This is the question asked in this article that is worth a
closer look. Public key infrastructure is a critical part of
maintaining the security of crypto assets.
A recent case in the US highlights that expert knowledge on the
mechanisms used to store and secure private keys for crypto assets
is essential. In this case the hardware device that held the
private keys was locked up by US federal investigators, having been
seized as evidence as part of a crackdown on a crypto money
laundering scam.
A layman might well consider the hardware wallet to be secure in
lock-up, given it was what's known in the trade as being a
'cold wallet', and not connected to the internet. However,
certain features of the wallet allowed the perpetrator - who was
out on bail - to generate what's called a seed phrase (or a
mnemonic phrase) that allowed him to recreate the private keys to
the crypto wallets and drain 713 digital tokens (worth almost
$5million in fiat) despite the hardware
