Under the mattress, in the seams of luggage, or even rolled up in a cigar, what are the worst and best ways to keep a keyphrase safe? The key to unlock and cryptocurrency recoverya seed phrase, must be secure and safe.
Especially now that prices are low and crypto tourists have verified, it might be time for some crypto security spring cleaning. Security begins with a seed phrase, sometimes called a recovery phrase.
It’s undeniable: Bitcoin and the wider crypto space are in the grip of a bear market. From Do Kwon’s Terra Experience went up in smokea crypto contagion has snuffed out the most reputable exchanges, causing many self-sovereignty advocates to chant, “not your keys, not your coins.”
Indeed, not a day goes by without another “trusted” crypto lender freezing customer withdrawals. Of Vauld, Singapore’s crypto lender to thailand crypto exchange with 200,000 customersZipmex, au world famous Celsius exchangemany centralized lending platforms have suffered the same fate, with heartbreaking consequences for customers in 2022.
These circumstances are timely reminders to take care of your own keys and make sure they are in a safe place. So, while prices are low and trust in centralized exchanges (places that claim to deal in crypto), is also bottoming out, there’s no better time to beef up the security of your crypto assets. .
Key phrases save lives
A seed phrase, sometimes called a private key, is a list of 12 or 24 words forming a mnemonic phrase. Metaphorically speaking, a hardware wallet, or cold wallet, contains these keys providing a convenient way to send or “sign” funds.
If nurtured well, a keyphrase can save lives, as Alex Gladstein, human rights activist and director of strategy at the Human Rights Foundation, often says. For example, if a burglar steals a hardware wallet but not the seed phrase, it’s not a critical issue — the seed phrase can be used with a new wallet. If a government or a bad actor forces you to flee, the 12 or 24 words can be used anywhere in the world to access Bitcoin (BTC) or crypto funds.
Goldbug and Bitcoin skeptic Peter Schiff once messed up his seed phrase, mistaking it for his PIN. This is the first mistake to avoid. Now, here are some other examples of where not to store a seed phrase.
open secrets
The couple in possession of the Bitfinex billions in Bitcoin, who stored their seed phrase in their cloud storage account, win the top prize. As Cointelegraph reported, cybercriminals Heather Morgan and her cybersecurity specialist husband, Ilya Lichtenstein, stored their seed phrase on a cloud storage account. As such, the FBI only had to crack his iCloud password to access over $4 billion in BTC at the time of the report. The lesson here is not to store your seed phrase on the internet. This means that your Evernote notes, in an email draft or even in a low-engagement tweet:
Some posts get so little engagement. This is the best place to store my seed phrase.
Sun. Match. Hope. Air. Rocket. The clock. Finger. Carpet. Bath. Grass. Lights. Congress.
— Karma Hibernates (@Karma_Zeus) July 17, 2022
Likewise, as Cointelegraph has reported, you should never type a seed phrase into a phone. Why? Because, as one Redditor realized, text prediction on smartphones could actually guess a seed phrase. Text prediction, while sometimes useful for tricky spelling or emojis, is counterproductive when it comes to protecting personal wealth.
While that sounds appropriate, a refrigerator is also not the ideal place for “cold” storage of cryptocurrencies. A bitcoin enthusiast replied, “Fridge”, to the question “where is the weirdest place to store a seed phrase?” without explaining whether the seed phrase should be kept inside or on top of the refrigerator. It turns out that a non-fungible token (NFT) fan had already stored a seed phrase on the fridge:
Best way to store seed phrase https://t.co/9k0nHFNjeK pic.twitter.com/MpcRvwGc2m
—LazyTec (@LazyTec) July 15, 2022
Chief Editor of Cointelegraph, Kristina Lucrezia Corner, suggests that the worst place to store a seed phrase is bad memory. Indeed, unlike the dates of historical battles, car keys or the names of acquaintances of passages of life, a seed phrase must be engraved in memory wholeheartedly.
I guess the one I don’t remember
— Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr (@KristinaLCorner) July 21, 2022
Some of the more creative but memory demanding methods include memorization “favorite book pages, lines and words”, which for a Bitcoiner means store the seed sentence on pages 100-112 of a Harry Potter text. Which of the eight or more Harry Potter books is anyone’s guess. Luckily, there are now clever ways to memorize a seed phrase. MTC, a Bitcoin educator who designed the Sats Léger savings schemeconcocted a way to memorize a seed phrase in just 10 seconds through templates.
play it safe
But what do the experts have to say about keyphrases? Chris Brooks, founder of cryptocurrency recovery firm Crypto Asset Recovery, told Cointelegraph that in his experience, human error can eradicate wealth. People should be more worried about leaving their seed phrase or private keys in paper wallets that can be discarded by mistake rather than hackers or scammers. Brooks explained:
“You’re much more likely to move to a new apartment and lose your crypto password in the process than to get hacked.”
The Brooks family behind Crypto Asset Recovery operated a “seasonal business”, as in all bull markets like 2017 and 2021, crypto crackers are sought after by crypto enthusiasts who have forgotten their passwords or lost their passwords. their starting sentences. At one point in 2021, they told Cointelegraph that they were receiving up to 150 customer calls per day. Their one big tip for dealing with seed sentences is to keep it simple:
“So generally speaking, our security tips are pretty basic. Get a $30 safe from Amazon or, you know, build a small, easily identifiable wooden box as a place to store secure documents and just store your keyphrases there.
They suggest putting everything important in this box. That way, every time you “spring clean or move house, you’re not going to throw it away.” You’re not going to shred the paper or anything like that.
Related: NFT, DeFi and crypto hacks abound – Here’s how to double wallet security
However, since this is crypto, those with physical persuasion may be more inspired to store their seed phrases in even more creative storage “boxes.” Bitcoin advocate, onthebrinkie has 3D printed an adult toy suitable for an OpenDime (like a USB for Bitcoin) or a seed phrase to hide. The inspiring idea is that if an intruder breaks in, they could steal the wooden box full of important documents, but no one in their right mind would steal a sex toy.