I have a disaster recovery plan, but part of my disaster recovery plan involves not posting the details of my disaster recovery plan on the internet.
this post was submitted on 05 May 2025
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Privacy
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thoughts and prayers
I'm thankfully currently not in that situation, but while the situation is meant as a joke, the question is serious.
If I stored everything I needed on a Google account that's not 2FA-enabled and with a password you remember in your head, things are not that bleak in this particular situation, although it is hardly a convenience that makes it worth it to have that kind of setup in my opinion (and I would assume to most people frequenting this community).
When was the last time you tried to access a Google account from another device in a nee location? They won't let you in, you'll be in a maze of fake "wrong password" errors, recovery emails that never arrive because they have nevet been sent and whatever they came up with this year.
In a word, prevention.
If a good night out includee waking up hung over in a foreign country, it's time to head to an AA meeting.
The password to my home server is a salted hash of my primary (memorized) password, so I can recover it from any computer that can run the hash function. From there I can access the rest of my saved passwords, bookmarks, etc.
That's simple and smart. I had played around with the thought of storing encrypted versions of my password manager vault freely available, and making the password a Ceasar cipher of the first letters of each chapter of some book I am sure to find freely online. Not so simple and smart, but at least some fun. Except maybe when you actually need to use it.
Call the embassy. This has nothing to do with privacy.
Upload a keepassXC vault to a cloud service like drop box. I have an encrypted version of my 2fa authentication config file in my keepass vault. If i where to loose everything i could recover logins. Remember Never upload a unencrypted file to the cloud!
My brother ended up lost in a major city, 3 hours away from home and our parents. He didn't know where he parked his car, just that it was "at a hotel". Drugs were almost certainly involved.
His strategy was to wander around asking to borrow strangers' cell phones until he ended up in a gas station run by an immigrant couple who were OMG lovely. They let him use their phone and they fed him until my parents could drive over and pick him up.
My parents found his car by posting "lost car" ad on Craigslist with a reward.
Anyways, my strategy's probably to find a local library or equivalent and email my partner and friends a "please help" message. Hopefully someone lends/gives me clothes along the way.
Edit: oops, I said 3 miles. It was 3 hours. Updated.
guess i live in Hanoi now
I'd start by installing arch
On what computer, and where did you get the ISO from?
Arch people always carry both with them at all times.
I don't think privacy or digital accounts would be any concern to me at that point. I'd mostly want to get somewhere safe, then get my passport or a new one, and get home. Then I can deal with the loss of devices.
I host my password manager (VW) on my server. The password of my server is on said password manager. Am I screwed?
hunter2 can both be stored in a password mananger and be remembered!
I have ONE password written down on paper, laminated, and hidden in a spot where only the wife and I know. Can you guess what it's for?
Lawyers Guns and Money intensifies
As an old retiree I know that life is incompatible with long time plans, life always has other ones. More important to have enough mental sources to be capable to make the bestt of current situations.
Tbh if I was naked and stripped of all my belongings I'd reach out to the police and hopefully they could help or at least get me a phone call and some clothes
Edit: Nvm I think I understood the question the first time
Y'all know they give you backup codes for your 2FA, right?
Coded printout in my fire box. Encrypted version on my home laptop. Worst case scenario is losing my phone and passport on day 1 of a long trip.
You also don't have access to your fire box in that Hanoi alley.
Of course, but at that point I have no passport and I'm the victim of a crime, so I have to go to the embassy to get a temp passport and ask them to help me figure out how to get a new flight and cancel credit cards.
At this point the question is where are my house keys to get in and pay a taxi guy mad cash from the airport to my house?
Electronically, I'd be fucked.
My password manager sends a code to my email address as 2FA, the password to the email account is only in the password manager, all other accounts are tied to that email address, and the email hoster asks for info you put in during account creation for recovery, but I put in random bullshit.
At least it was a good night.
Realistically, I'd contact police and hope they'll be nice enough to eventually contact my country's embassy. There, I'd be able to identify myself via biometrics. When I get access to a phone, I could call my mom whose number I have memorized.
She has plenty of accessible funds to get me home.
There I can open the door with a hidden key, get new ID using my birth certificate, and with that, I can get back into my bank account, have new house keys made, order a new SIM card for my phone number, and that gets me back into half my accounts.
Farming
Maybe Assist America. They should be able to help with documents, travel, medical, and extraction.
Otherwise, locals, police, churchs, embasy, etc.