One can never be too careful with managing their Steemit passwords. As I've found out recently, the number of people trying to recover their passwords have shot up in number. There are regular requests that come through on the help channel in Steemit.Chat as well as DMs of some users including myself.
Most of the time people misplace their passwords after creating their account on their phone. They usually save their password in their browser and never any copy elsewhere. There are plenty of other cases including sharing their master keys on transfer memos—very stupid in my honest opinion.
People forget that Steemit cannot reset your password for you. You can only recover your account if you have the last known master password. If you have totally forgotten your master password then you might as well say goodbye to your account.
If your account was hacked and password changed, you have upto 30 days to attempt recovery. If you had the last known master password with you, then you can easily change your master key after attempting recovery.
Remember this before attempting to recover your account:
Use the same email you used to sign up your account on Steemit to put an account recovery request. This is likely to speed up your recovery process. This makes it easier for Steemit to verify you own the account.
As long as your email isn't hacked you are quite safe to use this as an option. I highly recommend using 2FA on all your email, crypto exchange and social media accounts or any website that allows this feature or a Yubikey. Personally, I use Authy–Two-Factor Authentication App on my phone and also use a Yubikey.
When you create a new account or recommend Steemit to someone, please be informed that it's a great idea to always retain access to email account used to create your Steemit account. Never use a temporary email provider. Until Steemit adds the flexibility to change your account details, it is our responsibility to be careful about our keys!
There's no point in blaming anyone else if we are at fault from being careless about our Steemit account security and the money in our account/s.
Our friend and top Steemit witness @gandalf The Grey has made an excellent post to this effect which is a highly recommended read: Memos, keys and passwords, Balrogs and Fields of Despair. Be safe. Almost $100k wasn't.
You can also read my post from few months ago which is a must read in my opinion for new users: Dummies Guide to Basic Steemit Account Security + Account Recovery Guide!
Always remember this:
The first rule of Steemit is: Do not lose your password.
The second rule of Steemit is: Do not lose your password.
The third rule of Steemit is: We cannot recover your password.
The fourth rule: If you can remember the password, it's not secure.
The fifth rule: Use only randomly-generated passwords.
The sixth rule: Do not tell anyone your password.
The seventh rule: Always backup your password.
I hope you have learnt how you can speed up your Steemit account recovery or avoid getting into this situation in the first place!
@steemfest is just a month away. Visit the official ticket website for ticket purchases.
If you like my work kindly resteem it to your friends. You may also continue reading my recent posts which might interest you:
- Successful #2 India Steemit Accelerator and Steem Cryptocurrency Meetup 2017 at Robert Bosch India HQ!
- My 1st Steemit Anniversary — Looking Back at an Amazing Year Of My Life!
- Steemit.Chat—A Quick Update On Our Popular Communication Platform!
raises his hand in guilt
Yeah... I did that! I reset my master password on Saturday because I had posted one of my private keys in a memo to one of the exchanges. Fortunately someone without malicious intent sent me a message suggesting a change my password quick like.
Problem was, as soon as I changed my password, I promptly failed to properly save my password, counting on the browser to do it for me.
It didn't. YIKES! I was locked out!
There's a lengthy post into my panic thereafter, but long story short, I was able to use account recovery and they did me a solid this time. My heart skipped a beat when the email approving my recovery came in on Tuesday morning. Being without my home Steem account for 2 days was tough. I'm an addict!
Passwords are now saved in a fireproof lockbox, and no more private key sharing for me!
Thanks for the reminders firepower! A very timely post (that I could have used last week. haha)
Can Steemit use 2FA?
I also use this on all my important accounts.
i want to use my ledger nano s to keep my steemit key, use the chrome ext to authorize steem wallet transactions
I know 3 people myself who saved it on there phones and lost access. There must be tons. All those accounts keep growing slowly and most have just opened another account and forgot that one.
Thanks a lot for the wealth of knowledge contained in this post. Password safety is a major cause for concern these days especially with all the fake phishing sites and stupid scams flying around these days which can compromise several accounts on the platform.
thanks 4 sharing
You're welcome. :)
So important to remember, especially after the recent phishing scam. Good post mate, keep educating.
Glad, I could help. Thanks buddy.
Nothing is more important than you're steemit account password so treat it like you're jewel or bank notes. Write it down and keep it in a safe, never share it to others. That is why it is called private keys not public. Private is private, no one can able to see it other than you.
Good information @cloudspyder. I totally agree with you.
It will not work sometimes. I lost my master password and even I did the password recovery within some days with my email and master password that I got after registration it did not help. So I do not know if this really works. You wrote in your previous post:
So I did not get back, can you tell me why?
I almost fell victim of this @firepower. Losing password on mobile phones, it's not cool. I am glad to see you put this piece of the idea together for us to learn from. Thanks.
your friendly knight @bat-junior
good work nice information
greetings @firepower
Thank you.
@firepower, I encountered something similar to that. I opened an account for my sister, after coping the password and loading it on another page, the account didn't open so I had to recopy again before it worked but I didn't save it the second time and now the password doesn't work on eSteem.
Thats the problem we are facing in steemit soe mant persons are just losing their acct cause of passwors issues
I understand but always remember Steemit cannot recover your password. So, always backup your password. and be safe.
Thanks for posting like this,..
You're welcome.
Thank you @firepower for your Steemit security tips. I have bookmarked this post since, for re-reading.
Sure, thank you. If you need any more help join Steemit.chat and ask for #help.
Love your work and post, keep going. we all benefit of it.. hope that you reach 70 soon, you deserve it.. I hope to reach it in 1 year..
Thanks a lot.
Thanks 4 sharing this! I don't plan on losing my password(i don't think anyone does) but if i ever do this post will help me! Keep up the great work and best wishes from @kenentertainment!
Good to know that and thank you. :)
This information is really helpfull for new user's as well as old user's .
resteemed.
Thank you very much.
Good post cheers
Thanks buddy.
good to know as I love loosing things such as passwords :P
Be extra careful cause Steemit cannot reset your password for you. You can only recover your account if you have the last known master password. Cheers! :)
thanks. Is there a way to just reset the active key. I am having an issue with a voting bot.
When you change your master password, active and posting private keys are refreshed.
i upvote and followo sir....all post is great and thx
iam new here so plzz guide me
Great work man, I remember the first rules of steemit about the password and tried to save it at least in a couple of places, but you never know.
Cool, better to be safe than sorry.
Thanks for posting like this. This post has been helpful to steemit newbies like me.
You're welcome and if you need any additional help you can always join Steemit.chat and ask for #help.
Thanks for that piece of advice.
You're welcome buddy.
That's cool. I followed you 'cos I cannot afford to miss any more of this cool stuff.
thanks. Is there a way to just reset the active key
No, if you want to reset the active key, you need to change the master key.
Forgotten password in sttemit is like a time wasted, you can never get it back again.
Useful info! Thank @firepower!
ReSteem
Thank you.
Awesome @firepower
Thanks.
Thanks for the information, u have done a great job
Thank you glad I could help. Keep steeming.
great post
Thank you.
Good post. Regarding 2FA, I'm curious on what one can do if you lose your phone? I used to have 2FA in all my crypto exchange accounts but I recently disabled them for fear of losing or smashing my phone and be totally locked out of my accounts. i'm sure there's a way to recover your access but i would think it takes several days. i dont want to miss any trading opportunities!
2FA google authenticator actually uses a seed value to generate the 2fa. If you write those down and treat them like bitcoin private keys, you will be able to recover from a lost or broken phone.
SMS If you keep the same phone number while changing phones then the messages would simply go to your new phone.
Thanks for the information
You're welcome.
great content! firepower
Thanks a lot.
Tnx to share this great information for all steemit users
Dhanywad
Thanks for reading.
thanks for the tips, I got freaked out because I thought I forget the steemit password when I start using it, and then later realize it's the pw that I got when I sign up . hehe.
I understand. Hope you have saved the password safely. Cheers.
i hope i will never need it.
Everyone hopes the same. But still better to be safe. Cheers! :)
Thanks a lot for this reminder man, passwords are so important to be kept secret and well saved offline. But still many scammers out there trying to hack people's account.
Thank you for the information will do as you say as I am new here.
You're welcome. :)
Congratulations @firepower, this post is the second most rewarded post (based on pending payouts) in the last 12 hours written by a Hero account holder (accounts that hold between 10 and 100 Mega Vests). The total number of posts by Hero account holders during this period was 205 and the total pending payments to posts in this category was $3930.28. To see the full list of highest paid posts across all accounts categories, click here.
If you do not wish to receive these messages in future, please reply stop to this comment.
This post should be read by all the newbies out here that you should not lose your password, if you need to login to any third party services then you have your private posting key. Use that instead
You're absolutely right. Always use private posting key.
I am new to steemit and to honest i was giving up on this but people like you inspired me not to quit. It might take a lot of time to get at the point where you are but i hope that day come soon. Thank you so much @firepower you're truly an inspiration.
Thank you very much. Glad to know that I inspired you. Thank s again.
thAT VERY useful post
Thank you.
my account stolen and i just recovered but its happen because someone whom i follow and daily visit was hacked and they made post from her account and i thought she made so i enter and i lost everything, but i recovered with help of admin and i give them all things and that scammer details , admin told me that you can transfer funds to saving so it take 3 days and will not stolen which i didnt know so i lost but then i told all my friends and they doing it and aware from scammer, in my mobile when i open post from app then it not show url and i just believe on the user ans i enter and it was stolen, right now its recovered and i am more aware, i like bitrrex security of 2FA so is it also possible in steemit.
I want to be a great blogger like you.
There are so many things to read, so you'll need a lot of time to read them.
I will often read your article.
Thank you. :)
Useful info
sir follow me resteem
i am all time follow
Thanks for the guid. Will put it in a favorite to keep it closer. See you
You're welcome. Try to save the master key offline so you do not lose it.
Ah yes I did, on an external disc. No mather for it, only hope don't be hacked ;) Good night
Amazing, thank for sharing
You're welcome and thank you for reading.
Congratulations @firepower!
Your post was mentioned in the hit parade in the following category:
Thanks for sharing the information with us . This is very helpful for all those who faced this kind of problem and the best way to keep your password secure is to write it down somewhere or you can save it as a text file in your computer....!!!
Great post.....Keep Voting,Commenting,Writing....!!
Resteemed!!! This blog is a must read for all Steemians.