For the sake of round numbers, let's say I have $13k in SP. One day I notice that my next power down is in 1 day (that means I had not noticed it for 6 days).
The hacker - the one who stole my active key - is about to get 1,000 liquid Steem tomorrow. (and 1000 per week for 13 weeks if I never notice).
So I whip out my owner key and change the active and passive keys today. Tomorrow comes, and since he no longer can move my money around, I just power the 1,000 back up. Problem solved.
My beef with Steemconnect...
They ask people to put in their owner key. If a person doesn't know how dangerous that is, they will be the one locked out of moving money around - they will lose the whole account as the hacker can change all three, owner, active, and posting.
Very true! I misunderstood and thought the owner key was the active key(I might’ve lost my owner key). Anyways you’re 100% correct this key loss would be the same as having a wallet emptied.