Beginners Guide – Security Part 2

Wallet Security

When entering the Digital Collectible space, it may be necessary from time to time to create a wallet. In most cases, this means that you are creating a crypto native wallet that you can purchase, transfer, and store currency and Digital Collectibles within.

One of the fundamental lessons in the Digital Collectible space is that there are many technological layers, and the best way to understand them is by using them. 

A great starting lesson for this in particular is creating your own wallet. The most popular wallet service is Metamask.

Metamask has a browser extension and mobile app that are easy to use and widely adopted by the Digital collectibles community. You can purchase tokens directly within the app and utilize them any way you desire. 

Follow the steps below to create a wallet with Metamask

1. Navigate to https://metamask.io.
2. Click ‘Download’.
3. Add the extension to your browser.
4. Click “Add to [Browser]”.
5. On the pop up, click “Add or Add extension”.

Once you’ve created your wallet, you’ll be prompted to save your secret recovery phrase.

This is the most important step in the process, and will be the difference between a secure wallet and a wallet with risk.

Here are the Do’s and Don’ts according to Metamask:

Do:

• Write down your Secret Recovery Phrase somewhere safe.
• Double-check your spelling and that you wrote down every word in the same order they were given.
• Reach out to MetaMask Support’s official channels if you need help.

Don’t:

• Keep it in an easily discovered or easily hacked location; e.g. in a cloud-saved document or email titled “Seed Phrase”; on a post-it note stuck to your computer.
• Provide your seed phrase to anyone, even if they say they’re from MetaMask Support.
• Change the order of the words.

Remember, as mentioned in our previous article [insert link] we covered the predatory nature of hackers and bad actors in the space. They will do whatever it takes to steal from you. It’s important to take security seriously to prevent losses.

We suggest you check out the Metamask FAQ for more info and visuals of the process.

Private Keys

Private Keys, somewhat similar to a password, are used to import accounts into different Wallets. A Private Key is only applicable to an individual account, while a Secret Recovery Phrase applies to a Wallet.

Operationally, a Wallet houses Accounts. You can create many Accounts for each Wallet. Think of it like a traditional Wallet. The various folds and compartments all represent different Accounts.

All you need to import an Account is the Private Key, making it extremely important to keep it stored somewhere safe.

Here are the Do’s and Don’ts for Private Keys:

Do:

• Write down your Private Key somewhere safe.
• Double-check your spelling and that you wrote down every character in the correct order.
• Reach out to MetaMask Support’s official channels if you need help.

Don’t:

• Keep it in an easily discovered or easily hacked location; e.g. in a cloud-saved document or email titled “Private Key”; on a post-it note stuck to your computer.
• Provide your Private Key to anyone, even if they say they’re from MetaMask Support.
• Change the order of the characters.

These two articles from Metamask cover how to Import and Export an account. Check them out to see how to move accounts around to different Wallets.

As the industry leader Metamask’s best practices are second to none. As always, exercise caution and check the accuracy of characters and words multiple times when interacting with Wallets, Accounts and contracts.