: The key is the data. Secure it with the same—if not greater—rigor as the secrets it unlocks.
If you must dispose of an encryption-key.bin file securely: encryption-key.bin file
That gibberish is actually the raw binary representation of a long random number. A proper key should look indistinguishable from random noise to an observer. Using a hex editor (like xxd on Linux or HxD on Windows), you would see a sequence of hexadecimal bytes, such as: : The key is the data
Backups: Create multiple backups of the key file. Store one in a physical safe and another in a secure, air-gapped location. encryption-key.bin file
You can inspect the raw bytes (in hexadecimal) with: