Seed phrase backup against natural disaster areas

[Upgrade00]

I have also seen a luxury watch online that was designed to save ones key phrases. I know it might sound very expensive because it actually is, it would not be easily missing incase such unpredictable disaster do happen.

It will be as susceptible to damage from a disaster and it's something that can be stolen from you for its value we with no knowledge that it holds a seedphrase. You should store somewhere or in something that can be easily overlooked.

[Lida93]

You can use anything that doesn't looks suspicious when you carry on anywhere, example in pencil, you can hide your seed phrase in your drilled pencil. Place it in your bag, so when something bad happen, make sure you remember to carry your bag.

I don't think any criminal or someone can make a guess if your pencil has something that you hide.


https://www.instructables.com/Hidden-moneypaper-compartment-in-pencil-With-stuff/

Nice idea though, but then seed phrase shouldn't be something we have to put in a package that we have to be carrying all around  wherever we go, we can easily misplace it that way. It could be like shooting oneself on the foot.

Whatever we chose to hide in our seed phrase should be something durable and sustainable with time, which means an object or anything that can't easily get broken or destroyed.

For persons living in natural disasters recurrent topographies using the metallic seed phrase storage pattern. Then you can decide to duplicate it in three and have them hiding in secure location at least two or three different locations with a reasonable distance. Could be our paternal home place, another in maternal and the other in the current resident in the City. There's no way any natural disasters could hit all the areas at ones.

Metal Bitcoin seed storage reviews
https://jlopp.github.io/metal-bitcoin-storage-reviews/
How best to secure your Private Keys and/or Seed phrase
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5211880.0
How do i make sure my Bitcoin Private Key is Random and secure?
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5421415.0

[sokani]

It would be wise to store your seed phrase on the Internet if you first encrypt it with one of the programs like VeraCrypt or TrueCrypt. You can create an encrypted file container that will contain a file with a phrase. There are many instructions on the Internet for creating such a section. If we assume that the file is found by someone on the Internet, then decrypting this file can take a very long time for very experienced hackers, but as history says, it is almost impossible to decrypt it.

Just to support what you said and to make it more difficult for an hacker to steal the seed phrase. I think it would be wise to split the seed phrase into three parts, encrypt each with a password and upload to three different cloud hosting services. By so doing it minimizes the risks of having the funds stolen, because there's no way the three cloud hosting services are going to suffer data breaches at the same time, so if one is compromised, the other two will still be safe.

[Nwada001]

There is no way that is 100% perfect for saving and backing up your seed phrase offline, but there is no harm in trying even in areas that experience such kinds of natural disasters, especially those that come without warning. 
 
If you stay in areas like this, you need to be careful where you save your phrase. First of all, I personally have a few of my wallet phrases where you can save your phrases. First of all, I personally have a few of my wallet phrases on a piece of paper, which I personally laminated and made water-proof in order to save them from water damage and the rest of them.
 
So even if the house or the place I saved is flooded, as long as the building doesn't break down and after the flood you can go back in, there is a guarantee that you will still keep it in good shape.

[Coyster]

In the event of a natural disaster, i am pretty sure one will be more concerned about preserving their life than their backups, having said that, there are methods that are more secure and offer a better protection against natural disasters. One can back up their seed phrase on stainless steel or make plenty backups and keep them in different places. The thing is, none of these is certain to protect you from a natural disaster and you could still lose your money, but it will give you more protection than paper backup.

[Bushdark]

This is a difficult question and we need to understand how to go about keeping our seed phrase before we can utilize such an alternative.
War is not something we want to see but as we all know that of it comes many of us are going to moose our coins especially if we don't have access to our phones that is majorly our backups for keep seed phrases.
Writing it on a paper too has it own disadvantages and so we don't have to see it has an option if we really want to safeguard our seed phrase from getting lose.

[stompix]

Even if you backup your seed phrase offline in many locations, it is possible that kind of flood can lead to permanent loss of your offline seed phrase.

By definition, different back-ups should not be affected by the same issue that endangers one of them, so if you think of making two back-ups you don't bury both of them 1 meter away in your garden or you don't put it in the same safe in a bank! If you know you can get flooded then no way your basement or your garden is a safe place, if you live in an area threatened by wildfires the whole thing changes and you go with fire-resistant materials and bury the thing deep enough that only another MtHelen eruption would be able to affect it.
Simply, don't put all your eggs in one basket!

Also, if you're that concerned and you live in an area that can be flooded, has earthquakes, wildfires, a few tornados, and a tsunami now and then, there is always another choice: You move the hell out of that area since you might lose your life not just your coins!

Titanium or stainless steel or steel or any good metallic storage is also not 100% safe because flood can move the storage from your location you store the backup to a very far place like a place that another person will be the one to see it on maybe the flood can move it to a river a place that people can not get to it.

And if you pack it in a case with all the flooding if anyone really finds it for sure it will check it out before "thinking" of returning it.
Unless you live in Japan.

[AVE5]

You've got a sensitive view over this thread Op, storing seed phrases online isn't a bad one to me as may say.
I can actually suggest that we can store our seed phrases in an online storage account that's not associated or linked with any internet activities nor to be associated with an internet Alc accounts so that it can be assumed encrypted on a privacy mode which can't be lingered to linkages of hackers.
Sometimes ago, i read a thread where someone was suggesting that we can also install our seed phrases customizingly on the steels or wooden objects in a case of mistrust to remember where it was stored.
Nothing more than the reality fact because such disasters can still strike to affect such nature of seed phrase storage system.
On a ridiculous thinking, why should we have that insightment fear of loosing our funds if weve your seed phrase stored online While the same assets funds we're protecting is in a digital and online format? Why don't we have same fear that anything is possible to happen to the lost of our funds even without invading our Privacies with the seed phrases. Just funny but it's usually good to be concious of our seed phrases though

[Findingnemo]

If you are living in a place where natural disaster is common occurrence then having one backup far away from your location is mandatory, and the type of backup can depend on what kind of amount we keep in that wallet, if it's something big then having one deposit locker from nearby region where it's free from such events can be one of the solution and for smaller amounts, try the DIY backup methods like Soda can, engraving on metal sheets and keep them in a place where you can access instantly when you are going to move from your locality.

[dkbit98]

I don't think any criminal or someone can make a guess if your pencil has something that you hide.

Interesting idea of using a pencil, but I think he asked for natural disasters and I don't think regular pen and paper inside will survive any disaster at all:)
And instead of doing all this drilling and cutting of wooden pencils, you could just buy a stainless steel pen with ink inserts that can be replaced, and than just put paper roll inside.
This probably won't be water resistant, but it will resist fire and you can always put it in waterproof bag.
Lifetime pen backup.

[promise444c5]

Apart from keeping the seed into a safe, it would be a good idea also to store it in hermetic, fireproof envelopes, just in case (fire or floods can ruin it otherwise).

And boom you're  back to the loop again , that's  y she used the word no 100% guarantee.(just hope I'm  not confusing him as she )

And today I also saw a brilliant  idea from @satscrapper
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5491404.msg63895237#msg63895237
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5491404.msg63895773#msg63895773

Using pgp Encryption for  your keys to store online in this case only you can decrypt it using your private key.
Now, your private key could be taken offline and you can have multiples copies of it with no tag of "private key" attached, use different  methods of cold storage you feel like using especially  this

or maybe all methods  you know  , it will be hard and rare for a random person to get the idea that it's a private key for an Encryption if sighted on exposure.

[Orpichukwu]

Another means to save your phrase offline is also by using offline tools like flash drives, most of which are designed for a person's writing pen or any other tool that you can use on a daily basis, which can't attract the attention of people, and you can be moving around with them in case of an emergency.
 
You can also use an encrypted way to move the phrase into something that requires you to decode it and keep it in a different safe location, like your old mobile device, which has no access to the internet, and you are the only one who has access to it and can also carry it around in times of natural disaster.

[hatshepsut93]

If you are using a resilient storage method like a steel plate, it can withstand some damage. So in example with flooding, if the flood didn't collapse the house, you should be able to recover it.

Online backups can be viable and totally secure if you are using a really-really strong password. Not a password that you came up with your brain, but a randomly generated one by specialized software.

Another option is memorizing your seed phrase. It's not reliable at all, but an extra layer of backup wouldn't hurt.

And also you can encrypt your offline backups, even a seed on a piece of paper, and put it in a bank safety box.

[BlackBoss_]

Online backups can be viable and totally secure if you are using a really-really strong password. Not a password that you came up with your brain, but a randomly generated one by specialized software.

Brute force password is possible while brute force Bitcoin private key is impossible.

Are your password in the green?

Making wallet backup in digital form is good, not bad but if we store that digital backup online, like in our emails, cloud storage accounts and any online account, we are exposing it to many risk on Internet and increase risk that it will be stolen then brute forced.

[tech30338]

It is important to backup your seed phrase but some people said the backup is not good online but which is true because we have seen how hackers was able to see some people seed phrase online and steal their coins. But I have been thinking recently that how can people in countries with natural disaster be able to backup their seed phrase offline? An example is the flooding that occured in Pakistan like 2 or 3 years ago that submerged 1/3 of the country under water. Even if you backup your seed phrase offline in many locations, it is possible that kind of flood can lead to permanent loss of your offline seed phrase.

For me you should have multiple backups in different locations just to be sure at the same time it is secure, although we can't escape natural disaster having multiple backups and in different locations giving you a chance to be able to be safe, on natural disaster, regarding online backups you really don't have control over it since you don't have power over the devices and network infrastructures which hacker have chance to break the securities,

[NotATether]

You can etch or stamp your backups on a steel sheet. The materials needed should be fairly accessible in local hardware stores.

Steel washers are definitely the way to go here. I don't like steel sheets because they have very sharp corners that you could needlessly cut yourself on. At the very least, the corners would need to be made rounded or in an elliptical shape but that is quite hard to get right if you don't know how to do it. There are a number of topics in the Wallet Software board that describe this method in detail.

[m2017]

And instead of doing all this drilling and cutting of wooden pencils, you could just buy a stainless steel pen with ink inserts that can be replaced, and than just put paper roll inside.
This probably won't be water resistant, but it will resist fire and you can always put it in waterproof bag.

The inside of the paper roll can be made waterproof using foreign means, such as a protective film, or even better, fill the voids inside the steel handle with some kind of glue and seal it. This design will not be resistant to fire, and although the steel body of the pen will protect from direct fire, if this pen is located next to high-temperature fire sources, the paper roll stored inside will still be destroyed (paper smoldering). A good solution would be to put this pen in a fire-water-proof bag, then the effect will be multiple.

In theory, inside a steel pen you can put a thin long plate, like a rod, with the seed phrase printed / engraved on it. The only problem is the presence of a dremel with a fine engraver (or laser engraver) and a magnifying glass. But in theory, this is also feasible.

[tabas]

It is important to backup your seed phrase but some people said the backup is not good online but which is true because we have seen how hackers was able to see some people seed phrase online and steal their coins.

It's never been ideal to store your seed phrases online whether it's on a cloud storage, email or spreadsheets or whatever that's online even on personal messages on social media platforms.

But I have been thinking recently that how can people in countries with natural disaster be able to backup their seed phrase offline? An example is the flooding that occured in Pakistan like 2 or 3 years ago that submerged 1/3 of the country under water. Even if you backup your seed phrase offline in many locations, it is possible that kind of flood can lead to permanent loss of your offline seed phrase.

Aside from engraving it with steel, those that are still into written forms through paper can use plastic envelopes or anything that are water proof for the covering of the plate or card where you've written your seeds. I know that it's not 100% fool proof but each ways have its own cons and it will depend on the situation of the owner on how to keep their seeds safe and the storages they use.

[Makus]

Storing your seed phrase online has always been kicked against because we have lots of hacker looking for a way to get their hands on your seed phrase. One of the worse options is saving your seed phrase in your email or Google drive. But in case of emergency situations like natural disasters occurrence, it's not safe to save you seed phrase offline because if anything happens to seed phrase you'll be loosing all your assets forever. So in this case, is either you evacuate that environment or, you save your seed phrase in a more than 3 folders and encrypting each of them before storing them online, though it's not safe, but it's the best option I can think of now.

[Saint-loup]

That's concerning, but if I lived in this kind of country I think I would use the Shamir Secret Sharing Scheme in order to slip my seed in several parts with SLIP39, and I would leave one part online and I would send the other one to someone I trust living outside my country.
Or I would simply use a seed with a strong passphrase, store this passphrase online and send my seed (without the password ofc) to someone else living outside the country. It's almost the same as the SSSS except you can only use a 2/2 scheme.