Achievement 2 @christiee Task : Basic Security on Steem
Security has to be the most emphasised thing here on the steem ecosystem that immediately you sign up to the community, the first thing you are advised on, is Security. Efforts have been made to make us see reasons why we should be security conscious.
Even in banks, emphasis are being laid on, us protecting our pins and passwords which are the keys to our Monetary assets. It is definitely safe to say that The steem ecosystem is like a bank and must be secured to the last sweat in our body. Hey!! Make sure you stay hydrated so you won't have to use your last sweat protecting your keys. Lol
It is often frustrating when we lose our password or pins, I mean how can we lose access to our possession, to our sweat, to our toil, to our pains and victory?. Take it this way that there is no way of retrieving the lost passwords, then all you may have laboured for is in vain and depression will certainly set in if it's something you really valued. May it never happen to us. But we have to do whatever it takes for it not to happen to us.
But how would it feel losing access to a steem account that so much work has been put in? No one would ever want that and that's why it is important to retrieve all keys by downloading the pdf file containing all keys and storing it somewhere safe. As it is being suggested, an offline digital storage like the flash drive, external hard disk, and paper print containing the key, locked in a safe box is strongly advised. That which I have carefully done.
Since we all have different ways of storing things, not all of us would like a safebox or a hard disk or any of the above mentioned secured ways, whatever way it is that you have chosen to secure your keys, make sure it is not accessible to anyone and that you will never lose it. If you are sure about that, then you are good to go as I am😁. I am soooo good to gooooooo!!!
Now to the functions of keys. As we know, a password is different from a pin. A password grants access to a system and a pin is needed for transaction. I seriously don't know why I am using banks as an example. I should consider banking lol.
As passwords and pins are different, so is the different keys on steemit. Different keys for different task.
We have the master key which is the key above every other key. Needed only for account recovery in that it can be used to generate other keys and it must be protected at all cost. You can't lose it for no reason. If you lose other passwords but your master password is safe with you, you can retrieve other passwords. Interesting right?
We have private posting key which is used to login in to steem everyday. It is only restricted to posting and interactions on the steem blockchain
The private Active key used for any form of transaction on the steem blockchain. You can't post with this key. Only transactions!. The various transactions carried out on the steem blockchain are powering up, powering down, converting steem dollars to steem and steem to steem dollars, steem power delegation and transfer of steems and steem dollars. I am not sure it is needed to join curation trail since I haven't tried it out before. But I have a feeling it is needed for it. I stand to be corrected though.
Private memo key is key used to encrypt and decrypt memos(wallet address) encrypting is conversion of an information to a secret code that makes the true form of that information hidden and decrypting is converting a secret code to a form that is understandable.
Private Owner key is just like the master key. The owner key is as important as the master key for it is needed to change the keys of an account. It can change all the keys including itself. And in a case where an account has been compromised, it is needed for it resolve. Storing of this key is best offline so it can be secured as much as possible.
Because master key/passwords are very important, it must be guarded and that I plan to guard it by storing it offline in a place only accessible to me. I can't disclose it because where I kept it should only be known to me and I have also saved it in my external disks as codes that can only be deciphered by me.
Transferring steem token from a users steem account to another steem account is pretty easy.
What is needed is the username of the account to be transferred to. On wallet, Click on the liquid steem, options like transfer, transfer to savings, etc will be shown. Since we are transferring to another account, we will click on transfer. The next dialogue box that will be shown is where it will be needed to input the username of the account, the amount of liquid steem to be sent, And then next. There is a box for memo but that's not necessary. It will only be necessary if we are transferring to a third party wallet. You will be asked to log in with your active key to make the transaction. When that is done, you click ok to complete transaction.
That's how simple it is to transfer steem and also steen dollars.
Powering up is giving strength or value to a thing and powering up steem is giving more strength to the steem power that is to say, increasing the value of one's account. The more steem power one have, the more influential an account is. So powering up simple means staking for high returns. The higher steem power one have, the higher the rewards that follows. So if you have a high steem power, your voting strength increases which gives a higher value and also a good curating reward. In every investment, if you invest more, you reap more.
I have learnt a whole lot with this achievement 2 task because I am come to the realisation that steem is an investment. It's either you invest your time or money. You reap both ways but the one who invests more reap more. I am loving this!!! My eyes of understanding has been enlightened. I am now understanding how investment works.
Thank you @cryptocannon for making us partake in this assignment. It is needed for a better understanding of how the steem ecosystem works and also how investments and money making works.
Here is a link to my achievement1 task