The importance of your hive key can never be overemphasized, because even the day you register for the hive account, the importance of your hive key will always be announced, but many people never take this seriously because they don’t know its use or how important the keys are.
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There are 5 Hive keys that would be given to you upon opening your account with with any frontend. These keys include
- Active Key
- Posting key
- Memo key
- Owner key
- Master key
These keys are like your passcode to your hive account, and they have different uses. All keys are important because, without them, certain things or actions won't be allowed to perform on hive. No matter who the person is, be it a whale account holder or a newbie, if their keys get compromised or leaked to an individual who knows the importance of it, then they might tell all their hive resources good-bye.
Recently, my account got compromised, I don’t know how it happened. It started from trying to make a comment on a friend post on my PC, but this notification keeps popping up: “missing posting authority.” I know it has to do with my posting key not being intact or something else was wrong. I logged out and tried logging in again with my posting key, just for me to get the message "Invalid key.” What does an invalid key mean?
I was still logged in on my mobile device, I tried making the same comment, but the same notification kept popping out. I tried changing my password, but it was of no use because the keys had been compromised. Now, if someone has access to my private keys, I would say good-bye to my account and all the resources I have accumulated for years to accumulate.
What are the uses of the keys?
private Keys: Those public keys are used by sites to verify the identity of your account.
Posting key: The posting key allows accounts to post, comment, edit, vote, reblog, and follow or mute other accounts. Your posting key can be used to login on any frontend (Inleo, Peakd, Ecency, Hive.blog, and so on).
Active key: The active key is meant for transferring funds, power-up/down transactions, converting Hive Dollars, boosting, voting for witnesses, updating profile details and avatars, and so on. This is one of the most sensitive keys. Even if your posting key gets exposed, without the active key, no transaction can go on in your account.
Memo key: Currently, the memo key is not used.
Owner key: The owner key is only meant for use when necessary. It is the most powerful key because it can change any key in an account, including the owner key. Ideally, it is meant to be stored offline and only used to recover a compromised account.
Master key: This is the key that can do all things.
Many newbies and oldbies don’t know this, and with this information, I am sure you would understand the importance of your keys. It is better to store them offline or on a desk that can only be accessed by you. Hive doesn’t like accounts that are not active, so don’t lose your account and be eager to open another one. Very soon, a fee will be required to open a hive account, so it's better to own your account now without losing it. You can get more info on the Hive Discord
What action have you taken to protect yourself now?
I have stored my keys offline.
But that statement was to tell people how important it is to keep your key so another person won’t have access to it
👍
But you said your keys are compromised, and someone may have access to your account. You didn't take any action to rectify that?
Nooooo, yes it got compromised and I couldn’t get it back for more than a week, thanks to the hive help desk I got the account back.
You can check my post and you would understand.
When I said, Right now if someone else have access to my private key, it would mean I’m kissing my account goodbye, but they don’t because I have everything saved after my account was recovered
Indeed friend our Hive keys are the most important things to keep secured. What a great post friend
Thanks for reading
Very much welcome ❤️💯
Very good information!
Thanks for reading 😌
So informative. Thank you for this blog!
You’re welcome ☺️
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Thanks for enlightened us about the keys
You’re welcome sir