Crypto Academy Season 4 Beginners' course - Homework Post for Task 9:by @meniya
Hello steemains,
Happy to be back for season 4 of SteemitCryproAcademy. Thanks prof @sapwood for an interesting amd understandable lecture on "Blockchain wallets types and uses". Below us my homework post for Task 9.
INTRODUCTION
Blockchain wallet is a cryptocurrency wallet otherwise known as a financial purse used by crypto traders and investors to carryout transactions on Exchange platforms and also used to exchange funds between a sender and a receiver. Blockchain wallets are completely decentralized, which makes it easily accessible to users at any time without any third-party influence.
Once a user creates or gets a blockchain wallet, a private( more like a pin or password for transactions) and a public key(more like a bank account number) is generated for the user, these keys serve as security to the wallet.
Security keys (Private and public keys) are very vital to blockchain wallets, these keys protects blockchain wallet users from internet hackers to steal from them. Once any of these keys gets lost or hacked, the security of the user's wallets becomes compromised. The retrieving of lost keys in a decentralized platform is completely impossible, speaking from experience, I lost my phone when I first signed up or the Steemit platform and i didn't store or save my keys, I lost that account because of this.
Although with a centralized platform, it is somehow possible to retrive a lost key, as the key can be recovered with the help of a third party. Also from a personal experience, when I lost my phone I lost my mobile banking app password, I went to the bank and my password was recovered with the help of the bank personnel who is a third-party.
How i store/secure my keys
After I lost my phone and lost many of my important passwords, I bought a USB hard drive which is usually at home, where I now store all my passwords. I store all my passwords in USB hard drive ,ensuring they have different forms of identification and stored in seperate folder for easy identification when I need them.
Most importantly, I write down all my passwords in my diary, its my private personal friend away from anybody. I feel my passwords are safe here. It is an offline form of storing my keys. So if there is any case of loosing my password i can easily go to my diary to get the passwords, with or without accessing the internet. I also memorize some of my passwords as I usually use my name and date of birth as some of my passwords.
Also, i sometimes, encrypt my passwords that are too long or difficult to write down or memorize, i encrypt the passwords in my own way and send the file to another email address of mine, which is stored to the desktop at home.
For me the most secure way to store passwords is writing it down in a diary or memorizing them if you can. The storing of keys online in your google drive account, looks a bit risky to me, as hackers might get access to these keys and compromise the security of your account or wallet.
Private key is a key or password that gives a cryptocurrency user access and ownership of the funds in a blockchain wallet or account. There are three forms of private key(Keystore file, mnemonic key, and private key. Lets look at them below one by one.
• Private key
Private key is a alphanumeric key, comprising of both alphabetic letters and numeric digits. This key is written in a special pattern using cryptographic function. With a private key, a user can access their wallet or account, make transactions and this key is best kept secret and safe from a third-party. Below is an example of what a private key looks like.
• Keystore file(JSON file)
It is a rare form of private key, compromised of letters, digits, brackets, comas and many other symbols. It's the hardest private key, making it quite difficult to memorize or write down and is best stored online or a screenshot is taken and stored in a USB hard drive. This key is known as an encrypted version of your private key, consisting of many hexadecimals with symbols as well. The file extension of the keystore file is known as JSON extension. A keystore/JSON file is generated when passwords are created when opening a wallet account. It looks more like gibberish. Below is a sample of what keystore file looks like.
• Mnemonics key
The Mnemonic key or mnemonic phrase is a more complex made up of letters, consisting of 12-14 or more, words or phrases. Mnemonic key is the most preferred private key, because it is can be read easily and can be remembered easily if the need to recover a lost key or password arises. Mnemonic keys are best stored/secured by writing it in a diary. It is the first private key given to user during registration process. With the mnemonic key, one can change all other password and your account can be recovered with the help of a mnemonic key. Below is a sample of what mnemonic key look like.
•First, i go to https://www.tronlink.org/. A page shows up, I click on Andriod
•The next interface pops up, i click on Google play, it takes me to Google play app, where i click on install to install the TronLink pro - Wallet on my phone.
•After successfully installing the App, I click on Open, it takes me to the main page of TronLink Wallet.
•I click on create account, and the user agreement pages shows, i click on "accept"
•Now I create a name for my Tron wallet, and click on next step
•After which, you set up preferred password and click on next step
•Next Backup your mnemonic key and confirm your mnemonic key.
Note: This steps where screenshot with another phone, as TronLink Wallet doesn't allow screenshoting this point for security purpose
•My written mnemonic key in my diary
•Waalaa.. my TronLink Wallet has been successfully created.
For me, I'm more comfortable with mnemonic private keys. It is readable, easy to memorize and write down in my diary(as I have already done). It is made up of only lowercase letters which makes it simple and easy to memorize. Unlike the private key made up of alphabetic letters and numeric digits, and Keystore made up of a combination of letters, digits, comas, brackets and other symbols which are more difficult and tough to memorize. So I'm definitely comfortable with the Mnemonic form of private key.
CONCLUSION
Private keys are passwords that gives a cryptocurrency user access and full ownership of their funds in a blockchain wallet or account. Private keys are important keys in the crypto technology and all blockchain wallets.
It is very important to our private keys very safe and secure, and it should be backuped properly either by writing them in your diary or storing it in a USB.
This is quite an interesting lecture, easy to understand and i have learnt more about private keys. and how to create a Tron wallet account. It is also very important to have a secure backup of your keys and passwords, if you mistakenly lose your keys, you will enable to get them back from the backup file you have.
Thank you.
Cc:
@dilchamo