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Comment by theamk | Hacker News Reader

Great article to show to people saying "put your backup passphrase / second hardware key into the safe deposit box"

Keeping physical stuff safe is hard. Banks were specifically invented so that people didn't need to keep valuables on them.

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While I wouldn't put things that could single-handedly grant access in there - since you likely won't be checking on if it's been compromised that frequently - I think it's still great for things like backup 2FA codes or recovery passwords for encrypted media that's stored separately. Make breaking into the box one of the things an attacker would need to do.

I would not put my life savings in jewelry or something in there, but having an off-premise spot for emergency backup codes and stuff like that? Where's a better option?

Store them in the cloud (or multiple clouds if you wish) encrypted with an extremely strong passphrase that you definitely won't forget?

How do you access the cloud if you lost your laptop? Or even all of your stuff burned down along with your house?

How do you remember a strong passphrase after four months in hospital recovering from a cerebral trauma?

Emergency emergencies. Off-site physical backups are important too.

You don't need to particularly safeguard the credentials to get to your encrypted blob, they can be in a gmail email you sent to your friends and/or family. They can't read the content but they can give you a copy.

How do you remember where your safe deposit box is after four months in hospital recovering from a cerebral trauma?

There's no perfect solution.

Engrave the address into the lens of a laser pointer, and embed the pointer into your hip.

Obviously.

…and sincerely hope that the fisherman who pulls you out of the ocean half-dead is a competent enough surgeon and notices the bump on your hip ;)

Yea, a friend of mine's younger brother suffered a stroke in college, and couldn't remember his laptop password. My understanding is that at least some of the important files were encrypted.

Like LastPass! Oh, wait...

Best normal option is a locked container with a relative. In scenarios where there is a particular risk or a lot of money potentially involved, store important documents with an attorney.

Having seen the number of attorneys (even - no, especially - at the partner level) who leave their computers unlocked and who push back against measures like 2FA, if the document is high enough value, please spend some time vetting them first.

Just a note that I was advised by my lawyer (in the UK) that I shouldn't give him these kinds of details for next-of-kin access after my death as they need to go through probate before they can get hold of them, and that can take a loooooong time.

Fire proof safes aren't that expensive. They probably don't stop physical attack, but are good enough in semi-trusted environment and cover for two of the important risks, fire and water invasion.

The "not very expensive" ones are also not very fire-proof, unfortunately.

A family friend learned this the hard way when a sizeable amount of cash went up in flames and his $300 Sentry safe was a melted mess, the contents forever lost.

There is no such thing as a "fire proof safe". They are rated to maintain a certain temperature delta inside for a certain length of time given a fire outside. In the common situation where a house lights up and the structure collapses with a bunch of hot debris burying the safe, thermodynamics wins.

In the common situation where a house lights up and the structure collapses

This is not at all common today, imo.

Are you saying we should find 0 interest accounts and encode our passphrases into values to deposit?

Banks were invented to facilitate money exchanges. By definition paper money is as valuable as what you left at the bank.

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