Bitcoin Forum

My current address (1PandaF1XZ5MvJ49RjLUHouQcCrgBCvcpC) has no balance in it and I'm not planning to fund it right now.

How do I know if the privkey is already compromised? I think I scattered my private key on my old PC, my external drive, my old phone, my current phone, some encrypted online storage, and an old flash drive of mine. I can't really track them all down and delete them since I'm not sure where each and every one is.

Why would you care about an empty address getting compromised ? You won't be able to know who have  your private keys unless the address has balance which is in this case ... the hacker will take the funds so you will know .
The strategy you used isn't the best, though , It's only going to increase the chances of you getting hacked and you will have to check every device if it contains viruses or something.

What I would do is print the private keys on a piece of paper (two copies max) and store them very well in two different places where no one can reach them.

Okay, I'm going to fund it. yolo

+1, it's even completely possible a hacker has your private key, but doesn't use it untill enough inputs have been created for this address, so even transferring a small amount of coins to the address to test out if the keys have been compromised will do you no good.

My advice: never use this private key, generate a new one in a secure environment (offline pc, paper wallet, hardware wallet) and use that one instead

to be sure i always do a secure erase on the ssd plus installing the only windows 7 iso that i trust, which is my personal iso, also you create a new wallet with the new installation

in that way i know that i'm safe at 100%

um.. so you have a private key on SEVERAL different drives.. some of which you have NO IDEA where they went.
i assume these keys are in plain text?

how certain are you that your old pc, your flash drive, your old phone, and your external drive are still around?
if there is any chance at all someone has access to that.. i would not use that bitcoin address.. just make a new one.

If you think it might have been compromised i wouldn't use it at all.  Just create a new on,   it's not like it's hard or anything and then that way at least you know your safe for  sure.  Just not worth the risk.

I think that's the best move forward, but then all of my devices are in the house. I was concerned software-wise.

Seriously man why would you even consider using this address? I see it's one of those vanity addresses but is it really worth losing sleep over?  I certainly wouldn't feel at all safe depositing any amount into that address, not knowing if someone else has access to it. The worse is that someone monitoring that address could just let you get comfortable again using it and then one day after you've deposited a nice amount just takes it all. Just get a new one and this time make sure you keep your private keys safe.

How did you get that address ? VanityGen from a trusted source or online websites .If you have generated that address using https://bitcoinvanitygen.com/ or similar services then most likely they will store your private keys which can be used to steal your funds.

That is a bad way of storing a private key.You could choose one and make it as secure as possible.In case of back up,another alternative method such a paper wallet could be added.There is no way to track if your private key is compromised until you see some significant changes in your wallet ,for example : Your wallet is empty after you transferred funds.

Well its a very hard chance for hacker or scammer to get hands on a private key generated by wallet itself or by way of vanitygen unless you have malware fixed up in your computer. Well you can't really know if the address is compromised without any transaction activity happening that wasn't made by you.

1. No, I used samr7's binary file that I got from his repo: https://github.com/samr7/vanitygen/downloads
2. I agree. That's pretty significant.

I'm generating a new key at the moment

Its not even a difficult to generate vanity address.  If  your wanting  another one similar to what you have then let me know and i will generate it for you unless you can manage it yourself.

If you think that your private key could be compromised, generate a new address that will have a new private key, and keep it on a secure place. And don't store it on phone, or cloud services.

I'm currently generating a new one. The only problem for me is compute power. I can only go through more or less 10MKeys/second.

what is going on here? why did you even save your private key on this many places at first?
besides you should store your private keys in encrypted format or at least put it in a .rar/.zip file and password protect it not just putting it on a .txt so anybody can read!

and since you say it is empty, just create a new bitcoin address from a brand new wallet to start fresh and be sure you are safe.
it is best to spend time and become safe now rather than being always suspicious.

Exactly. I was young back then. No idea what was going on.

I think I'll save myself the agonizing feeling of suspicion and create a new one, but then I have to track down all of the sites that I use my current address on and update them all.

Update: I just loaded my address with more or less $20 in BTC and it didn't get stolen in 30 seconds. I left a small amount of funds on it just so and transferred the rest to my new address.

I think it's safe to say the address I mentioned isn't compromised, but I still have to track down all of the encrypted copies of my private key. I think there's one in my mom's phone.
I've successfully tracked down all unencrypted copies of my private key.

In the end, this story had a good ending.

I wouldn't conclude that the address isn't compromised because the $20 in BTC doesn't get stolen in seconds.
It's possible somebody has the private key, but didn't automate a checking process, or your account does get checked, but the hacker waits untill there is a sizable loot.

I would never throw away a private key, but in the (small) chance one of my keys might potentially be compromised, i would never use it to hold funds anymore.

So why are you so skeptical as if, you are new to doing stuff on computer through the web?

Just be optimistic, be incharge, on your own part ensure to implement the protective as suggested by other member's.

Final Note : be less assured that NO ONE CAN GUARANTEE 100% SAFE ONLINE else microsoft would'nt have abandone windows XP operating system to hacker's.

Regard's
Arlene

The best free secure erase software I know of is called eraser. The first dev did a first class job of it, but then another dev took over the project and ruined it. The last good version that works well is 5.8.8, and you can download it here.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/eraser/files/Eraser%205/5.8.8/Eraser%205.8.8%20Portable.zip/download

I recommend using it to securely erase any wallet you want to get rid of. You are responsible for your money's security if you use Bitcoin.

it is bitcoin, and the good thing about using bitcoin is that you don't need anybody for creating a new wallet unlike fiat. so you can easily download a wallet and have a new bitcoin address which is the safest thing in my opinion if you are doubtful about your previous one.