2 days ago I got a new phone, played with it for a while, picked up my old phone and my memory went blank on what pattern I used.
I didn't realize how deep the problem was until I tried to login in Google account on new phone.
It asked for 2fa, I had aegis authenticator backed, secret key and backup codes, all on 3 separate locations , i.e, Google drive, box cloud storage, or android file manager itself.
Of course, I can't access Google drive without Google, I can't use android file manager as device is locked up. Now remains, Box cloud storage.
I signed up on Box with by protonmail account, and the passwords were in LastPass, and I had enabled 2fa on LastPass, it needed new device confirmation on my main email anyway, so I was fucked either way.
You get the gist, I had several backups BUT everything on locked device or at the locations which went through Google email.
I know now this sounds utterly stupid right now but in hindsight I thought I was secure.
I was on verge of getting my digital identity plus my financials wiped out.
Trying to break pattern lock I tried several ways to break the pattern but all of them included data reset, there was one way to break it but it needed root (which I didn't do beforehand because security!) . I thought I should data reset and then do a data recovery, I just might get the files I needed but without Google account I wouldn't be able to get in at all.
Google customer support I sent them recovery email, they said wait for 3-5 days for response. I didn't have much hope there, to be honest.
I was so privacy conscious and it bit me in the ass - I had disabled android device manager, because I don't like turning on location and Google spying on me.
- I had disabled recovery phone number to make myself safe from sim swapping attacks and no recovery email either.
What not to do - Don't confuse muscle memory with repeated tries.
I had set up that pattern 4-5 months ago, and after a while it just becomes your muscle memory. I remember unlocking my phone without even looking at screen. Point is, if you forget the pattern, don't panic, it will just make the problem worse since time out increases with every wrong unlock attempt and you will confuse yourself.
After few repeated failed attempts, just take a nap and try with fresh mind, you just might get lucky and save yourself from lots of hassle.
You could also try to recognize pattern on your screen with how forensics identity fingerprints.
- Choose pin over pattern
There are infinite combinations of pattern, you just don't realize it until you forget or have backup lock (pattern + fingerprint), (pattern + pin), etc.
- Don't save everything in digital medium, have paper backups.
Happy ending Remember the saying, sleep on problem? It really works.
I remembered (although not completely sure yet) I made backup of my passwordsafe (offline password manager) database (which had my Google 2fa key) to my pc (I had copied it sep 2018) but now my cpu was not working.
So took it to electronics guy, one said motherboard is done and we don't have same motherboard that we can put your hard disk in and let you copy the data.
So took it to another shop, he repaired it in a minute and didn't take any charge either. Guess it was really a minor problem. Remember the
repair man story?
Anyway, I got the copy of the file. Not a sigh of relief yet, because files can go corrupt, thankfully it wasn't corrupted. Now, finally a sigh of relief and a heartly thanks to the friend who was with me all the time. I have a stuttering problem so it really helps when someone is with you who can communicate better.
Fun fact: There was lightning strike during last monsoon near the place where I put the cpu cabinet, if it actually hit the cpu that time and destroyed it I wouldn't be writing this here today since this bitcointalk account would have been one of many things that I would have lost.
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