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Bitcoin => Bitcoin Discussion => Topic started by: Answerme2 on April 10, 2016, 01:43:42 PM



Title: 3 Questions i would like to Get answered
Post by: Answerme2 on April 10, 2016, 01:43:42 PM
1.What is the best and secure linux distro for having my offline savings cold storage electrum wallet?
2.How to install Electrum offline in that linux distro because i have read on linux we need to get connected to internet and run some commands to install it but i would like to install it offline without internet access.is that possible?if yes,how?
3.Does the signed transactions file from offline electrum wallet transferred to online wallet can possibly leak my private keys?
I look forward if some techy here answers and explain the answers in details.
Thank you


Title: Re: 3 Questions i would like to Get answered
Post by: thejaytiesto on April 10, 2016, 01:54:01 PM
1.What is the best and secure linux distro for having my offline savings cold storage electrum wallet?
2.How to install Electrum offline in that linux distro because i have read on linux we need to get connected to internet and run some commands to install it but i would like to install it offline without internet access.is that possible?if yes,how?
3.Does the signed transactions file from offline electrum wallet transferred to online wallet can possibly leak my private keys?
I look forward if some techy here answers and explain the answers in details.
Thank you

I think Tails is one of the most secure Linux distro evers, at least Edward Snowden uses it. Tails includes Electrum installed ready to use. What I don't understand is how does it store the keys because Tails is read-only (you can't write anything on it as far as I know unless configure it).
I think you will need a Trezor to securely store the private keys..

Anyway im also interested on a more specific answer.


Title: Re: 3 Questions i would like to Get answered
Post by: shorena on April 10, 2016, 02:58:36 PM
1.What is the best and secure linux distro for having my offline savings cold storage electrum wallet?
2.How to install Electrum offline in that linux distro because i have read on linux we need to get connected to internet and run some commands to install it but i would like to install it offline without internet access.is that possible?if yes,how?
3.Does the signed transactions file from offline electrum wallet transferred to online wallet can possibly leak my private keys?
I look forward if some techy here answers and explain the answers in details.
Thank you

I think Tails is one of the most secure Linux distro evers, at least Edward Snowden uses it. Tails includes Electrum installed ready to use. What I don't understand is how does it store the keys because Tails is read-only (you can't write anything on it as far as I know unless configure it).
I think you will need a Trezor to securely store the private keys..

Anyway im also interested on a more specific answer.

Tails was made to protection your privacy, I dont think this is OPs primary concern.

#1 Any distro you can handle and does not come with crap. Arch and Gentoo allow you the biggest control, but they are also more difficult to handle. I personally dont think it matters much as long as the system is kept offline reliably. E.g. if you can disable the WiFi via a hardware switch or if there is no WiFi module at all.

#2 An offline system is not called offline because it was never online. You almost always need data from an online source. The important part is to only generate your keys (e.g. the electrum seed) once you are done with the online part, then you go offline and never bring the system back online again. If you have to update software, e.g. because your old wallet version is no longer working you might want to create a new wallet and sweep all funds once you are done.

#3 Yes, but only if the wallet software or the system PRNG is horribly broken (R-value reused).


Title: Re: 3 Questions i would like to Get answered
Post by: Answerme2 on April 10, 2016, 03:13:17 PM
1.What is the best and secure linux distro for having my offline savings cold storage electrum wallet?
2.How to install Electrum offline in that linux distro because i have read on linux we need to get connected to internet and run some commands to install it but i would like to install it offline without internet access.is that possible?if yes,how?
3.Does the signed transactions file from offline electrum wallet transferred to online wallet can possibly leak my private keys?
I look forward if some techy here answers and explain the answers in details.
Thank you

I think Tails is one of the most secure Linux distro evers, at least Edward Snowden uses it. Tails includes Electrum installed ready to use. What I don't understand is how does it store the keys because Tails is read-only (you can't write anything on it as far as I know unless configure it).
I think you will need a Trezor to securely store the private keys..

Anyway im also interested on a more specific answer.

Tails was made to protection your privacy, I dont think this is OPs primary concern.

#1 Any distro you can handle and does not come with crap. Arch and Gentoo allow you the biggest control, but they are also more difficult to handle. I personally dont think it matters much as long as the system is kept offline reliably. E.g. if you can disable the WiFi via a hardware switch or if there is no WiFi module at all.

#2 An offline system is not called offline because it was never online. You almost always need data from an online source. The important part is to only generate your keys (e.g. the electrum seed) once you are done with the online part, then you go offline and never bring the system back online again. If you have to update software, e.g. because your old wallet version is no longer working you might want to create a new wallet and sweep all funds once you are done.

#3 Yes, but only if the wallet software or the system PRNG is horribly broken (R-value reused).
I do not understand your third answer what PRNG is?
Simply please tell me if i am safe if i use electrum to sign transactions offline and transfer back the signed transactions to the online wallet?
Is PRNG of electrum good?


Title: Re: 3 Questions i would like to Get answered
Post by: shorena on April 10, 2016, 03:20:22 PM
1.What is the best and secure linux distro for having my offline savings cold storage electrum wallet?
2.How to install Electrum offline in that linux distro because i have read on linux we need to get connected to internet and run some commands to install it but i would like to install it offline without internet access.is that possible?if yes,how?
3.Does the signed transactions file from offline electrum wallet transferred to online wallet can possibly leak my private keys?
I look forward if some techy here answers and explain the answers in details.
Thank you

I think Tails is one of the most secure Linux distro evers, at least Edward Snowden uses it. Tails includes Electrum installed ready to use. What I don't understand is how does it store the keys because Tails is read-only (you can't write anything on it as far as I know unless configure it).
I think you will need a Trezor to securely store the private keys..

Anyway im also interested on a more specific answer.

Tails was made to protection your privacy, I dont think this is OPs primary concern.

#1 Any distro you can handle and does not come with crap. Arch and Gentoo allow you the biggest control, but they are also more difficult to handle. I personally dont think it matters much as long as the system is kept offline reliably. E.g. if you can disable the WiFi via a hardware switch or if there is no WiFi module at all.

#2 An offline system is not called offline because it was never online. You almost always need data from an online source. The important part is to only generate your keys (e.g. the electrum seed) once you are done with the online part, then you go offline and never bring the system back online again. If you have to update software, e.g. because your old wallet version is no longer working you might want to create a new wallet and sweep all funds once you are done.

#3 Yes, but only if the wallet software or the system PRNG is horribly broken (R-value reused).
I do not understand your third answer what PRNG is?
Simply please tell me if i am safe if i use electrum to sign transactions offline and transfer back the signed transactions to the online wallet?
Is PRNG of electrum good?

PRNG is a "pseudo random number generator" used by modern systems. Electrum AFAIK uses the PRNG of the system it runs on. This is usually fine, unless you specifically fuck it up, e.g. by resetting a virtual machine to an older state (see e.g. here[1]).

[1] https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1431060.0


Title: Re: 3 Questions i would like to Get answered
Post by: Carlton Banks on April 10, 2016, 03:29:29 PM
I'd recommend Qubes (https://qubes-os.org) for security. Based on an open source hypervisor, it runs various Linux distros (Debian & Arch most notable for security) in virtual machines. There's a whole lot of detail that I'll provide if you like, but it has tons of features that I use regularly as a part of my bitcoin security provisions. You need RAM though, 8GB minimum, 16GB recommended.


Title: Re: 3 Questions i would like to Get answered
Post by: lite on April 10, 2016, 07:09:19 PM
1.What is the best and secure linux distro for having my offline savings cold storage electrum wallet?
2.How to install Electrum offline in that linux distro because i have read on linux we need to get connected to internet and run some commands to install it but i would like to install it offline without internet access.is that possible?if yes,how?
3.Does the signed transactions file from offline electrum wallet transferred to online wallet can possibly leak my private keys?
I look forward if some techy here answers and explain the answers in details.
Thank you
I think ubuntu will be a good choice, it's used by many. it really doesn't matter which distro you choose. at first you have to connect to internet for tools and electrum installation.

this might be helpful while creating cold storage wallet.  http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/coldstorage.html