Hi everyone, if you use any of my stuff (check 📰 My Public Hive/Engine Infrastructure below), be aware that the following weekend I am planning on doing some maintenance on my servers that support some of my public infrastructure.

This means that Hive-Engine and Hive API will be down for a good number of hours, and towards the end of the weekend, in catch-up mode. I expect to be fully back before the weekend is over.

So, apologies if you are going to be impacted by this, there are other nodes you can choose from, and I have been a major advocating person for ALL apps, to provide the opportunity to specify other nodes, if they don't use their own infrastructure.

My witness will still be enabled on another node, but I might have to on/off it during some of the procedures I have planned.

Having said that, this is a great opportunity for me to segway this post into a topic I have been trying to think about for a while, on how to convince people to care about it.

One of the most important things in this chain is the security Hive code provides. If you think owning your keys is just sufficient, you are going down an illusory path.

Just look at the latest news, where Ledger (a hardware wallet provider) has gone through a massive scam engineered by professionals, stealing MILLIONS of USD dollars in equivalent cryptos.

Why?

Because all the attack needs to entail is some sort of way to unveil your keys, and once done, that's it, you have no way to protect yourself, no matter how fast you humanely are. Other chains, use single level keys (a key to do everything) that cannot be changed. So, once an address is compromised, you have to get a new one.

Hive fixed this problem by design AGES 🤯 ago!

(I am going to be having my 10-year anniversary next year, so you can figure it out)

So, what's the difference, you may ask? Well, there are A TON of differences, and most of them may seem like "too many complicated things", but I hope to help you understand the importance of them in a follow-up post where I can actually show you examples of how you can improve your Hive account security to a level you almost never have to worry about (as long as you are around every week).

I will enumerate 5 of them, and then I will give you some "normal language" (I hope; and pre-apologies if this is still terribly complicated, feedback will be welcome in order for me to improve).

1. Accounts have keys that can be changed (probably the most basic thing almost no other chain has).
2. Hive has a layered system of keys, where each can only perform a certain type of action or function.
3. The main crypto (HIVE) can also be staked and not just be in liquid form. The staked HIVE is called "HIVE Power" or HP.
4. To unstake HP, it takes time! 13 weeks to power down all you request. This is GOOD!!! I will get back to this later.
5. There is an account recovery system that depends on whom you trust! (unique to Hive)

(1) Accounts have keys that can be changed

This feature is extremely convenient, but also very powerful if it were not paired with another feature on this 5 feature list. But in a nutshell, instead of having to change your "address" (which on Hive is your account name), you can change the keys that operate that account instead.

And the reason I started this topic with this feature is that you will have to get used to it! Practice in an account without any funds, and be ready for when you need to take action. I will provide examples in my next follow-up post (a Guide).

Remember that this action can only be achieved by the OWNER key!

(2) Hive has a layered system of keys

In crypto, every key has always two sides, the public side (everyone knows it, and this is how the chain can verify its messages are authentic), and a private side (only you should have access to it, because whoever has the private key can perform the same actions you can).

Hive has 4 main types of keys and another thing people call a "password" (DON'T USE THIS ONE):

(from here on, I have geneerated my images using Grok, and they are not perfect, but they help the user picture the "quick view" - All the text is my own)

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• OWNER key - this is the key that can change all the keys of your account, if you lose this key, you lose access to change the keys of your account and also, very importantly, change your recovery account! So, if you don't have it or think you lost this key, I would encourage you to move your funds into another account. Unless you still know your "password", which effectively means you have your OWNER key.

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• ACTIVE key - contrary to the OWNER key, which can't move any funds from your account, the active key is responsible for those types of actions. Move liquid HIVE, stake HIVE into HP, provide access to other accounts to transact on your behalf, or unstake all your powered HIVE (HP). The same applies to HBD and staked HBD (aka HBD on savings).

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• POSTING key - this key is the most used key on Hive. It can vote, it can comment, it can do basically all actions that do not involve "monetary" aspects. Hence why, in some places, if you use the private key of this POSTING key, it's not the end of the world (assuming you have the OWNER keys, obviously).

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• MEMO key - this one might not be used too often, but I suspect one day it will. The MEMO key is the key that can "decrypt" the encrypted MEMO fields sent by other accounts' transactions (which are broadcast using the ACTIVE key). So, a type of "confidential messaging system" on top of normal HIVE transactions. People can decide to encrypt a message in the Memo field by starting it with a "#", and that means the MEMO field of the transaction sending HIVE will be encrypted. Only the recipient of that transaction will be able to decrypt the message, IF they know their own MEMO private key.

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• MASTER password - this is the most dangerous "thing" you may call a "password", which on other blockchains might be known as a "seed phrase". Why? Because this (like the seed phrase) can derive ALL THE ABOVE private keys! Yes! If anyone gets their hands on your Master password, you will need to change your keys. SO DON'T USE this password or show it to anyone! - Similar to the OWNER key, keep it safe in two places and never use it online.

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(3) HIVE can also be staked, it's called HP

One of the important features of a chain that allows you to change your keys, is the fact that you can "protect" your HIVE, by staking it. And if at any time, you mess up, and reveal your private keys, the attacker can't just take away your stake if you react within 7 days.

Plus, if you have HIVE in staked form (HP), you are accruing interest by default. Even without DOING ANYTHING! Although the power of it goes much beyond that.

(4) To unstake HP, it can take up to 13 weeks

We are getting into the crucial parts... So, if the attacker gets access to your ACTIVE key, can he take all your liquid HIVE? YES!!! But can it take your HP? Not if you react within 7 days...

Why? To unstake HP (any amount you request), it takes 13 weeks! And each portion released to liquid form, takes 7 days, exactly a week. So that means, if an attacker gains access to your account ACTIVE key, it can start the so-called "power down", but even if it asks to power down ALL your HP, it will take 7 days for one 13th part of that requested power down to appear in the form of liquid HIVE.

This means that you have 7 days to recover your account and change keys in order to stop the power down action and avoid losing any HIVE from your HP.

And even if you are not around every week, at least the attacker can only take a portion of it every week. This feature is almost unmatched on ANY existing blockchain.

(5) Account recovery system that depends on whom you trust!

This is the final and most important feature that many neglect about. This is unique to Hive and one of the most powerful features of the chain in terms of account recovery. It depends on People and trusting another account's keys, basically.

Any account can change their "recovery account" using their own OWNER key. After you execute this, it takes 30 days to take effect (there is to allow you time to react if not done by you). When you set this to some account, you are trusting that account to be able to "process" the recovery of your account.

How is this done? You first have to send your recovery account your newly generated OWNER public key. Then your account recovery will be able to broadcast (and start) the newly proposed OWNER public key for your account (to which only you have the private key).

You will then have 24 hours (this is why it's so important you trust that account and can reach that person), to validate the change to that newly generated OWNER key. But instead of using the newly generated private key (which currently has no authority yet), you will need a previously used (within 30 days) OWNER key (hence why this key is SO IMPORTANT).

Once you broadcast the verification of the transaction using any older OWNER private key, the chain code will swap your keys to the new OWNER key asked for in the recovery process. After this, you will be able to use your new private keys, changed in the process when you changed to your newly generated OWNER key.

TO SOMEONE you trust! SOMEONE that is active and has access to their ACTIVE key.

What if my recovery account gets hacked?

Change your recovery account as soon as you can to another one you trust, and you can reach that person in a timely manner (preferably within 7 days).

What if my recovery account knows my private keys, and gets hacked?

Well, first, you should not have this situation if you are selecting a good recovery account. But if you still want to protect against this, then you need multisig, and this becomes a WAY MORE COMPLICATED world, where an account needs a set of keys in order to execute certain actions, and those keys can be held by several people, and you can designate a minimum number of people to satisfy the execution.

At this level is what I would call BILLIONAIRE status, but if you want that much security, you can! I just think it will NOT be for 99.9999% of the chain... at least for now.

I can hopefully show a few examples of what tools you can use to change your recovery account and initiate a recovery process. Help define some principles of "checking" things on the chain and what monitoring you can put in place to be ready to take action.

I don't know yet how I am going to slice that content, but that's what is on my mind.

(I wrote this all myself, so if you spot any mistakes or typos, let me know please, so I can update/correct them)

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My 🖐️ motivation!

Have fun, play games, learn, and when possible, teach new things to newcomers, showing them how interesting this place can be. Check my own page too!

🤝 Follow me on X

@forkyishere 😈 (@forykw dark side) is a character I created, which emerged from Crimsonclad's imagination 🙏 while dwelling over the dark dungeons of Discord chat levels.

Follow for #news about the #HIVE #Blockchain, and other stuff. I sometimes get crazy with what happens around social media. I am following all HIVE users! No promises of behaviour. 😁

In addition, if you are looking for a nice place to either reach out, share or just have a great time, come along to @atexoras.pub and say hello (tag @forykw or @forkyishere). We welcome everyone on the blockchain.

📰 My Public Hive/Engine Infrastructure

• Cloudflare Protected
• Hive API (https://hive.atexoras.com:2096)
• Hive Seed (https://only-v6-seed-hive.atexoras.com:2001)
• HE RPC (https://v6-he.atexoras.com:2083)
• HE P2P (https://v6-he.atexoras.com:2053)
• HE History (https://v6-he.atexoras.com:8443)

Any feedback/problems, feel free to contact me! My stuff is being monitored via UpTimeRobot where you can find their current status or just come along to the ATX Discord server.

👉 Vote for Witnesses

(⚡Vote) - Hive-Engine here - voting uses staked WORKERBEE
(⚡Vote) - HIVE here - voting uses staked HIVE

@forykw is running 😎 @atexoras.witness on all the above 💪 and @atexoras.vsc on the Magi network.

👉 Vote for Proposals

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