Create a Secret Account with Plausible Deniability
AirGap offers a BIP39 passphrase feature which enables plausible deniability. A security feature that protects your funds when you are threatened or compelled to provide your recovery phrase.
Security is of utmost importance in the cryptocurrency ecosystem; this is not surprising, though, as financial scams are widespread in this field.
Most of the reported thefts of this sort are online — as scammers use different techniques. In some previous blogs, we showed you how you can protect yourself from them and what are the useful layers of protection.
However, the usual talk about digital attacks has made reports of physical attacks a bit underreported. In this article, we would like to shine a light on this thread and show you how plausible deniability can help you protect yourself from such.
If there are too many layers of security, aggressors choose the physical way
People in the crypto space — especially those who hold larger funds — are slowly adopting all sorts of security layers. Because of this, criminals have to flip the script and choose different ways to steal money.
Physical theft is a low-hanging fruit for criminals because it requires no technical skills.
One of the first stories that caught the attention of the media happened back in 2017 when a 35-year-old kidnapped an acquaintance in New York City, threatened the man with what looked like a gun, and requested his private key. Through it, they stole about 3900 ETH from him (back then worth about $1.8 million — in today’s money that’s about $5.8 million). The full story can be read here.
And there are many of those stories out there.
With great power comes great responsibility
When you want to take full advantage of cryptocurrency, you also have to take security into your own hands. If you save your private keys offline in a hardware wallet, you are well protected against digital theft. But what would you do if you were threatened at gunpoint? AirGap BIP 39 passphrase, which enables plausible deniability, could help.
Plausible deniability — How to protect yourself from physical theft
With plausible deniability, you can create a “hidden” account that nobody knows exists. It works by adding a passphrase when creating an address.
You can use this feature to protect yourself if you are threatened to reveal your secret recovery phrase or simply as an extra security measure if you accidentally reveal it.
In case an attacker gets a hold of your mnemonic, he will immediately see the funds on your decoy account, because it doesn’t require any passphrases. At this point, he will probably be satisfied and move on. You should still always monitor your decoy account and as soon as the balance decreases for no reason, you should immediately move your funds to a new mnemonic.
Setting up plausible deniability will give you an extra layer of security to store large amounts of funds.
How does the plausible deniability features work?
The passphrase is essentially a set of characters, similar to a password, added to your 24-word recovery phrase that grants access to a new account. This passphrase can be anything from a single word space to a long sentence.
The passphrase acts as a layer of security in case of an attack. For instance, if your 24-word secret recovery phrase were to be compromised. The attacker has to access both the secret recovery phrase and the passphrase in order to steal your funds.
Each unique passphrase create a distinct address. You may use as many passphrases on top of the same recovery phrase.
Like most other features of AirGap, the plausible deniability feature is straightforward and easy to use; the latest revamp of the wallet makes it even better.
This video on Plausible deniability will help you set it up and have a better understanding. You can also read the documentation here.
If you haven’t activated the plausible deniability feature as a crypto holder, activate it now and prevent losing your funds to unplanned attacks.
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