Basic Backup Guide

Note: Be sure to read up on backup plan comparisons first.

The simplest way to use the Security Blanket to protect your most critical credentials in case of a disaster.

  • Restores access to your TLAs under the following scenarios:
    • Your devices are permanently inaccessible: lost, stolen, damaged. You can use the security blanket to log into your TLAs from a new device.
    • Your devices are temporarily inaccessible and you don’t have access to your security blanket. Your trusted contact can use their copy of your security blanket to help you log into your TLAs.
  • Blankets are composed of only TLA and Software Tool cards. So it’s a lightweight solution.
  • Good for contacts with limited tech knowledge and for digital maps that have a small number of TLAs (less than 5).

Steps

We recommend reading the getting started guide first.

  1. Create your digital map as described in the getting started guide. Double check that you can access all of your accounts from your TLAs, otherwise this will only be a partial backup.

  2. Carefully review the TLAs and ensure each of them have a remote restore method that does not rely on any access to a device card. Typically, most TLAs have a recovery method that uses “backup codes” for this purpose.

  3. If any tools are needed to access a TLA, ensure the tool can be accessed via a remote restore method, or provide a recovery method for the TLA that does not depend on the Tool. Again, enabling “backup codes” can suffice.

  4. Count the number of cards you will need per blanket. Most people have less than five TLAs, so this should be pretty quick. Your blanket should include all of the TLAs you want to protect and any software tools needed to access TLAs, but no physical device or tool cards should be included.

  5. Now determine the number of backups you want to make. As described in the security best practices:

    At a minimum, make a backup blanket for yourself to keep at home. This way you can restore your credentials in case of an emergency. It’s also a good practice to have a personal backup copy somewhere off-site, in case of a disaster at home. Lastly, having a trusted contact with a security blanket, can help restore your access when you are away and unable to access your other backups.

  6. Follow the rest of the getting started guide in distributing your blankets to your contacts and you should be good to go!