## Welcome to Lesson 4!
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I'm really glad this **Steemit Lesson** helped a couple of Steemians *(new and old)* which gives me more drive to do more of this in the near future. As my goal to educate the users about the important topics in Steemit that existing/new users needs to know, I welcome you guys to **Steemit Lesson 4!** In case you missed the previous lessons, feel free to smash the links below.
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- ##### [Steemit Lesson 1 : The Best Way to Power-up Your SBDs](https://steemit.com/steemit/@jassennessaj/steemit-lesson-1-the-best-way-to-power-up-your-sbds)
- ##### [Steemit Lesson 2 : What are Cryptocurrencies? Blockchain?](https://steemit.com/steemit/@jassennessaj/steemit-lesson-2-what-are-cryptocurrencies-blockchain)
- ##### [Steemit Lesson 3 : How Do We Transfer Our Tokens from Our Wallet? A Guide to Account Transfers](https://steemit.com/transfers/@jassennessaj/steemit-lesson-3-how-do-we-transfer-our-tokens-from-our-wallet-a-guide-to-account-transfers)
<center>https://steemitimages.com/DQmWtndBeLEvzNeNnxumpwFVGPDKrM98ew8CZGrcMzebQzF/image_search_1514746528847.jpg
*Design credits : @rayhan97*</center>
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In the online world, most especially in the **cryptoworld** - ***"Account Password"*** is one of the most critical matters that a user needs to be careful of. One another user gets that, your account is at risk. So you need to be careful managing and storing your passwords.
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## Let's Talk About Steemit Generated Keys/Password
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In a normal Steemit account, Steemit provides us **four** different keys or passwords. These keys are important and often termed as **Permissions** in Steemit. Every key performs a specific functions and limits. Yes, I'm talking about :

#### <center>**"Owner , Active, Posting, and Memo Keys"** </center>
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Allow me to provide you a table that summarizes the **Permissions** each key is entitled to. Literally, there are some keys that cannot perform specific transactions because they are intended only to a specific role. Like **Posting Key**, where you cannot perform Account transfers nor changing your password. 
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Transaction/s | Memo Key | Posting Key | Active Key | Owner Key
-|-|-|-|-|
    Post, vote, Comment, Follow       |      |   x    |    x     |      x     |
       Account Transfers    |      |       |      x   |      x     |
    Make Trades (Internal Market)       |      |       |    x     |    x       |
    Power Down/Up       |      |       |     x    |     x      |
     Witness Voting      |      |       |     x    |      x     |
   Changing your Owner Key        |      |       |         |   x        |
   View Private Messages/Memos        |  x    |       |         |     x      |
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*That summarizes the transactions allowed per key.*  Now let's try to define and tackle each of these permissions :
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<center>https://steemitimages.com/0x0/http://s.pictub.club/2017/02/08/sfc4CP.png
*Design credit : @steemit-guides*</center>
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## Owner Key
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Owner key gives you full access and control to your account. If you'll check again the summary table above, all of the things listed can be done using your **Owner Key**. Owner key is like you **Master Password**, that key gives you full control of everything. Therefore, you should be careful in giving this key. It should not be used actually. It should be kept confidentially. Keep your Owner key in an offline storage *(Not connected to the internet)*.
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## Active Key
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As you can see above, all of the transactions can be performed by **Active Key** except **Changing your Owner Key**. Therefore, this key should be used most of the times when you do transactions that cannot be done by **Posting Key**. As of its functions, please check on the table summary above. But in most cases like connecting to **[Steemvoter](Steemvoter.com), [Steemauto](Steemauto.com), [Streemian](Streemian.com), [Utopian](Utopian.io), [Busy](Busy.org)** and even using **Steemv2connect**, or any third party apps that is connected to the Steem Blockchain, use **Active Key**.
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## Posting Key
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This key should be mainly used when you login, because this is the safest and secured key for your account's risk. **Posting Key** only allows you to post, comment, vote, and follow users. Posting key cannot do account transfers/withdrawals *(kindly look on the table)*. When the time comes that you need to perform account transfers or say you want to send a certain amount to a user, then use your **Active Key**. 
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## Memo Key
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Your **Memo Key** is your key to decrypt private messages sent to your account. I believe our **Memo Key** is also needed when we send **SBD or Steem** from **[Poloniex](poloniex.com)** to our Steemit account. Though **Memo Key** doesn't have much purpose now. I believe this key is used to **@arcange's** SteemSQL new system.
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<center>https://ak8.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/23604658/thumb/1.jpg</center>
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## That's It!
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I hope this blog helped you in understanding Steemit's generated passwords. This will also help you in reducing the risk in your account. Don't forget to **Smash that Upvote and Resteem button!**. Steem On :)
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<center>https://steemitimages.com/DQmcQGVXHnXQ3C9Mf77RT2WuWdyQhG1r7c2rRCfvv67SdXS/follow_jassennessaj.gif</center>
*Reference : @pfunk at [A User's Guide to the Different Steem Keys or Passwords](https://steemit.com/steemit-guides/@pfunk/a-user-s-guide-to-the-different-steem-keys-or-passwords)*