Stage 2 Tutorial: HIVE KEYS AND SECURITY

Greetings

Today, I will be writing about hive private keys security and their using. This is in line with completing the stage 2 task for the hive learners community. Prior to the announcement post by @kronias, I have carefully read the guideline presented in a post by @prayzz and came with these deductions.

Importance of Security
When it comes to every aspect of life, security is of high regard. It is very crucial as it saves us from losing our assets to frauds. The hive blockchain is no different when it comes to security. The blockchain has put in place several measures to ensure adequate security of all its customers assets. Following the goal to achieve security of assets, every hive wallet comes with several private keys, each dedicated for separate function to provide maximum security.
Interaction in the blockchain requires the use of four separate private keys. These keys are namely: Owner key, Active key, Posting key, and Memo key.

Owner Key
This key is quite very crucial as it’s required in carrying out several transactions on the blockchain. Most of its required areas of usage are; changing all other keys, revoking vote right, and sending token. This key has the flexibility to alter virtually every aspect of the hive account making it the most powerful key for security authorization.

Active Key
Other than updating other keys, the active key virtually does everything as the owner key and is also majorly used for currency transfers. Active key controls the movement of tokens in your hive account. Making transfers to other accounts and send tips to authors all requires the active key authorization.

Posting Key
Posting key seems to be the most common key. It is used for posting, voting, and commenting. Currency transactions does not require posting key but every social media activity on the blockchain requires it. however, if someone were to hack you and steals your posting key, they can only perform posting and replying but wouldn’t be able to steal your hive tokens.

Memo Key
Memo is the lest used key on the blockchain. They are used for purposes such as description of payments. Memo key is needed in sending encrypted memo, but most of its actions can be carried out using the active key.

Locating the Security keys on Hive

Locating private key on the hive blockchain requires few easy steps. Here, I will display the process using hive.blog and peakd.com. The left bright column represents hive.blog while the right dark column represents peakd.com

Step 1: sign in from Hive.blog or peakd.com

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Step 2

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Step 3

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Step 4: For hive.blog only

How to Secure your Hive Keys

The hive keys are titled private which explains why it is specifically made for only the account owner. However, in securing your hive account the following actions are recommended

Secrecy: Be very secretive with your hive private keys and avoid anything that might make them fall into the wrong hands. Also avoid the mistake of posting any of your key online as some people has previously done and got their account hacked.

Go analogue: The new digital way of doing things might seem faster but at times its not the best action when it comes to security. Though it will be stressful but write down your keys if possible and avoid giving its location to the wrong hand

Avoid using your Keys on anyhow links: Some links automatically saves your keys when you use them, so avoid using your keys on unidentified links not trusted by the hive server.