there are 4 pair of keys: active, owner, posting and memo. Every pair has public key and private key. Under any circumstances, you should never expose any of your private keys.
As I wrote in a post, right now exposing a private memo key is not very dangerous. But it was said few times, that in the future memo-keys will be used to encrypt and decrypt private messages. So basically every your conversation encrypted with your memo-key would be basically public for everyone who poses your private memo key.
Also... even right now everyone with your private memo key could try do some kind of social-engineering atack, by pretending that attacker is you (because technically speaking only you should be able to sign messaged with your private key).
So.. no, you account was not hacked right now, but with private memo key exposed, your account could be attacked in a moment when private-memo-keys would gain some new role in Steem ecosystem.
Thanks so much for explaining the ramifications. I'll make sure to be extra vigilant when I do transfers. This is something I can see myself accidentally doing, and I'd rather avoid the headache.
there are 4 pair of keys: active, owner, posting and memo. Every pair has public key and private key. Under any circumstances, you should never expose any of your private keys.
As I wrote in a post, right now exposing a private memo key is not very dangerous. But it was said few times, that in the future memo-keys will be used to encrypt and decrypt private messages. So basically every your conversation encrypted with your memo-key would be basically public for everyone who poses your private memo key.
Also... even right now everyone with your private memo key could try do some kind of social-engineering atack, by pretending that attacker is you (because technically speaking only you should be able to sign messaged with your private key).
So.. no, you account was not hacked right now, but with private memo key exposed, your account could be attacked in a moment when private-memo-keys would gain some new role in Steem ecosystem.
I see, ok thanks!
Jeff, take a break from walking your dogs and setup your avatar. Por favor.
LOL.
ouch, you could've mentioned that in your live show yesterday !
It took a whole day to get account access.
Anyways cheers !
Thanks so much for explaining the ramifications. I'll make sure to be extra vigilant when I do transfers. This is something I can see myself accidentally doing, and I'd rather avoid the headache.
You did Steemit a massive favor Noisy! It won't be forgotten! :)