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cloud storage guide

Cloud Recovery Codes Belong on Paper, Not in the Same Cloud

Sam OkonkwoSam Okonkwo· Security Researcher· Updated September 14, 2024· 9 min read

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Quick take

Print or write recovery codes. Store them offline. Proton Drive currently describes end-to-end encryption where keys stay on your devices as they document it — that makes the kit more important, not less. Confirm live recovery options. A screenshot in camera roll is a second phone theft.

The account cannot rescue the account

People email themselves the backup codes. That inbox is often the same login.

Zero-knowledge clouds make this sharper: if you lose the keys, the vendor may not be able to shrug the files back.

From the record

A recovery kit in the same castle is not a kit. It is interior decorating.

GUIDEORA rule for cloud recovery

A ceremony that takes twelve minutes

Generate codes. Print. Put them with the vault kit. Test one if the product allows. Do not tape them to the monitor.

Recovery codes printed next to a cloud account
The kit is useless in the drawer you locked with the same account.

Codes

Offline

Same cloud

A circle

E2E

Kit matters more

Phone

Not the only copy

  • Hardware keys are a second story — still keep codes.
  • Family accounts need an adult owner of the paper.
  • Leaving a cloud is easier if you can still open it.
  • Proton Drive is the E2E example this site already uses.

Why Proton is the house

Proton currently documents encryption that the company should not be able to read. That is why the kit is not optional. Confirm their live recovery article. Google Drive is convenience with a different key story.

GUIDEORA cannot decrypt your folder.

Pros

  • +You can survive a dead phone
  • +E2E stays honest
  • +A vault can hold the codes if it is a different house

Cons

  • −Paper gets lost
  • −People will still screenshot
  • −Family members will not know the drawer

Print it while you can still open the settings.

Offline codes. Proton Drive is the E2E example. GUIDEORA does not hold the sheet.

Editor take

A kit outside the castle

Store recovery codes offline. Proton Drive makes that more important. Confirm live recovery options.

See Proton Drive's current plan