Bitcoin Forum

Here is a situation of how some coins are protected.. I'm wondering if they are protected at all :S.

Format laptop.
Download wallet on laptop.
Send coins from desktop to laptop.
Encrypt wallet.
Back up wallet file on External hard drive + usb
FOrmat laptop

How secure is this method of storage?
Any recommendations on changes to this method?
Should I still be printing off my private key?

Opinions?  Most IRL people I talk to about bitcoin are in utter amazment when I create a new folder and create a new text document in it...  This is the computer skill I am mostly surrounded by :S, so I don't really have anyone IRL to help me out.. Hence me asking silly questions.

I've read about doing the paper wallet thing but it's always nice to actually talk to people about it.

What about cold storage paper wallets? Give them a search if you've never heard. That's probably the safest and most secure way.

That should be very secure.

Yeah and all that security will be waived next time you want to spend a bit.
Download Armory and follow their insturctions for offline storage.
THey are similar to what you do but with better usability.

Sweet thanks!!!!



I've considering trying the paper wallet thing, I am just nervious about getting them back to hot wallet.  I guess I might as well just try it with .001 BTC and if I get screwed well.. I'll figure it out eventually.

Not gonna lie.. I already wrote a random catch phrase for an LTC wallet with 1 LTC on it(zomg read first eh!)....  Lesson learned.  I'm hesitent to make another stupid mistake lol.

I understand. I always test my wallets before I send significant funds to them. But regardless, you should absolutely make paper backups and put them in safety deposit boxes or a safe. All hardware can fail, paper can't fail.

So continue using the method I am but on top of it back up my private keys? (will do 100%)

Furthermore, I can continue to send coins to that address?  (I assume it will be updated with the correct amount when I put it back into hot state)

Thanks for all the help guys and girls!!!!

No need for a paper wallet if this works.

I use this :

- A good antivirus (Kaspersky)
- 2 anti-trojan
- An encrypted wallet stored in an hidden Truecrypt volume with a strong password.

Easy and secure.

Download / Linux / TailsOS to a USB

Boot into Tails / Linux

Download Bitcoin-QT,

Disconnected from internet

Generate a address.

Dump the private key,  write it down...

unplug the usb / format it ( no need for it now )

send bitcoin to the public address!

secure cold storage

That looks solid to me.
You might consider a two wallet system. Keeping one wallet offline in a bank vault. Then set up a wallet with a smallish balance for daily use. I like physical security because it confuses me less. A well hidden safe + monitored home alarm + my AR-15 = real security.

is bitcoin QT wallet safe? or will that be the next thing to get hacked due to some reason

This is very secure in terms of no fear of hacking. The first problem with it is your private keys are only on hardware. As someone already said all hardware can fail unexpectedly. You want to have a bare minimum of 2 copies of your private keys, but ideally 3 (or more). One of those copies should be paper format, which is guaranteed not to fail to work.

The next problem with your technique is your bitcoin will be perfectly safe, until you want to spend them. At some point you need to load your wallet file back onto a machine with Internet access. If that machine is compromised you can lose all your coins at that point, so you've only delayed the theft.

Using Bitcoin Armory (https://bitcoinarmory.com/) solves these problems, because 1) it makes it easy to make a paper copy of your private keys and 2) it has a method for spending coins without exposing them to any online machine.

You guys are freaking awesome!  So glad I came here to ask for help/info about this.  I feel much better about setting up security now, thanks for pointing out the flaws and security level to my system!  I'm going to have to get my private keys on paper, haven't tried to do that yet but it doesn't seem to hard! 

Never connect the device you store your bitcoins on to the Internet and make sure your device is not capable of establishing wireless connections.

You might want to check out www.pi-wallet.com for such a device :)

If you are really paranoid, like me, you need to know that windows sux when it comes to securing/encripting your wallet for the first time. Again, it reads usb when you insert them, thus can bring malicious spy etc.

Try these http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1pxy4w/basic_bitcoin_security_guide/
              http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1u5yn6/easy_to_use_guide_how_to_get_bitcoin_safely_store/
              
My opinion is this:  you must be able to encrypt your wallet before is created so that a copy of it unencrypted should not leak. Don't use a very new printer, use a very old one that is offline and in contact only with the offline computer/wallet, so that nobody hacks it and tries to read the paper wallet.

Super paranoid mode on with all the settings. Now I'm 100% can't be stolen in any way virtually. Have copies of wallet in at least 3 locations. A small tip, maybe electrum is the answer.

and in the end: dont forget your password  ;)

You didn't mention anything about a very important aspect: the passphrase length and complexity you use to encrypt your wallet.
How many characters? Did you include special characters?

Over 15 chars, yes.

https://howsecureismypassword.net/ says  "It would take a desktop PC about 71 quadrillion years to crack your password"   A password of similar length and characters, didn't put my exact one in.

You have the order wrong. You should:

1. encrypt the wallet.
2. back it up.
3. send bitcoins to it.

If you send first, then you would lose your bitcoins if your wallet is lost or compromised before it is encrypted or backed up.

Nowadays you need at least 20 characters to have a good password. 20 char with all the special, underline, high ANSI, brackets, minus etc will result in a fair 130-140 bit password.

32 char with all the above mentioned selected should give around 240 bits and a very high level of security, so that a botnet will have real difficulties to brute force your wallet. Personally I use keepass, an open source password manager very easy to use and to integrate with firefox or whatever. It has very special features that will allow you to generate passwords with a lot of entropy and randomness. Aside from this it has two channel auto-type obfuscation for selected windows of your choice so that you can safely use your password without a keylogger or a clipboard spy stealing it from you. For my wallet I use a 980 bit password, very high even if I don't have much on it. Thing is that if you use around 20 char I would suggest to additionally encrypt you wallet when you backup it and store it in cloud or anywhere else. I use don't use because I have a huge password but if you want it to keep it protected then at least they will have to break 2 passwords. For this you can use AxCrypt.

TL;DR Being very paranoid I suggest you to use a long password generated with keepass a opensource passwordmanager.

Armoury recommends an unencrypted backup.