Another way to back up your master password is with 'ssss'. http://point-at-infinity.org/ssss/ http://point-at-infinity.org/ssss/ You can split a secret into

Another way to back up your master password is with 'ssss'. http://point-at-infinity.org/ssss/ http://point-at-infinity.org/ssss/ You can split a secret into N pieces, where any M of them are enough to reconstruct it. Even if you have M-1 pieces, you're no better off than a random guess. You can then distribute the N pieces in safe places and among trusted parties. I just implemented this scheme thinking towards what would happen to all my digital data if I were to die or become incapacitated. I store much of my local data and account passwords with strong encryption, with full-strength keys (not six chars like the OP) that no one would be able to guess or brute-force. The hardest part is really thinking through what the reconstruction threshold should be and who your trusted parties are. You want the threshold high enough that you would not be easily compromised if you misplaced your trust, but not so high to preclude recovery if any of your trusted parties lost their piece, or... both of you were taken out in the same accident. You can also use a service like deadmansswitch.net to distribute additional pieces to people automatically if you don't check in for a certain amount of time. Another moving part, but it does increase the 'james bond' factor.