About EOS Keys
EOS guide for beginners
I think the first difficulty encountered when you create an EOS account, is the KEYS. We often use IDs and passwords to log in; login method became even easier with 3rd party logins like Google login or Facebook login. If you are already familiar with this kind of login, you may feel that EOS account is so hard.
But, as you know, EOS is now in the early stage of growth. It is unreasonable to demand a convenient service experience based on sufficient time and scaled information. But someday we will be able to see the UI and UX that can be easily accessed.
So we need to look at the EOS a bit more generously and to understand it. However, when we try to create and use an EOS account, complicated concepts that we must understand are Owner Key, Active Key, Public Key, and Private Key. You may think “Do you mean that I need four passwords?” But fortunately, the answer is No. It is a different concept from the password.
Public Key and Private Key
In EOS, two keys are paired and one pair of key consists of Public Key and Private Key. Public Key is used to identify the account, and Private Key is used to authenticate the account’s permissions.
It looks like the public key is the ID and the private key is the password. But I registered 12-digit account name when I create EOS account and I thought that is ID.
It is OK to understand that Public key is a concept like an ID, and Private key is a concept like a password. Then what about 12-digit account name?
You may have already seen how these keys look like when you generate the keys. These keys are too long, complicated, and hard to remember.
Like this.
How uncomfortable would it be to use this difficult key as ID? So we have a way to create an account name that made up of 12-digit and connect it to that key pair. If you enter the account name, you can the account to the keys.
Owner Key and Active Key
The EOS account is supposed to register two other keys which have different roles. These are Owner key and Active Key. Owner Key is associated with account ownership and used to change account permissions. Active Key is related to the activity of the account such as token transfer, voting, etc. Each key requires a pair of public key and private key, so we will get two pairs of keys, a pair for Owner Key and another one for Active Key. And that’s why the concept of EOS keys sounds confusing.
In fact, many users use the same key pair without distinguishing the owner key from the active key. However, in principle, you need two different sets of key pairs for safer use of EOS account. Let’s say your Active Key is exposed to a hacker and he tries to transfer your EOS to his exchange address; and fortunately, most of your EOS are staked. So he needs to unstake EOS which requires 3 days to be processed. In that case, you can change your Active Key with Owner key and stake your EOS safely within 3 days. But what if your Owner key is the same as Active key, no one can guarantee the safety.
EOS account and EOS Key are N : N relationship.
I want to use various EOS account. Do I have to create and manage a new key pair for each account?
You might be able to ask the above question. Let’s assume that a person with 10 accounts creates pairs of keys for each account. He might have a hard time finding one of the 10 key pairs for login. What about the opposite situation that a person with one account wants to register more than one key pair for security reasons?
These situations often happen in reality. If you understand the relationship between your key and your account, you can make your own solution.
In the EOS system, we use the concept of the connection between account and key pair, so you can flexibly move the key pair over and over. In other words, you can link a pair of keys to multiple accounts, and you can register multiple pairs of keys to an account. However, please note that each account is independent, not interlocked.
Above all, it is most important not to lose your private key and be careful not to be exposed it to others. It is because there is not yet a way to find the lost key. Be sure to save it offline and be careful not to lose it.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through telegram or comments below. Thank you for reading:)
