04-16-2023, 02:42 PM
Protect Your Seed Phrase (10 Tips to Secure your Crypto)
<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><h1>1) Never share the words with anyone</h1> <p>This is the <strong>only thing</strong> you need to do to be safe. </p> <p>People complain about “getting hacked” daily but most of these stories end up having the same root cause: <em>the person gave their seed phrase to someone</em>. </p> <p>They weren’t a victim of a hack… They fell for a scam.</p> <p>Again, <strong>ownership of the private keys means ownership of the address they control</strong>.</p> <p>When you share them with someone, you’re basically sharing the ownership.</p> <h1>2) Don’t save your seed phrase online</h1> <p>When you have your words in your mailbox’s Drafts folder or you’ve sent them to yourself on social media, you’ve technically shared them with the world.</p> <p>They’re potentially exposed to employees of the services you’re using, to platforms with which you interact, or any user of a device you’re logged or have been logged into, etc.</p> <p>The solution is simple: <strong>use pen and paper</strong>.</p> <h1>3) Keep the paper safe and hidden</h1> <p>Have your 12-24 words written clearly on a piece of paper and hide it from the world.</p> <p>Don’t only think about burglars, but also people you live with – even without bad intentions, they can leak it or lose it due to negligence.</p> <p>The stories about suckers searching dumpsters for hard-disks are mainstream nowadays… All of that can be avoided if you have this piece of paper..</p> <p>And don’t use bank deposit boxes to store your whole seed phrase, as it may defy the whole concept of <em>“not your keys, not your coins”</em>.</p> <h1>4) Never take a picture of your seed phrase</h1> <p>A picture on your phone is equally (or even more) vulnerable like the examples from point 2.</p> <p>Think about every application that has permissions to access your media files, an unintentional share, losing your phone… I can go on and on!</p> <p>Again, all of this can be avoided by <strong>not having a picture</strong>. And if you’re worried about your house collapsing, keep reading:</p> <h1>5) Have a duplicate</h1> <p>It’s always the case that something can happen to a piece of paper. Someone can throw it away unknowingly, it can be destroyed during unfortunate events, etc.</p> <p>That’s why I think it’s a good idea to have a copy of your seed phrase stored elsewhere. However, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, as it depends on your personal circumstances.</p> <h1>6) Don’t get too creative</h1> <p>You can also get a bit creative in regards to how you write down the words. The goal would be to make the seed unusable for anyone that might get a hold of your precious piece of paper.</p> <p>You might have ideas like tampering some words or changing their order using an algorithm you’d remember etc.</p> <p><strong>Be careful with this.</strong></p> <p>If you’re not using your seed phrase often (you won’t), there’s a high probability that <strong>you</strong> will be the one that ends up with an unusable seed phrase.</p> <p>You don’t want an over-engineered solution to stop you from accessing your funds. If you’d rely on memory, there’s a better approach:</p> <h1>7) Remember your seed phrase</h1> <p>It’s as simple as it gets: <strong>remember your 24 words</strong>.</p> <p>All of a sudden, your assets are available to you wherever you are.</p> <p>You find yourself on the other side of the world and you want to pay with Bitcoin? It’s readily available to you! You find yourself as a war refugee and they confiscate everything you own on the border? Initialize your wallet once you’re free. This way of storing your seed is also called a <em>“</em><a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Brainwallet"><em>brainwallet</em></a><em>“</em>.</p> <p>Doomsday scenarios aside, I’d put remembering the seed phrase as the top tip. But similar to the previous point – due to lack of usage, your memory of it can fade away. And if you only miss one word, that means you’re not controlling the private key you previously had.</p> <h1>8) Never expose your words to the internet</h1> <p>Usually, seed phrases are generated by a certain wallet provider during the setup.</p> <p>But the most secure seed phrases are those that have <strong>never been exposed to the internet</strong>.</p> <p>You can achieve this by using something called a hardware wallet. This is an offline device that controls your private keys, which you can use to confirm transactions.</p> <p>I wrote a detailed comparison between hardware and software wallets here:</p> <p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/12n724b/the_benefits_of_a_cold_wallet_hardware_wallet/">https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/12n724b/the_benefits_of_a_cold_wallet_hardware_wallet/</a></p> <h1>9) Engrave your seed phrase into steel</h1> <p>Durability is where metal storage shines. This relates to protection against fire, water, and other disasters.</p> <p>Keep in mind, there are already solutions on the market that make engraving words into metal relatively easy. You won’t have to do everything yourself.</p> <h1>10) Use a passphrase (25th word)</h1> <p>A <strong>passphrase</strong> is an extra word you can use on top of your 24 words.</p> <p>This will allow you to control a completely new set of addresses.</p> <p>Having a 25th word is crucial, because you can choose the word yourself, it’s easy to remember, and adds extra security in case someone gets access to your 24-word seed phrase.</p> <p>A common tactic you can use to assure safety is to have a small amount of crypto in the wallet controlled by your seed phrase. But the majority of your portfolio will be stored behind the wallets controlled by the 25 words.</p> <p>This way, even if you find yourself in a situation where you are forced to give out your seed phrase, you can comply and still keep custody of your actual portfolio.</p> <h1>TLDR: See the subheaders and use common sense</h1> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/BusinessBreakfast3"> /u/BusinessBreakfast3 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/12o1f73/protect_your_seed_phrase_10_tips_to_secure_your/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/12o1f73/protect_your_seed_phrase_10_tips_to_secure_your/">[comments]</a></span>
<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><h1>1) Never share the words with anyone</h1> <p>This is the <strong>only thing</strong> you need to do to be safe. </p> <p>People complain about “getting hacked” daily but most of these stories end up having the same root cause: <em>the person gave their seed phrase to someone</em>. </p> <p>They weren’t a victim of a hack… They fell for a scam.</p> <p>Again, <strong>ownership of the private keys means ownership of the address they control</strong>.</p> <p>When you share them with someone, you’re basically sharing the ownership.</p> <h1>2) Don’t save your seed phrase online</h1> <p>When you have your words in your mailbox’s Drafts folder or you’ve sent them to yourself on social media, you’ve technically shared them with the world.</p> <p>They’re potentially exposed to employees of the services you’re using, to platforms with which you interact, or any user of a device you’re logged or have been logged into, etc.</p> <p>The solution is simple: <strong>use pen and paper</strong>.</p> <h1>3) Keep the paper safe and hidden</h1> <p>Have your 12-24 words written clearly on a piece of paper and hide it from the world.</p> <p>Don’t only think about burglars, but also people you live with – even without bad intentions, they can leak it or lose it due to negligence.</p> <p>The stories about suckers searching dumpsters for hard-disks are mainstream nowadays… All of that can be avoided if you have this piece of paper..</p> <p>And don’t use bank deposit boxes to store your whole seed phrase, as it may defy the whole concept of <em>“not your keys, not your coins”</em>.</p> <h1>4) Never take a picture of your seed phrase</h1> <p>A picture on your phone is equally (or even more) vulnerable like the examples from point 2.</p> <p>Think about every application that has permissions to access your media files, an unintentional share, losing your phone… I can go on and on!</p> <p>Again, all of this can be avoided by <strong>not having a picture</strong>. And if you’re worried about your house collapsing, keep reading:</p> <h1>5) Have a duplicate</h1> <p>It’s always the case that something can happen to a piece of paper. Someone can throw it away unknowingly, it can be destroyed during unfortunate events, etc.</p> <p>That’s why I think it’s a good idea to have a copy of your seed phrase stored elsewhere. However, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, as it depends on your personal circumstances.</p> <h1>6) Don’t get too creative</h1> <p>You can also get a bit creative in regards to how you write down the words. The goal would be to make the seed unusable for anyone that might get a hold of your precious piece of paper.</p> <p>You might have ideas like tampering some words or changing their order using an algorithm you’d remember etc.</p> <p><strong>Be careful with this.</strong></p> <p>If you’re not using your seed phrase often (you won’t), there’s a high probability that <strong>you</strong> will be the one that ends up with an unusable seed phrase.</p> <p>You don’t want an over-engineered solution to stop you from accessing your funds. If you’d rely on memory, there’s a better approach:</p> <h1>7) Remember your seed phrase</h1> <p>It’s as simple as it gets: <strong>remember your 24 words</strong>.</p> <p>All of a sudden, your assets are available to you wherever you are.</p> <p>You find yourself on the other side of the world and you want to pay with Bitcoin? It’s readily available to you! You find yourself as a war refugee and they confiscate everything you own on the border? Initialize your wallet once you’re free. This way of storing your seed is also called a <em>“</em><a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Brainwallet"><em>brainwallet</em></a><em>“</em>.</p> <p>Doomsday scenarios aside, I’d put remembering the seed phrase as the top tip. But similar to the previous point – due to lack of usage, your memory of it can fade away. And if you only miss one word, that means you’re not controlling the private key you previously had.</p> <h1>8) Never expose your words to the internet</h1> <p>Usually, seed phrases are generated by a certain wallet provider during the setup.</p> <p>But the most secure seed phrases are those that have <strong>never been exposed to the internet</strong>.</p> <p>You can achieve this by using something called a hardware wallet. This is an offline device that controls your private keys, which you can use to confirm transactions.</p> <p>I wrote a detailed comparison between hardware and software wallets here:</p> <p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/12n724b/the_benefits_of_a_cold_wallet_hardware_wallet/">https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/12n724b/the_benefits_of_a_cold_wallet_hardware_wallet/</a></p> <h1>9) Engrave your seed phrase into steel</h1> <p>Durability is where metal storage shines. This relates to protection against fire, water, and other disasters.</p> <p>Keep in mind, there are already solutions on the market that make engraving words into metal relatively easy. You won’t have to do everything yourself.</p> <h1>10) Use a passphrase (25th word)</h1> <p>A <strong>passphrase</strong> is an extra word you can use on top of your 24 words.</p> <p>This will allow you to control a completely new set of addresses.</p> <p>Having a 25th word is crucial, because you can choose the word yourself, it’s easy to remember, and adds extra security in case someone gets access to your 24-word seed phrase.</p> <p>A common tactic you can use to assure safety is to have a small amount of crypto in the wallet controlled by your seed phrase. But the majority of your portfolio will be stored behind the wallets controlled by the 25 words.</p> <p>This way, even if you find yourself in a situation where you are forced to give out your seed phrase, you can comply and still keep custody of your actual portfolio.</p> <h1>TLDR: See the subheaders and use common sense</h1> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/BusinessBreakfast3"> /u/BusinessBreakfast3 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/12o1f73/protect_your_seed_phrase_10_tips_to_secure_your/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/12o1f73/protect_your_seed_phrase_10_tips_to_secure_your/">[comments]</a></span>