Scams are brewing on social media and the internet at large. It became obvious that the masterstroke of crypto hackers and scammers is targe...
Scams are brewing on social media and the internet at large. It became obvious that the masterstroke of crypto hackers and scammers is targeting the crypto community.
Private Recovery Phrase or so-called 12-Word Phrase is one of the valuable information required from the victim in order to get access and steal the funds from users' digital wallets using a recovery option to reset the account.
Today marks the second day of Crypto Security Awareness Week and our focus today is on users' education and awareness. Security is one of the most unique, important, and oftentimes is underestimated. Your online security is more important than ever when owning crypto. In fact, the awareness designed to help our new users as well as the long-time holders.
This awareness entails everything you need to know about your Secret Recovery phrase as well as the security of your GIFA Wallet.
What is a Private Key Recovery phrase?
The Secret 12-word Recovery phrase is a 'Master Key' generated by your wallet. Each wallet's Receive Address has its own private key which is used to make transactions and prove ownership of the funds in the address.
In the cryptocurrency ecosystem, people use different terms like "Seed Phrase", Recovery Phrase, Secret Recovery phrase, "12-Word Seed", "12-Word Phrase", "12 Words Backup", "Mnemonic Phrase", "Recovery Seed" etc. If you have ever wanted to learn more about these magical words, GIFX is here to help you! This article covers the most basic aspects of the master key which ultimately control other keys of your crypto kingdom.
The 12-word phrase helps you recover your funds in case your computer crashed or anything else happens to it which prevents you from accessing your wallet on the device it is installed on. Anybody else who discovers your secret recovery phrase can steal the funds, so it must be kept safe like your other valuable properties. It must not be stored in any electronic or digital form.
How to store your Secret 12-word Recovery phrase
You might have heard this already - anything that is online is hackable! The same holds true for your Secret 12-word Recovery phrase if you decide to store it on a computer or any device that is connected to the internet, someone will accidentally find it.
Just write down the secret phrase on a piece of paper or print them out using a secure network printer. It is always advised to have multiple copies of your secret phrase and store them in multiple physical locations to prevent loss from calamities like floods, earthquakes, fires, etc.
If someone is insistent that you screen share or share access to your recovery phrase, they are phishing you!
Ensure that you write down the secret phrase in the correct order without any spelling mistakes! GIFX exchange automatically formatted each word of your secret phrase in sequence order in which it needs to be written down, so make sure you follow the same order. Entering the secret phrase incorrectly (wrong order or misspelling) will result in you not being able to access your wallet.
Know where not to store your Secret Key
The online world can be a dangerous place and simply keeping your secret phrase safe is not always enough. Malware-infected computers can render your wallet vulnerable and susceptible to theft!
Here are some of the most common places where your secret phrase must not be stored: the Notepad of the computer, as images on your laptop/mobile/tablet, etc., file-sharing services like Dropbox, MegaBox, OneDrive, Google Drive, iCloud, etc., e-mail drafts, word/excel/ppt files, password-protected files, USB drives, etc. The threats are digital and online, so the best way to protect them is by keeping them in analog and offline storage: good, old-fashioned paper.
How the Secret Recovery phrase generated?
A simple explanation of how secret phrases work is that the wallet has a list of words taken from a dictionary, with each word assigned to a number. The secret phrase can be converted to a number that is used as the seed integer to a deterministic wallet that generates all the key pairs used in the wallet.
When your secret 12-word recovery phrase is converted into a seed integer, or number, for your wallet, the seed integer is used with a standard derivation algorithm, or formula, to derive or generate, your master private key. From this master private key, a very large number (almost infinite for all practical purposes) of private and public keys can be derived with the standard derivation formula.
Given that the same master private key is used with the derivation formula, the same private and public keys will always be generated.
Also, different blockchain assets have different starting points in the derivation formula, which prevents differing assets from generating overlapping keys. It is important to understand that the seed doesn't represent the private key, but it is used to derive your private and public keys.
Where does GIFX store my Secret 12-word recovery phrase?
Your Secret 12-word recovery phrase is stored in an encrypted manner on the device where your digital wallet installed. We do not store or know your secret phrase on our servers, nor do we have any access to it. We don't need it and we don't even ask it!
The secrecy of the Private Recovery Key is laying in your own hands: This done in the true spirit of blockchain technology that gives full control of the funds to the owner of the Private Keys. Also, by doing this, we protect you in the event of a hack on our servers. The hacker wouldn't find any information that gives access to your wallet and funds.
You should watch out there for the Fake Coins, scammers are inviting dupped users to invest money and get disappeared overnight after getting your money.
However, this means that you are solely responsible to ensure the safety and security of the private recovery key; if you ever forget your password and lose the secret phrase, your funds are irretrievable! We cannot help you by recreating a new recovery phrase or resetting your password as we do not store anything on our end.
Using the Secret 12-word Recovery phrase
The average user would never need to use their secret 12-word recovery phrase unless their computer crashed and hence the wallet requires restoration on another computer.
Your 12-word secret phrase may be compromised as soon as you expose them anywhere online—you never know who is lurking around, even an insecure internet router/WiFi password can cause loss of all your digital funds stored in the wallet. Do not reveal the 12 words if you are in a public location, on public WiFi, or if there is a chance anyone can see your screen. Make sure nothing and no one is around to see your secret phrase, whenever viewing it.
Why easier Targets?
A typical scam would involve a link that takes the victim to a third-party website, where it may use a three-pronged approach depending on the type of scam. One, it may dupe a new user’s credit card or crypto wallet details for potential phishing attacks. . The most innocuous result of this would be when scammers when they hack into a user’s system, gain access to remote devices, and use that for blackmail.
Never share your Private Keys
Please note:
- We recommend writing down your secret phrase on more than 1 piece of paper and keep the copies in separate secure locations to prevent a single point loss from events like fires, loss, etc.
- Don’t share this recovery phrase with anyone. Not even us.
- If someone approaches you and requests that you share the code, don’t.
- Private Keys are the tool to secure your digital asset and keep it fully in your possession.
- Our support team will never ask you for your private recovery phrase.
- If someone approaches you on social media claiming to be our support staff and in need of your 12-word phrase to help, they are phishing you!
If people see suspicious activity, the most important thing they can do is report it to GIFA Token-Crypto Centre. If there’s one thing you should take away from today it’s this: DO NOT SHARE YOUR RECOVERY PHRASE WITH ANYONE! Questions? Or need more assistance? Send us an email at [email protected]. We are ready to help you.
GIFA Token (GIFX) is a global crypto exchange that provides a digital wallet, and trading platform for various cryptocurrencies. GIFX exchange is a secure platform to buy & sell bitcoins, ethereum, litecoin, and others. GIFA exchange based in Northern Cyprus.