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Digital recovery glossary
34 terms on two-step verification, passkeys, password managers and account recovery. Each one explained in a short page, with our verdict: do we use it or not?
The basics
Why your phone has become the place where almost everything else opens or closes.
- Your phone, a single point of failureyour phone is your authenticator, approver, SIM and bank all at once
- Circular recovery dependencythe cycle that won't open without going through itself first
- Two-step verification (2FA)what a factor is and why it can also lock you out
- Account recoverywhat a provider does when you say "I can't log in"
Second factors
The different ways to prove it's you, beyond your password.
- SMS verificationthe most widespread and the most fragile: depends on your SIM
- Email verification codeas secure as your own email is
- Magic linklogging in with a link: your email becomes the only key
- TOTPcodes that change every 30 seconds, the recommended standard
- HOTPTOTP's older sibling, based on a counter
- Authenticator appwhere your codes live and what happens if you lose your phone
- Push notification verificationtapping "yes, it's me": convenient and vulnerable to MFA fatigue
- Google PromptGoogle's push, the default second step on Android
- Security keya physical object that doesn't get lost with your phone
- Biometricsunlocks your phone, doesn't replace your password
Passkeys and standards
The way of logging in without a password that browsers and systems already speak natively.
Recovery routes
What a provider asks you to prove it's you once you can no longer log in.
- Backup codesthe cheapest key outside the circle there is
- Recovery keyif you lose it, you can lose the entire account
- Recovery emailuseless if you only open it on the same phone
- Recovery phoneconvenient and fragile: it falls with your SIM
- Trusted phone number (Apple)where Apple sends codes with no other device
- Trusted devicethe safety net almost nobody has tested
- Recovery contactsomeone who gives you a code without seeing your data
People you trust
When the answer isn't a code, but another person.
Passwords
The foundation of it all, and the most common place a circle starts.
Your number and your SIM
What can happen to your phone line, with or without your phone in hand.
Threats
What tries to break everything above.