You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
RE: Steem Basics: Understanding Private Keys
Yes I was confused by this as well for a long time but I'm pretty sure that yes Master/Owner key is the same, then you have the active and the posting key.
Yes I was confused by this as well for a long time but I'm pretty sure that yes Master/Owner key is the same, then you have the active and the posting key.
@oldtimer, @direwolf: No, they are not the same.
Owner Key is derived from the Master Password in a same way as Posting Key.
Let's say user
bobis setting his new Master Password.It will look like this:
P5Hzer2h4R4Lkkjr455T4msnJyjwwmrjLLDYNATMAukM2yehVE6R.Steem blockchain however, doesn't know anything about Master Password as such.
It uses keys, such as Posting Key, Active Key, Owner Key that are derived from the Master Password.
In such case
bobwill have:Private Owner Key:
5JiD4BEytbFWMGeN3Zk9JfFFgFCTvfcDhDGReG7jt2DREY8JzMaPrivate Active Key:
5K6p5g2ob577bA53qgLMGDGY3L3D7M4ccaY2qFSJppgEvJkeLFnPrivate Posting Key:
5KW5yYgmPf7bRn6BFEWboLr9bj4QtmVJMNAm2SiErDN5BCGtWH5How I know it? There's a
cli_walletfunctionality that lets you derive key pairs from the Master Password. It's used for convenience, as you need to securely store one, instead all four.To derive Owner Key from Master Password,
bobwould need to use:get_private_key_from_password bob owner P5Hzer2h4R4Lkkjr455T4msnJyjwwmrjLLDYNATMAukM2yehVE6RSame for every role.
In fact you don't need to have Master Password at all. Your private keys can be generated and changed independently.
What is a cli-wallet and where can I find it?
cli_walletis a command line tool, a part of https://github.com/steemit/steemYou can either build it yourself or extract it from a docker image.
Thanks for the info. And where is the master password? Never seen it. I only got the four keys.
You get Master Password at the time of account creation through Steemit site (which I believe is what you got yours). You don't need it as long as you have all your private keys, or at least your private owner key, so you can set all the others.
Is there a scenario, where the private owner key is not enough and where you need the master password? e.g. account recovery?
No. Steem blockchain doesn't know about your Master Password.
Master Password is like a Master Key, that allows you to open doors on all levels of the building. You can use that one or separate keys. Separate key for the highest level in the building is enough to open it.
Also, if you change the lock in that door, Master Key will no longer be able to open it.
Ok. Now I know what's my error. I thought that I have the 4 private keys active, memo, posting and owner. I thought my password is missing. But: I do have the password and only the three private keys active, memo and posting. I don't know my owner private key, because it is not shown in the Steemit wallet. I think it is genarated automatically if I enter my password in Steemit.
Ist there a way to get the private owner key?
As far as I know, there's no way to get Private Owner Key from the Steemit website, most likely because it would be additional security risk.
However, for people that are using Master Password there's no much difference and no bigger risk (leaking Master Password is same as leaking all the keys, including Private Owner Key).
You can use
get_private_key_from_password prinzvalium owner YourMasterPasswordincli_wallet(if you can manage to run it) to get your Private Owner Key from your Master Password, or just stop using Master Password (keep it offline, keep it secret, keep it safe), and just use Posting Key for day-to-day use cases, and Active Key only when you need to transfer funds or approve/unapprove witnesses etc.Thanks for your help! Now I'm feeling better :-)
This spam is courtesy of @fulltimegeek! A real piece of shit who flags manual curation projects like @themadcurator because he's a spiteful cunt!!!
