[BLOCKCHAIN WALLET- TYPES, USES, INSTALLATION, etc.] - Steemit Crypto Academy Season 5 - Homework Post for Task 9.
Homework Task 9
1) How do you store/secure your keys? What are the different forms of Private Key(Examples/Screenshot)? Download & Install TronLink Wallet(Android/iOS/Extension)? How do you store the key(Hint- write it down on a notepad, demonstrate it with examples)? Which form of the key are you comfortable with to handle your TronLink Wallet? Include Screenshots & hide/blur the sensitive information.
We all know that usage of digital currencies and digital wallets are more reliable and secured than using normal fiat currencies and conventional banking system. But, its validity will only be there until we secure the account keys and passwords in a safer place. At the time you have lost your keys then then it may lead to loss of assets as well because, if the keys have gone to another person then he/ she will have the custody of your assets.
In a nutshell, you have to keep your keys safer and secure them just as you protect your eyes. I mainly use three ways to secure the keys and passwords.
- Secure them in an External hard drive or a USB drive.
I, after being introduced to the Crypto world, used to work with different kinds of applications and platforms. For the apps and platforms, I have to use different passwords. At the beginning I didn’t manage to store them in a secured place. But, eventually with time, I had a habit of saving my particular account keys and passwords in my personal external hard disk and my personal pen drive after registering into an app or a platform. Here the reason to use personal is that, I strictly have managed not to take my personal hard disk and pen drive outside my home for any purpose. So I think this is my most recognized way of saving my private keys and password while the other methods are kept as a secondary backup method.
- Secure them along with the personal file rack together with personal data.
After receiving the private keys and passwords, apart from the above method, most of the time I used to get a hard-copy by printing them in order to place them in my personal file rack. Sometimes, if the keys are comparatively long; like 12 seed words, I used to separate them in two parts and take to printouts to store them in two different places.
- Secure the passwords in my Google drive or cloud storage.
Since my childhood, I used to save most of my personal files in the Google drive and the cloud storage. So as that, at present also I have a habit of saving my personal data, passwords, and keys in Google drive and cloud storage. More importantly, I activated 2 factor authentications in my Google drive. Not only that, the documents which I do uploading are password protected documents.
So, these are the different methods that I am using to protect my passwords and keys.
Private key-Once you received a private key, you should treat it as the most important part of your digital assets. This private key will be generated immediately after the creation of a blockchain wallet. Mostly, this key consists alphanumeric characters. In a nutshell it is a combination of Upper-case letters, lower case letters and numbers.
Always keep in mind to hide this key in a secure place, otherwise if someone gets this key, then it will be the end of your relationship with your wallet because once you lose your keys or your assets; it can’t be recovered in cryptocurrency.
Mnemonic key-This can be also described as the user-friendly version of the private key because this Mnemonic key is not that complicated as the private key. This is consisted with 12-24 words which can easily be remembered. Some of the digital wallets and platforms are identifying this Mnemonic key as seeds. As mentioned earlier, this is also a private key which you should keep in a safer place. If possible should try to keep this seed in two different places by dividing it to two pieces.
Keystore file-This is the encrypted version of the private key which has the encrypted version of JSON-formatted. Mostly this is popular as the one of the most secured keys that is being used in the platform, because this key is secured with an extra password which is created via the owner of the wallet itself. With the combination of the key and the private password, it creates more confident for the users to enter the digital platforms more accurately.
If anyone wants to hack, then the personal/personals have to take both the Keystore file and the private password, in order to enter the platform. So, because of this reason, the Keystore file is more secure than the above-mentioned private key and the mnemonic key.
TronLink wallet is a platform mainly created for the Tron (TRX) users. Here I will choose my IOS device to show the process of download and installing the TronLink wallet.
Step 1- First, I open up my Apple App Store in order to search the TronLink wallet.
Step 2- After selecting the TronLink wallet app to be downloaded, you can install the app to your device.
Step 3- After opening the downloaded app, first of all you will be asked to select to create an account or to import an existing account. Here to move on, I will choose; create an account tab.
Step 4-Straight after clicking on that particular tab a user agreement will pop up. After going through it, you can click on accept to move forward.
Step 5- Then with the window you get,simply enter a user name.
Step 6-After continuing from step 5, here you have to enter a password twice with the use of alphanumeric characters.
Step7-After completing the initial stage, this is the most important part of this wallet setting. Here the setup will ask you to back up the twelve key seeds in a secure place for your future.
Step 8-After securing you password, you will be checked by the app management whether you have saved the keys correctly. So here you will have to enter the correct answers to move on.
Step 9-After completing all the above steps correctly, finally you will be directed to a window as shown below.
How do you store the key?
As I’ve mentioned before, I have a habit of saving my keys mainly in three different ways. So, this time around I have saved the received Tron link wallet passwords in both physically and digitally. As the first step, I saved the keys in my external hard disk and my personal pen drive. Then I took a hard copy of the keys and saved it in my personal file which is in my cupboard. Not only that, but also, I would never forget to save the passwords in my highly secured google drive. Here everyone should make sure not to save any screenshots of your passwords in any of your digital devices because if the device is either hacked or stolen, then the data will also be lost or deleted or even copied in any other places and so you will lose even the assets too.
Which form of the key are you comfortable with to handle your Tron Link Wallet?
I feel that mnemonic key is the best option to work forward with, because there you only have got 12-24 words which you are familiar in your day today life. So, with that we can’t expect any word missing, spellings missing etc. But when you consider keys like private keys; they are alphanumeric and too long to work with, key-store file is dependent with file and password. Therefore because of this I think mnemonic key will be the best option to move forward accordingly.
This is my entry for Beginners' course Task-9. Thank you Professor @sapwood for giving us the opportunity to learn the wallet types, uses and Installation.