Was this resolved?
Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to help me
341–350 of 350 posts
Re: Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to help me
#342Was this resolved?
No, it's not resolved yet. I will update when there is actual news. There isn't any yet.
Re: Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to help me
#343You remembered me good old book, written by Sam Walton, founder of Walmart (Made in America).
He said very simple thing, which made earthquake of my mind - he started BIG business in small town on periphery, because in large city, all life is constant pursue against time, but in small city, near only weak concurrents. So, for responsible initiative person, small town is great opportunity.
Sure, exists exceptions, for example I'm in Ukraine, here war, economy fall more than 50%, I cannot find work in country, near all employers except very few, asked me, if it is possible for me, to move to safe country (or they will not give me job), and government prohibited all males to leave country.
And You might already understand, I'm now thinking, to write book, or to make computer(or mobile) game, which will teach people, how to survive, because infinite time is only thing, which have every unemployed.
Don't give up! Our good times just postponed, but will return.
Re: Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to help me
#344Earlier quoted context omitted.
If one of the factors is widely known, it's effectively not two-factor anymore.
No security system is absolute, and treating all threats as equally possible leads to terrible security decisions like not using printed recovery codes for fear of them getting stolen. You must pick a threat model before you can evaluate the security of a system. Treating printed paper codes as "widely known" and effectively useless simply because they could theoretically be stolen is silly. In a reasonable threat mo…
I don't disagree with this, I disagree with the way you formulated it initially. There's a difference between sharing recovery codes with 2-3 trusted people vs. posting them literally everywhere which your original post seemed to imply.
Re: Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to help me
#345Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are, however, secret codes, and should be regarded as confidential. Just because you can divulge them without direct harm does not mean you should publish them on billboards and Facebook for safekeeping.
This is true but isn't relevant to my advice. If you can't see the difference between keeping a nondescript piece of paper at the bottom of a drawer at your parents' house and posting it on Facebook then you should not be making any decisions relevant to security. And using the word "secret" causes people to treat the codes as more precious than they really are, and make bad decisions like not printing them at all.
What's the more likely scenario:
1. System reports "print out these recovery codes and deposit them in multiple places so you will never lose access to your account". User John Doe posts his security codes on his Facebook page and gets hacked.
2. System reports "print out these security codes and store them in a safe place". User prints them out and stores them in a drawer, but his house burns down and the user loses access forever.
Both scenarios are shitty, but I think 1 is more likely.
Of course, you could write a detailed guideline on where to store your codes, and that you should share them with some trusted people but not everyone etc. But who's gonna read that?
People who understand security already take threat models into account, but those who don't need very simple guidelines.
Re: Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to help me
#346Earlier quoted context omitted.
I understand this view. Unlike every other reply to your comment I am not going to suggest various 2FA schemes that I would invariably screw-up and just add my voice to yours. 2FA might be good for security, but it's also very ableist.
I was able to answer something snarky to you, but then I gave it more thought and realized you're right. Anything beyond a simple password is very complicated when you're dirt poor. Printing is complicated. Having a physical vault is complicated. Buying a yubikey is complicated. Paying for the premium version of a password manager is complicated. Just like with accessibility on the web, it's so easy to forget about t…
I was about*
Re: Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to help me
#347Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know because the messages on my NEW phone that I am trying to set up state "We sent this to (your old phone -- identified by type of phone, which is different from the model I am setting up).
This is because Google has a disaster of a 2FA process where even if you have 2FA disabled, they will "send a prompt to the Google app on %s device" to verify it's you. What happens if that device doesn't have the Google app installed? You're screwed. The only fix for this is to, paradoxically, ENABLE 2FA, which then you can force to go ovet text.
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Re: Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to help me
#348Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a straight answer sufficiently couched in jargon that a non-technical person still isn't likely to understand the problem or how to resolve it.
Sure, but "only technical people will understand what the problem is" is infinitely better than "literally nobody will understand what the problem is".
I mean, I'll agree that it's slightly better in absolute terms. "Infinitely" is a strong word choice for a case where 95% of users will still be in the dark, unless you insist on using the term in a pedantic mathematical sense.
Re: Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to help me
#349Re: Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to help me
#350For no apparent reason, my phone just mysteriously was no longer stuck this evening and no longer unable to complete setup. I'm guessing someone contacted someone at Google but I don't actually know that.
I did buy a wireless charger to try to resolve the issue with the dead phone. After I bought it, we thought to look up the make and model of both phones. Neither of them can be charged that way.
So lesson learned: Look up such info first. If you need to help someone, keep that in mind and actually tell them (and make sure they got the memo -- if someone said this here, I didn't notice), especially if money is tight, they live without a car and/or are handicapped such that small errands and small expenses can be a painful burden.
I'm still nervous that this may not actually be resolved. One detail is not working and I suspect I know why and I think it will likely be resolved tomorrow (crosses fingers), but I said I would update when I had news, so that's what I'm doing.
(Posted from my phone.)