A Guide on How To Secure Cryptographic Keys

The rise of the cryptocurrency industry and the digitization of the banking industry have been crucial steps towards achieving an advanced future that is centered on technology.

Unfortunately, there are always enemies of progress or people who try to take advantage of situations for their own personal gain. The cryptocurrency and banking industries have particularly been under the threat of hackers and there have been various reports of cryptocurrency theft over the past few months. This presents a challenge to developers because it necessitates extra steps aimed at making sure that adequate steps are taken through proper encryption.

Understanding Cryptographic Keys

Cryptographic keys are at the top of the list as far as securing digital currencies from malicious attacks. However, in order to understand them, one must first understand digital wallets. They are coded and secure programs that are used to hold and store cryptocurrencies. Digital wallets are classified as hot and cold wallets. The former is used by organizations and individuals to store small amounts of cryptocurrencies and these types of wallets tend to be easily accessible because they are always connected to the internet.

Some cryptocurrency exchanges and services store the cryptocurrencies of their users through hot wallets so that they can provide easy access to users. Such wallets are usually protected through passwords. Cold wallets are a lot different because they feature less fluidity and are mostly used by security-savvy individuals and organizations. Additionally, they are usually associated with large amounts of cryptocurrencies and thus tend to go an extra mile in terms of security.

Cold wallets use private keys or cryptographic keys that are kept off the internet for security purposes. It is thus important to make sure that the cryptographic keys are kept safe. Some solutions include putting them in small devices that look like USB sticks from which the key cannot be extracted. However, they can unlock the cold wallets by simply inserting them into the computer holding the cryptocurrency. Additionally, cryptographic keys can be used outside the realm of cryptocurrency to protect other forms of important data.

There are other solutions for holding the cryptography keys that are mostly used by major companies to avoid giving too much control to one person. Here are some of the alternatives for making sure that the security keys are protected.

• Keep the cryptographic keys hidden in a safe digital vault. The security keys should be stored in a digital vault that has highly secure measures such as multi-factor authentication for those who need to access it.
• Implement role segregation-Make sure that there is controlled access for those who need to use the cryptography keys.
• Secure application access should be enabled- access to stored keys can be enabled especially for verified applications and they can also be used to make sure that the applications are legitimate.
• Access keys should be audited and reviewed- There should be alerts every time that keys are accessed.
• Workflow approvals should be enforced-This should be done especially in cases where data is highly sensitive.
• Cryptocurrency administrator activities should be monitored to make sure a high level of security.

Hackers will constantly be looking for new ways to access cryptocurrencies and high-profile data. This is why it is important to make sure that cryptographers come up with more secure options.