[konstruktors]

> And then you drop your key and lose it. Or it gets ran over by a car or something. Now what?

You can't have both, I think. With a physical key your only concern is the physical security of the key. One should print out the revocation certificate, though.

I don't think many people lose their home keys or get them run over by a car. It's just a matter of making that a priority.

[mschuster91]

> I don't think many people lose their home keys or get them run over by a car.

All it needs is some idiot emptying his drink over your pants to fry an USB device. Or a drunk driver crashing into your bike and breaking the device.

Print out your passphrase-protected keyset, put it together with an encrypted copy of your most common passwords (I know no one uses a dedicated password for every site!) and your KeePass/Keychain/... database in a bank safe and one in your home's safe.

Put the password to said DBs in your will (or deposit it at a notary's office), so that in case you die your relatives will be able to shut down your online presence, but not if either the bank, your safe or the notary get busted.

[heinrich5991]

Yes, people do use different passwords for each site, and you should, too. :)

[mschuster91]

We all have those legacy accounts flying around somewhere ;)

[morgante]

People lose their home keys all the time. Certainly more often than they lose their computers.

[tokenizerrr]

I carry my Yubikey on my keychain, and I have definitely lost my home keys before. Only once, mind you. But it happens.

Anyway, I think it's very risky to rely on single physical item for your private key storage.