Your backup code can be used to disable two-step authentication on your account in the event that you lose every device that you use for the second authentication step. It is very important to keep this secure – possession of your password and backup code will provide full access to your account.
We recommend storing your backup code in one of the following ways, in order of decreasing security:
Any of the above methods should provide protection against the most common threats to your account.
Note that when using a USB flash drive, we strongly recommend that you dedicate one device to backup codes for Stripe and other websites only, and that you only ever plug it in to add or read a new code. This makes it more difficult for malware to read the credentials.
We do not recommend storing your backup code:
If you suspect that your backup code may be compromised, go to your two-step authentication settings and generate a new one as soon as possible. This will invalidate the old code.