Some insecure ways you need to know about backing up your private keys

The <Depth Analysis of Bitcoin’s 10th Anniversary Data>estimates that the total number of unrecoverable bitcoins is estimated to be around 2 to 3 million, accounting for 12% ~ 18% of the total bitcoin volume. Maybe you ignore it and think that it will never happen to you, but when the day comes that you lose your coins, you will regret it.

We, as wallet operators, deal with several cases of private key loss almost every week, and none of them are due to external causes, but rather personal ones. So, I hope that with this article, these tips will help you back up your private key safely.

First, private key copying mistakes

We’ve always advocated that people make a backup copy of their private keys by hand, and make sure that the font is clear, and that it’s case sensitive, you also need to separate the numbers and letters and make two copies for saving.

But the most common cause of asset loss is also hand copying, which seems to be done carefully, but without paying attention to capitalization, numbers, and letters, which results in the failure of the private key to be imported into the wallet.

Suggestions: Use three colors of pens, one for upper case, one for lower case, and one for numbers, and make two copies by hand, keep them separately, and then import them into your wallet periodically for verification.

How to check it: if you use an extension wallet, you can also download the mobile wallet, and regularly import your private key into the mobile wallet, or use the same private key of extension and mobile, which can perfectly avoid private key backup errors.

Second, no backups at all

This was especially common when Flamingo first started. A lot of people think I just mine, I’ll leave when I’m done, I don’t need a backup, just remember my password is enough.

But uninstalling and reinstalling due to browser version, due to network issues, or some other reason results in the loss of assets.

So no matter which wallet you use and how long you use it, be sure to remember that one install two save three hoards four backup five backup six back-ups.

Third, backing up the json file, but forgetting the password

As we all know, Neo wallets can be imported into wallets via private key, but also via json file, but needs the login password. You may not know much about the json file, and you may think that you just need to back up the file. If so, when the wallet was uninstalled and the file was imported, you will discover that the original password was required, but at this point, it was no longer known what the original password was.

Pay attention: You must set a password that you are familiar with, but it is not public.

Fourth, save a screenshot

I’m sure you’ll see a reminder to back up your private key after creating your wallet, with the reminder that you should never take a screenshot to share and save in your mobile, which could be intercepted by third-party malware and cause loss of assets, and be aware of the safety of your surroundings when copying.

However, screenshot backup is still a routine operation for more users, although it is the most convenient, it is also very risky. If other software gains access to your camera or albums, it may lead to the leakage of mnemonics.

Fifth: Copying private keys

In addition to the above screenshot saving, another risky backup behavior is to simply copy the private key backed up in places like MySpace favorites.

This is one of the most common ways to steal user information or assets because when you copy your private key information on your phone or computer, it can be stolen from the clipboard by malware.

It’s not just the private key, but also the copy address, a malware “clipboard hijacker” can replace the user’s wallet address with a hacker’s wallet address. According to statistics, the hijacker spies on over 2.3 million cryptocurrency addresses (maybe your wallet address is one of them).

Suggestions: when you copy the private key and address, don’t copy the full information, you can copy only the first half of the message, leaving a few characters to be entered manually.

Sixth: Backing up your private key on the netbook

There is a case, in August 2018, police in China solved a digital currency theft case. This victim was the one who reportedly had his computer hacked, resulting in the theft of private keys saved on his computer’s netbook and the looting of digital currencies with a market value of hundreds of millions of dollars at the time. At last the police count, this criminal gang stole a total of digital currency valued at $600 million.

It’s a good idea to replace the two or three letters at the beginning or end of your key when you store it on a netbook, or store it in sections and add a letter to each section. Pay attention to this added letter, it must be very clear, otherwise also because you do not know which letter and how many added, which can lead to private key import error and asset loss.

These are just a few of the common types of private key backups, the danger is always over you, but as long as we take safe and proper countermeasures, assets are not that easy to lose.

A few last bits of advice:

1. Digital wallets are different from our other apps, having a password is not enough, private keys are more important than anything else in the blockchain world.

2. The handwritten copies must be case sensitive and in three colors (one color for numbers, one color for uppercase, and one color for lowercase), and it is best to back up 2–3 copies.

3. Private keys need to be managed by yourself and no one can help you if you lose them, including the wallet side.

4, You need to download the wallet from the official website, beware of phishing software.

That’s all for today’s sharing, if you have any other questions, please feel free to add the following customer service WeChat and join the wallet discussion community.

NeoLine Encrypted Wallet is a decentralized digital wallet that supports NEO / GAS / NEP5 asset management, developed by the NEXT team of Neo’s domestic technology community, and currently supports the Chrome extension and mobile.