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Re:Ask HN: Went to prison for 18 months, lost access to my G... by the__alchemist on Thursday October 02, 2025 @01:37PM (#45452825)
I'm perpetually worried (and partially prepared) for this sort of scenario, as more of my accounts require 2FA. I dread the day I lose or break my phone, have my items stolen, there's a weather disaster etc. I try to make my hobby repos public and/or backed up in multiple places as a hedge.
Re:Ask HN: Went to prison for 18 months, lost access to my G... by zdragnar on Thursday October 02, 2025 @01:55PM (#45453066)
Yubikey in a safe deposit box is about as good as we can get, at least for the services that allow it.
Re:Ask HN: Went to prison for 18 months, lost access to my G... by aitchnyu on Thursday October 02, 2025 @03:44PM (#45454528)
Can we use multiple Yubikeys for a service?
Re:Ask HN: Went to prison for 18 months, lost access to my G... by kameit00 on Thursday October 02, 2025 @04:27PM (#45455106)
I use 2 yubikeys. I registered both on multiple services. So… yes, it is possible. One key is a backup if the other key stops working.
Re:Ask HN: Went to prison for 18 months, lost access to my G... by Arrowmaster on Thursday October 02, 2025 @05:42PM (#45455962)
The problem with this tactic is the need to go get the Yubikey every time you make a new account.
Re:Ask HN: Went to prison for 18 months, lost access to my G... by 1attice on Thursday October 02, 2025 @09:50PM (#45457936)
Actually, this is now a solved problem. Root-of-trust pattern.

- Use Bitwarden or similar

- Set BW to recognize the Yubikey as one (of several, incl. TOTP ('Authenticator') code) second factor.

- On all other sites and services, generate passkeys (which are essentially virtual yubikeys) and save them in BW.

- In BW, save the password and TOTP. BW itself, on another device (or in a separate incarnation - e.g. the desktop app when authenticating the browser extension) is now your everyday means of authenticating to BW.

- BW-stored passkey is now your standard means of authentication for e.g. GitHub, Google, etc

- Put the yubikey in a safety deposit box

- Bravo, you have a very professional trust system

Re:Ask HN: Went to prison for 18 months, lost access to my G... by ferngreen on Friday October 03, 2025 @11:02AM (#45463778)
Apologies for asking you to repeat yourself. I'm not following this step.

"In BW, save the password and TOTP. BW itself, on another device (or in a separate incarnation - e.g. the desktop app when authenticating the browser extension) is now your everyday means of authenticating to BW."

Can you rephrase it and be specific which passwords and TOTP you mean?

Re:Ask HN: Went to prison for 18 months, lost access to my G... by 1attice on Friday October 03, 2025 @02:14PM (#45465975)
So Bitwarden can store _the password and TOTP for Bitwarden itself_. (!) I actually keep this in an entry entitled 'How meta!' because I'm cute and silly.

So, let's say you're sitting down in front of a fresh install of Bitwarden. You can go to your phone in your pocket and get the password and TOTP and then set Bitwarden to not require a password for 30 days.

Similarly, let's say you've installed the desktop app for Bitwarden but not yet the browser extension. You can look up the BW password and TOTP in the desktop app and use that to authenticate the browser extension. Or vice versa! T

Re:Ask HN: Went to prison for 18 months, lost access to my G... by e40 on Friday October 03, 2025 @08:24AM (#45462149)
Store only the backup key. It would be crazy to have a single key.
Re:Ask HN: Went to prison for 18 months, lost access to my G... by bruckie on Friday October 03, 2025 @01:22PM (#45465321)
I've always wondered how people manage this in practice. Is seems great if you never sign up for anything new, but I end up creating one account per week or something. How do you keep the key in your safe deposit box current?
Re:Ask HN: Went to prison for 18 months, lost access to my G... by jopsen on Thursday October 02, 2025 @03:12PM (#45454053)
Print out 2FA codes and bury them somewhere.

It's not that hard, and you feel like a proper spy doing it ;)

Re:Ask HN: Went to prison for 18 months, lost access to my G... by vorpalhex on Thursday October 02, 2025 @04:20PM (#45455038)
Please don't depend on this. Paper does not like moisture and soil is full of it.

Use an escrow or custodian (lawyer, bank, etc).

Re:Ask HN: Went to prison for 18 months, lost access to my G... by DengistKhan on Friday October 03, 2025 @12:23AM (#45458963)
laminate?
Re:Ask HN: Went to prison for 18 months, lost access to my G... by vorpalhex on Friday October 03, 2025 @08:55AM (#45462411)
Is your laminate rated to be in constant soil contact for however many years you need to hold onto a backup code for?
Re:Ask HN: Went to prison for 18 months, lost access to my G... by thesmok on Friday October 03, 2025 @07:38AM (#45461711)
Paper inside a plastic bottle will be fine.
Re:Ask HN: Went to prison for 18 months, lost access to my G... by vorpalhex on Friday October 03, 2025 @08:54AM (#45462404)
Soil is acidic, and soda bottles are meant to keep their seal for a two years, not a decade.
Re:Ask HN: Went to prison for 18 months, lost access to my G... by IlikeKitties on Thursday October 02, 2025 @01:54PM (#45453048)
Just do as I do and keep all the 2FA TOTP Codes in your keepass.
Re:Ask HN: Went to prison for 18 months, lost access to my G... by manbash on Thursday October 02, 2025 @01:54PM (#45453060)
Don't you have a 2FA Recovery Code?
Re:Ask HN: Went to prison for 18 months, lost access to my G... by georgel on Thursday October 02, 2025 @01:59PM (#45453115)
Far too many of the critical services (banks) still only offer SMS 2FA.
Re:Ask HN: Went to prison for 18 months, lost access to my G... by the__alchemist on Thursday October 02, 2025 @02:40PM (#45453628)
For most of them. It's a tool, but not a silver bullet
Re:Ask HN: Went to prison for 18 months, lost access to my G... by commandersaki on Thursday October 02, 2025 @05:58PM (#45456106)
All my digital life is sorted with a password manager that sync's in a cloud (I know some consider this an anti-feature). I guess OP probably had to disclose information to someone (s)he trusts when going to prison and that trust was abused.