Can someone give me a good rundown on how to keep my accounts safe but also not locking myself out ? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by shapis@lemmy.ml to c/privacyguides@lemmy.one

24 comments fedilink hide all child comments

So. I tried bitwarden for a while with 2fa. I absolutely did not realize that if you lose your 2fa you are done in that service. So yeah. Time to rebuild.

I'm attempting to go all in on proton stuff ATM. Drive, email, vpn and password manager.

What's the easiest way to set everything up in a way that the whole system is safe and that minimizes the chance of me locking myself out ?

Stuff like. Do I bother with 2fa? What are yubikeys. Are these the answer? Do I 2fa all.accounts other than the protonmail one ?

Long single use case passwords or memorizable ones ?

Do I do throwaway emails or everything signs up to my main one ?

Sorry if I overloaded questions. But id love go get insight from people with more experience.

Edit. And oh. Threat model.

Id love yo not lose accounts if someone physically steals one of my devices.

I'd love to not get hsckdd online by someone random that is not targeting me specifically

And in broad strokes. I'd like to keep all my accounts as private as possible from private companies and governments. But im flexible on this one if its too much hassle.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] freeman@lemmy.pub 3 points 1 year ago

Keep backups of all things in a manual fashion.

Bitwarden is fine. BUt have a couple MFA options, including a set of printed recovery codes in a desk/safe etc.

Personally I use Google Authenticator TOTP (and not the version that syncs it to the cloud.). Instead I have a backup phone I keep in a fireproof safe and that also has a set of the codes. (Just do the "transfer" operation but at the end choose not to delete the codes from the original phone and boom you have TOTP on 2 devices.

I also use a Yubikey here and there, but only when I am physically a home (Its a PITA to move around).

Finally I have recovery/One time codes saved and printed. Just in case all else fails.

For any services that REQUIRE you to use SMS mfa, I go with something like google voice. If they block GV numbers, then i generally bail out of using the service...This especially includes banks.

The goal is

No one MFA loss (Ie: phone stolen) will lose access to all accounts.
An ability to recover even if all phones are lost.
No storing totp for anything important inside bitwarden.

[-] speaker_hat@lemmy.one 2 points 1 year ago

Check out my post about printed recovery codes/passwords:

https://lemmy.one/post/681753

[-] freeman@lemmy.pub 2 points 1 year ago

yeah. I think that's a good idea. Personally I just keep them in a simple safe that is effective, preferably fire rated to an extent or just somewhere offsite. Even a safety deposit box is a great option.

I even sometimes just keep them in an encrypted fileshare on my synology NAS that is backed up and encrypted. But thats just extra for a non-tech person. For someone like my parents etc I just tell them to print them and keep them in safe space you wont misplace them. Because ideally the phone and your backup phone or a yubikey should have the main versions of MFA authentication.

Usually the recovery codes are 6-8 numbers that are a one time use thing.

Otherwise, i literally dont know many of my passwords off hand. The only ones I do are FDE decryption codes, and maybe my computer login.

[-] speaker_hat@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing

this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2023

52 points (100.0% liked)

Privacy Guides

16263 readers

126 users here now

In the digital age, protecting your personal information might seem like an impossible task. We’re here to help.

This is a community for sharing news about privacy, posting information about cool privacy tools and services, and getting advice about your privacy journey.

You can subscribe to this community from any Kbin or Lemmy instance:

Learn more...

Check out our website at privacyguides.org before asking your questions here. We've tried answering the common questions and recommendations there!

Want to get involved? The website is open-source on GitHub, and your help would be appreciated!

This community is the "official" Privacy Guides community on Lemmy, which can be verified here. Other "Privacy Guides" communities on other Lemmy servers are not moderated by this team or associated with the website.

Moderation Rules:

We prefer posting about open-source software whenever possible.
This is not the place for self-promotion if you are not listed on privacyguides.org. If you want to be listed, make a suggestion on our forum first.
No soliciting engagement: Don't ask for upvotes, follows, etc.
Surveys, Fundraising, and Petitions must be pre-approved by the mod team.
Be civil, no violence, hate speech. Assume people here are posting in good faith.
Don't repost topics which have already been covered here.
News posts must be related to privacy and security, and your post title must match the article headline exactly. Do not editorialize titles, you can post your opinions in the post body or a comment.
Memes/images/video posts that could be summarized as text explanations should not be posted. Infographics and conference talks from reputable sources are acceptable.
No help vampires: This is not a tech support subreddit, don't abuse our community's willingness to help. Questions related to privacy, security or privacy/security related software and their configurations are acceptable.
No misinformation: Extraordinary claims must be matched with evidence.
Do not post about VPNs or cryptocurrencies which are not listed on privacyguides.org. See Rule 2 for info on adding new recommendations to the website.
General guides or software lists are not permitted. Original sources and research about specific topics are allowed as long as they are high quality and factual. We are not providing a platform for poorly-vetted, out-of-date or conflicting recommendations.

Additional Resources:

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

jonah@lemmy.jonaharagon.net