diff --git a/doc/backups.md b/doc/backups.md
index 3a6225d..4486d50 100644
--- a/doc/backups.md
+++ b/doc/backups.md
@@ -12,4 +12,10 @@ The S3 credentials as well as the backup password are stored in the
 
 To decrypt a backup archive, use the following command:
 
+    openssl aes-256-cbc -d -base64 -pbkdf2 -in my_backup.tar.enc -out my_backup.tar
+
+If you get an error message along the lines of "bad decrypt", the archive was
+likely encrypted before we switched the key derivation scheme. Try without
+`-pbkdf2` in this case:
+
     openssl aes-256-cbc -d -base64 -in my_backup.tar.enc -out my_backup.tar
diff --git a/site-cookbooks/backup/templates/default/config.rb.erb b/site-cookbooks/backup/templates/default/config.rb.erb
index 61ed8ad..c5f9f64 100644
--- a/site-cookbooks/backup/templates/default/config.rb.erb
+++ b/site-cookbooks/backup/templates/default/config.rb.erb
@@ -6,6 +6,18 @@
 # Documentation: http://backup.github.io/backup
 # Issue Tracker: https://github.com/backup/backup/issues
 
+#
+# Monkey patch to not use deprecated key derivation scheme
+# https://github.com/backup/backup/issues/949#issuecomment-589883577
+#
+module OpenSSLFixDeprecatedKeyDerivation
+  def options
+    super + ' -pbkdf2'
+  end
+end
+require 'backup/encryptor/open_ssl'
+Backup::Encryptor::OpenSSL.prepend(OpenSSLFixDeprecatedKeyDerivation)
+
 Storage::S3.defaults do |s3|
   s3.access_key_id     = "<%= @s3_access_key_id %>"
   s3.secret_access_key = "<%= @s3_secret_access_key %>"