Hello fellow Steemians!
In this post i want to teach you the best method (imho) to store your private keys whereever you want, without fearing to loose it or someone stealing it! If someone gets hold of your "key", they won't be able to decypher it!
We all know that storing your private key online is risky. If anyone gets hold of your Email and you have your private key stored there, you will lose all your money,
So far the best way is to make a paper wallet and store it in a safe deposit or safe the key on a hardware wallet like a trezor or ledger nano. Still for some people, including me, thats not safe enough. Your can lose your paperwallet, your house can burn down, a safe can be unlocked or stolen and even a locker in a bank is not 100% safe. Same is true for your hardware wallet.
I will teach you how to easily encrypt your private key, so that nobody can decypher it and you could theoretically post your private key publicly in a forum without the threat of anyone stealing your funds. This way you can upload your encrypted key to your email, or better several emails, to the cloud or whereever you feel most comfortable. Ofc you can still write it on a paper and safe it in your home, bank or hidden chest :)
Here we go:
The idea is to devide your private key into fragments (sets of 4 letters/numbers). You can decide how many sets and what size. Let's say 16 sets of 4 numbers/letters.
This is an example of a private key: You can do the same with a private key that consists of words!
29a26f9debf4691ae87acb7bc731457f5a0d0818347a014f0bda0c8e840deeae
Devided by 16 your key looks like this:
29a2.6f9d.ebf4.691a.e87a.cb7b.c731.457f.5a0d.0818.347a.014f.0bda.0c8e.840d.eeae
You now have 16 parts of 4 letters/numbers.
The idea is to create a huge stack of random sets of 4 letters, where you hide your 16 sets and only you know which of those sets belong to your private key. If anyone finds your paper or cracks your email, all they will see is a huge stack of sets, impossible to filter out the right 16. You will decypher your 16 sets with a unique numeric code of at least 4 Numbers, better more. You should use a number, that no one knows ( dont use your birth date or the date of any of your relatives) and that you will always remember.
Lets say your code is: 3824
Your end-product will look like this:
71f2.b434.29a2.97a1.095a.15de.d34a.765c.9327.129a.6f9d.eda3.ebf4.3eeb.e1dd.aad3.691a. 45c3.ce34.e87a.f19d.aa32.71f2.ad34.93js.2be9.3b5e.cb7b.ad09.c731.93fd.fd3v.ae5a.457f.4604.198h.5a0d.23ae.97d0.2f4c.d2a1.df23.a8f7.92bc.0818.2341.347a.ed44.be5v.a5de.014f.d34a.765c.0bda.ab78.92de.ff34.aae5.c3f9.2ee4.bd78.0c8e.5711.840d.dd49.3a5b.6541.eeae.4304.198e.23ae.97d0.234c.a2a1.d044.fd83.a198.23d4.30b6.78b2.df38.3d58
Can you see your private key?
You can decide how you decypher your code. In this example we will start counting from left to right, down the lines. Just the way we read and write. You start with the first set of 4 letters and count to 3 ( whichis the first number of your PIN digit Code), now you have your first set of 4 Letters. Now you count to 8, then to 2, then to 4. Now you repeat this 4 times until you have all your 16 sets.
This is how you will see it: Here are your 16 sets hidden in the Stack! (Bold):
71f2.b434.(29a2).97a1.095a.15de.d34a.765c.9327.129a.(6f9d).eda3.(ebf4).3eeb.e1dd.aad3.(691a).45c3.ce34.(e87a).f19d.aa32.71f2.ad34.93js.2be9.3b5e.(cb7b).ad09.(c731).93fd.fd3v.ae5a.(457f).4604.198h.(5a0d).23ae.97d0.2f4c.d2a1.df23.a8f7.92bc.(0818).2341.(347a).ed44.be5v.a5de.(014f).d34a.765c.(0bda).ab78.92de.ff34.aae5.c3f9.2ee4.bd78.(0c8e).5711.(840d).dd49.3a5b.6541.(eeae).4304.198e.23ae.97d0.234c.a2a1.d044.fd83.a198.23d4.30b6.78b2.df38.3d58
Of course when you start you need to create random sets of letters and hide your 16 sets in the right spots.
You may start with a blank page and empty sets and fill in the blanks later or you can write down the random sets first and then fill in your 16 sets at the right spots.
----.----.29a2.----.----.----.----.----.----.----.6f9d.----.ebf4.----.----.----.691a.----.----.e87a.----.----.----.----.----.----.----.cb7b. [...] etc.
Now you can choose different ways of finding your sets. you can count only every second or 3rd word. you can start from the bottom, from right to left, however you like. You just need to remember it. The easiest way is how we write and read. Even if the person,who gets hold of your encrypted key, knows this method and knows that you encrypted it left to right, top to bottom. The person would still need to know your personal 4 digit code.
You could even implement colours into this, thus giving it another layer of encryption.
IMPORTANT: When you start creating your encrypted private key, make sure you duplicate your private key and work with the copy. Dont delete your original (unencrypted) private key before you successfully encrypted the copy, decyphered it a couple of times and used it to succesfully log into your wallet ( MEW etc.) Once you decyphered it a couple of times and know you can find your key within the encrypted stack of sets, you can delete the original private key. Now your private key is hidden and will never appear in its original form ever again.
I hope you guys like this idea of mine. Im interested in your feedback, maybe you see a weakness that im not aware of? I think this is an awesome way of safely storing your key and i hope you share this to your friends!
Greetings Leon!