Bitcoin Forum

Due to bitcoin's growth and being popular than ever, us users may be prone to threats and attacks considering the value of bitcoin today. And since we all want to keep our wallets secured, what is the best way to do so. Since we cannot avoid connecting to the internet, especially to those who uses desktop wallets, how can we keep our wallets secured? Is there any antivirus that can help us be secured in terms of phishing, malware attacks, and other cases that may endanger our wallets? Can you suggest one. :)

Cold wallets and offline signing. Been around since 2011...

Just as you most likely have a current and savings account with your bank, you could use a web or mobile wallet for convenient, everyday use, while you could have a desktop wallet with appropriate backups on a machine which you seldom use for the Internet (e.g. an old laptop or cheap computer).  You could even use a hardware wallet like a TREZOR if you write down your keys somewhere safe.

Offline wallets such as hardware or paper wallets (if constructed properly) are still the best. For desktop users, it is better to set a password to encrypt your wallet.dat. This will make hacking slightly harder.

Offline wallets/hardware wallets are much more secured than any other wallets, there is no question with that. But since many of bitcoin holders here prefer desktop wallets(refer here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1742228.0 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1742228.0)), security is a must and it would be appreciated if a referral of a good antivirus for desktop will be shared for the purpose of eliminating or avoiding phishing, malware attacks, etc. :)

There are some good alternatives, for example, the cold wallets (offline wallets), paper wallets are a good way to stay secured from the internet, but my favorite is to use hardware wallets which are more portable and we can use it for both hot and cold wallet depending on the situations and our needs. There are many different kinds of hardware wallets where some offer some additional features like physical keys to the hardware wallets to manipulate with the device.

I think hardware keys are the best to use. I like to have the wallet.dat file then all is well. However printing out a parent wallet too is much better since it also prince out your private key which is confirmed in the we which is another good reason to use a paper wallet. In a way it is digital because once you scan that QR code you gain access. So it is a very good idea to have a seal on your paper wallet so you know if it has been tampered with. It should last your whole lifetime easily especially if you using high quality paper.

To keep our wallet secured just be careful in phishing apps or malwares and just use a desktop wallet not a web wallet.
You can use bitdefender antivirus  its very efficient and good in detecting malwares.

I didn't hear anywhere applications may attack the btc wallet. First, know that if any wallet wanna hack by hackers, they more electricity and help of 100+ super computers effort to hack your wallet. Therefore, simply don't do mistakes in logging in the wallet site or your desktop wallets. That's enough to secure. Don't share your private key or dat to anyone.

A desktop wallet is as secure as your PC is. Electrum for example is a SPV lightweight wallet for desktop which has all the security features of a hardware wallet without the chip (the hardware wallet itself). This is much safer than storing your coins in blockchain.info , coinbase or xapo for example. If you want ultimate security go for hardware wallets. The money spent for such wallet is really worth it in the long run.

but how make an offline wallet?

all the ones I know are downloaded from the internet and require internet connection to work

Get an old computer like a pentium for cheap ;)
Download the entire blockchain to it.
Only use it for this sole purpose as a wallet. Do not use it to surf on or put bloatware and get a virus on it doing dumb things like that. ::)
Then unplug it from the wall.
There you have an offline wallet.
Only plug it in when you have a reason to send anything out from it to an outside receipiant.
Truly COLD storage!  ;D

Also paper wallets are best to store and secure bitcoins

In my own never experience any issue or hack issue i used electrum since 2015 this is my best wallet that i used. plus i use anti virus which is can protect  all of your cryptocurreny related kaspersky total security they can detect like crypto virus and other threats base on my experience when my computer was attack by ransomware which is hard to remove but kaspersky recover all my files also my wallet solved..

If you want desktop wallet >> electrum is fine. At least it's fine as long as your computer is fine... If you want absolute safety, skip this one.

If you want absolute safety >> https://github.com/MichaelMure/WalletGenerator.net Download this in a linux system. Turn of your wifi. (better yet, turn off your modem) Get your private key. Hide it away or memorize it if you can.

Best way? Generate key on offline computer. Then write it down to piece of paper, here u go, your 100% non digital-world address, immune to hacks :)

Hardware wallets are probably the best bet for security. You can also use these in combination with Desktop Wallets such as Electrum. This helps protect your coins even if your PC was compromised. Although, I suppose you could still get one of the viruses that replaces addresses on your clipboard with malicious addresses so you still need to verify before you send.

Walletgenerator is just for linux?
i want use it but my OS windows  ???

Nope it is just a html file, which can bu used with every OS there is. You can absolutely use it on windows. I suggest you to do it on Linux because no matter how well you protect your windows system it still can be infected by undetectable viruses. (Memory trojans) Linux isn't virus free neither but the chances are lesser.

You can absolutely use windows if you are sure that your system is clean.

Just use this: https://www.bitaddress.org/
They even have a brainwallet available from there for you to create your own passphrase to recover you wallet later on and doing so your coins you have store there for later use.

I don't recommend using a brainwallet password for storing your bitcoins. Bots tend to search for common passwords on these in order to steal coins and its not a very safe method of storing coins. Much better to just store a seed for a wallet such as Electrum (running on an offline PC if you are concerned about security).

Just giving him available options that are available for him to use.
It is up to the user after all to make their wallets and themselves safe and devise a way to do so.
Use 100 words as a passphrase to make it more secure.
That is totally up to you to make it secure.

I don't understand why you people here diss web wallets so much :/ I mean yes, they can get hacked a lot easier but it's the sam as with the offline wallets, if you're not careful enough you'll gt hacked and robbed anyways. I've been using blockchain.info wallet ever since I've started with bitcoin and never had any problem at all, because I tend to keep it secured and take care of websites I visit. It's not that bad..

Yeah, Blockchain.info isn't too bad as long as you use a good password. You can also enable 2FA for added security. I liked their old interface but wasn't a fan of the new interface and the less control their new wallet style offered such as lack of coin control, etc. That is why I switched to using a Desktop wallet instead.

iam use electrum dekstop wallet without problem
sending fee can setting low, and transaction confirmation still fast, and electrum without syncronize so instant use wallet

the word is "convenient" not "good"!
anything that is online and worst of all is controlled by a third party (i know you generate it inside browser and they store it encrypted but still) is a bad idea.
if you are looking for a convenient wallet to use easy and for small amounts and have access to it from anywhere on any device then that is the choice, not any other way.

Use cold storage that way anyone that wants to steal your coins needs physical access and if you keep your hard drive in a safe location then the only thing you need to care about are things like natural disasters but you can remedy that with backups.

Electrum is probably the best choice for cold wallet, but I think we also need not to worry about online wallet for blockchain always prove quality of development over time. but if you want to save bitcoin very much indeed recommended for using desktop wallet, secure point to avoid the worst things.

Just print it. It is yours only if you control the private key.