com.au/product-category/data-storage/optical-media/archival/ https://www.verbatim.com.au/product-category/data-storage/op... If it's instead just a few short strings of text (eg GH password recovery codes), then you could use physical storage. eg engrave the codes into something that'll survive extremes (granite?), and keep them in a fire proof safe. Or something along similar lines. Probably don't engrave into glass though, due to that potentially shattering in some situations.
  - IYasha 4y ago
    My choice are 8cm DVDs of decent quality. And inability to quickly overwrite/damage your data is a bonus.
jrochkind1 4y ago
Do most people have a "safe where they keep their personal belongings"? i guess it would presumably be on-premises, because you're going to have to take it out to add recovery codes to it every time you add a new TOTP or whatever (or create a new private key or password) right? If it was, say, a safety deposit box at a bank, odds are it's not gonna wind up with most of your stuff. Even on-premises, the task of making sure "cold storage" stays sync'd with my evolving passwords, private keys, TOTP recovery codes, etc, seems like something I'm unlikely to keep up with.
marssaxman 4y ago
I have an IronKey for this purpose.

Lifelarper 4y ago

SD cards are horrendous for long term storage. Probably the worst medium for such a task.

adamiscool8 4y ago
What is the best? Cursory googling suggests SD cards last ~decades at normal usage [0], and in this context where it's barely accessed, maybe longer? [0] https://www.sdcard.org/consumers/faq https://www.sdcard.org/consumers/faq
- 0x073 4y ago
  If you go to bluray.com you probably can read the same only for blu-ray. Better search for a neutral source.
- _whiteCaps_ 4y ago
  I wrote some scripts to generate QR codes, then printed them to photo paper. https://github.com/alexjh/gpg-backup/blob/master/Makefile https://github.com/alexjh/gpg-backup/blob/master/Makefile Back then I thought that QR codes were a bit of a gimmick but now I'm way more confident that I'll be able to read them in the future.
- Brian_K_White 4y ago
  laser print
- justinclift 4y ago
  Probably depends on the quantity of data. If you're talking GB's or TB's of digital data, then maybe "archival grade" DVD's or BluRay's. https://www.verbatim.com.au/product-category/data-storage/optical-media/archival/ https://www.verbatim.com.au/product-category/data-storage/op... If it's instead just a few short strings of text (eg GH password recovery codes), then you could use physical storage. eg engrave the codes into something that'll survive extremes (granite?), and keep them in a fire proof safe. Or something along similar lines. Probably don't engrave into glass though, due to that potentially shattering in some situations.
- IYasha 4y ago
  My choice are 8cm DVDs of decent quality. And inability to quickly overwrite/damage your data is a bonus.

jrochkind1 4y ago

Do most people have a "safe where they keep their personal belongings"? i guess it would presumably be on-premises, because you're going to have to take it out to add recovery codes to it every time you add a new TOTP or whatever (or create a new private key or password) right? If it was, say, a safety deposit box at a bank, odds are it's not gonna wind up with most of your stuff. Even on-premises, the task of making sure "cold storage" stays sync'd with my evolving passwords, private keys, TOTP recovery codes, etc, seems like something I'm unlikely to keep up with.

marssaxman 4y ago

I have an IronKey for this purpose.