Found a hidden SSH key on a forgotten server 4 years after I left the job

Last week I got a call from an old colleague asking if I remembered any credentials for a legacy server we used back in 2019. I dug through old notes and found a plaintext SSH key I had stashed in a text file on my personal drive that still worked on that box. How do you guys keep track of old keys and access without leaving them lying around?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_cora18d ago

Appreciate you sharing this, it's a REAL struggle that more people don't talk about until they're in the middle of it. That offline flash drive in a safe is honestly the most solid system I've heard for this kind of thing.

the_henry19d ago

I had a similar situation with a client server from 2017. I started using a simple encrypted text file stored on a flash drive in a fireproof safe at home. The file just has the server name, IP, username, and the key path. I update it every time I leave a job or retire a credential. It saved me when an old boss called about a billing system that nobody else could get into. The key part is keeping that file offline and only pulling it out when someone actually needs it, not just sitting around in your regular documents.