Hi Steemians,
like some of you folks may already know I am quite new to cryptos so I have to research a lot of things which I like to share with you guys in order to help somebody with the same issue.
I will roughly explain some methods to secure your data and in the end of this post I will point out what I do/what I think is best to secure my data.
OK let's get started.
First of all the most obvious solution is to write it on paper.
pros- not connected to the Internet so not open to attacks.
cons- loose it, burn it or let it get destroyed and you will loose everything. Next, for all those private keys no copy and paste which forces you to manually type in those long keys each time you log in which is open to attacks with key loggers. And in case you have to make use of the keys more often it is totally uncomfortable to use an onscreen keyboard and type with your mouse...
Second obvious way is to make use of a Password manager such as Lastpass, 1Password and so on.
They seem to be very good due to reports BUT I just feel uncomfortable leaving all my sensitive data to a certain software producing company. this is just my personal opinion.
Then there is of course a way to encrypt your data manually using build in tools or things like encrypt a word/write document with passwords or compress the data using winrar or 7zip and encrypt a folder. If you take a long secure password it will take long time for hackers to get to the data. I personally have been using Truecrypt for almost the last two decades which i really liked a lot. It creates a mountable encrypted password secured folder. Truecrypt is no longer up to date but a similar software called Veracrypt is available for free (link below). One of the good things about using a mountable folder instead of a direct encryption like an encrypted archive is that if you want to access to the secure data through a browser-promt for example Myetherwallet you can access the keystone file on the mounted drive. An other good thing about Veracrypt is that you can extract the software direct on the Usb-stick in order to decrypt the data from any other Windows machine.
You can also secure your data using an AES encrypted usb stick such as the one I mention below which will erase all data in case you type in your password 6 times incorrect. A very good solution as well.
OK I didn't got to deep in that topic because it it quite big with all the different encryption methods and so on and of course I am not a professional on this topic but below my go to encryption.
What I will do is the following:
I will get a AES 256bit encrypted usb stick. My recommendation is:
Integral Crypto USB-Stick 4GB mit 256 Bit AES encryption, FIPS 197 for about 20€
Then i will use the the new version of Veracrypt to encrypt the data using a mountable folder on the encrypted usb stick.
Of those sticks I will get two in case I am on the road and loose/destroy mine, I need at least one backup at home!
I have spend only a few hours doing the research so any recommendations are appreciated. Feel free to correct me so I can learn something.