🔐 A Hard Lesson on Account Security - And Gratitude to Those Who Helped Me Recover.

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• Introduction

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Over the past few days, I've experienced one of the most stressful events on Steemit when my account was compromised.

I noticed unauthorised transfers from my wallet, and shortly after, my owner keys were changed, locking me out of an account I’ve spent years building. Anyone who has been in this situation knows how frustrating and helpless it can feel, especially when your reputation and history are tied to that account.

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Thankfully, this story has a good ending.

With the help of @rme, @steemchiller, and other community members, especially the PussFi in whole who stepped in at critical moments, I was able to recover my account successfully. Their patience, guidance, and calm support made all the difference during this tense time. I’m genuinely grateful for the work they do behind the scenes to keep this community running and to help users when things go wrong.

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🧠 What I Learned (and what I want others to learn)

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This experience taught me some hard but important lessons about account security:

Never underestimate old compromises, even if a device was cleaned months ago, leaked keys or cached access can still be exploited later by unauthorised users.

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Be extremely careful where you store your keys!

Avoid cloud services such as, email, screenshots, or shared devices. Owner keys, especially, should be stored offline.

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Understand the role of your recovery account

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One of the issues that delayed me was the recovery account, which made the recovery last about 2 weeks before I could get it back. You should know that your recovery account is your last line of defence.

Make sure it’s set to an active and reliable account (such as @steemit or @retrieve) so recovery doesn’t become unnecessarily difficult, as I heard those are faster and more active helplines.

Don’t panic, ask for help the right way, and don't share your keys with untrusted users in the process. Use trusted communities(PussFI and the ABB community are always active), use official channels, and verified witnesses. Never send your keys to random people claiming to help.

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Conclusion

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This incident purely reminded me that Steemit is more than just a blockchain; it’s a community. When things went wrong, people showed up, not because they had to, but because they cared about your integrity and reputation on the platform.

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To @rme, @steemchiller, @adeljose and everyone who assisted me along the way: thank you. Your support helped me regain not just my account, but my peace of mind.

I hope this post helps someone avoid the same mistake or act faster if they ever face a similar situation. Stay safe, protect your keys, and don’t take account security lightly.