Generate and back up your key shares

To demonstrate how Cobo Guard functions as a key share manager, this section guides you through the key share generation and backup processes from the perspective of a key share holder operating on a Cobo Guard app.

The key share generation process is initiated on the Cobo Portal by an admin. The members selected by the admin as key share holders will receive a notification on their Cobo Guard apps to become key share holders. All selected members must confirm to become key share holders before the key generation process can start.

After the key shares have been generated, key share holders can back up their key shares to iCloud using Cobo Guard. During the backup process, the key shares are encrypted, and a recovery passphrase is set to ensure security when restoring the backup from iCloud. This backup can be particularly useful in situations such as device loss or replacement.

​

Generate key shares

The key share generation process is initiated by the admins on the Cobo Portal. The key shares are categorized into one of the three groups: Main Group, Signing Group, and Recovery Group. We will use the Main Group to illustrate the process.

1. On the Cobo Portal, admins create a Main Group by navigating to MPC Wallets > [vault-name] > Create Main Group.

2. During the Main Group creation process, the admins select members to become key share holders.

   Selected members’ Cobo Guard must already be linked to the admin’s organization for them to be eligible for selection as a key share holder.

3. Once the Main Group creation is initiated by the admins, selected members will be notified on their Cobo Guard. Simply tap the 1 key share needs to be generated banner.

4. On the Group Information page, review the key share generation request, and tap Start Key Gen to start generating the key share.

5. The process takes about 30 seconds. When you see the Key Generated Successfully message, tap Back Up Now.

6. You can tap Start to back up the key share now, or tap Skip to complete key generation process.

​

Back up your key shares

1. Return to the home screen of Cobo Guard. Access My Accounts by tapping and then My Accounts.

2. Tap the icon on the upper right corner to enter the Back Up Your Private Key Shares screen.

   If you have recently generated key shares, you can also tap Back Up Now instead.

3. On the Back Up Your Private Key Shares screen, tap Start, then authenticate yourself using Face ID.

4. On the Set Recovery Passphrase screen, set a recovery passphrase that will grant access to your backups when restoring key shares from iCloud, then tap Continue.

   Please save the passphrase securely; losing it will prevent you from restoring your key shares.

5. On the Backup Successful dialog, tap OK to complete the backup process.

You can find the backup file on your phone by navigating to Files > iCloud Drive > Cobo Guard > Backup folder. The file name starts with recovery-secrets-cobo.