Why is it essential to have two key pairs (public and private keys) for each permission (owner and active)?

Read here: How to configure your EOS Account with maximum protection.

Prerequisites:

To change the owner keypair, you need to login with your owner private key. If you want to change your active keypair, you can login with your active permission.

If you want to change the owner keypair and didn't store your EOS Account with the owner's permission in Anchor (which is best practice), you must import your owner's private key first.

To import your owner's private key:

1. Click on Wallet.

2. Open the drop-down menu

3. Click Manage Wallets

Click Import Account(s), then click Import an existing Account and Import Private Key.

After you add your EOS Account with the owner's permission:
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1. Click Wallet.
2. Choose the EOS blockchain.

3. Select your EOS Account with the owner's permission owner / hot.

In your Anchor Wallet:

1. Click on Tools.

2. Then go to Permissions.

Here you see your two permissions. For each permission, you can have a different public key. If you have the same public key for both permissions, the best practice is to change one of the public keys to a new one. When you click Modify, you can enter a new public key for that specific permission. Below we explain how to safely create key pairs with Anchor Wallet, but you can also check out this guide to learn how to generate keys offline with the free offline App eoskey.io.

If you change your permission, only change one permission at a time. Then import your new private key (belonging to the new public key) and sign a transaction. Make sure that everything works and you have access before you change the next permission (in case you like to change that too).

To create a key pair with Anchor Wallet, make sure you are offline and click on:
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1. Tools

2. Manage Keys

Then click on Generate Key Pairs.

Now click Generate Key Pair (x2).

Anchor will generate two keypairs for both Owner and Active Permission. If you need one, just save one. If you need two, the best practice is to protect the keypairs offline and define which keypair will belong to the owner's permission and which one will belong to the active permission. In this guide, you learn how to backup your private keys.

Now click on Copy to Clipboard and paste the keys in a text file; the best practice is to encrypt the file and move it to an encrypted USB drive or a device that has no internet or intranet access.

Author: Dario Cesaro

Editor: Markus Hinrichs; Randall Roland

Translator:

Sources & References: