Bitcoin Forum

Other => Beginners & Help => Topic started by: dancupid on July 25, 2011, 04:25:21 PM



Title: My bitcoin security strategy - anyone see any flaws or potential problems?
Post by: dancupid on July 25, 2011, 04:25:21 PM
I heard about bitcoin about a month ago and I have invested in a few, and after a month of thinking and getting my head around it I've come up with this strategy for protecting my bitcoins (which is what I'm doing now).

I've created a bitcoin wallet, and copied and saved one receiving address.
I've encrypted this wallet and stored it in multiple locations and deleted it on my computer.
I've then bought bitcoins and transferred them to a new wallet on my computer.
I've then transferred the bulk of the bitcoins to the encrypted wallet, keeping a small percentage for daily use on my computer (an amount I am willing to lose if things should go wrong or I am hacked).
I can check the transactions to my encrypted wallet on Bitcoin Block explorer.

Does this sound like a safe strategy?


Title: Re: My bitcoin security strategy - anyone see any flaws or potential problems?
Post by: koin on July 25, 2011, 05:15:07 PM
Does this sound like a safe strategy?

> anyone see any flaws or potential problems?

what if your computer is already compromised, say -- with spyware that performs keylogging?

or perhaps assuming your system if fine now and your savings wallet is secure, how long before you need to use that encryption key so that you can spend from the savings wallet?  will your computer be secure then?

it all boils down to how much you trust that your computer isn't compromised. read this before asserting your confidence: http://blogs.computerworld.com/18387/why_the_bad_guys_are_winning

for savings wallets of larger amounts, an offline wallet solution seems to be the only prudent method: http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/How_to_set_up_a_secure_offline_savings_wallet


Title: Re: My bitcoin security strategy - anyone see any flaws or potential problems?
Post by: jragon23 on July 25, 2011, 05:54:57 PM
You could always use virtual box to create a linux os - with no network access, and store your main wallet inside.

The chances of a virus /trojan ect, gaining access to the vm is low, and the chances of the virus being able to affect linux is even lower.


Title: Re: My bitcoin security strategy - anyone see any flaws or potential problems?
Post by: Smalleyster on July 25, 2011, 05:59:17 PM
Buy a high quality 4gb or higher USB drive.

Install linuxcoin with 2gb persistence file

boot to usb with persistence

copy down address of bitcoin wallet there

send the majority of your funds to that new EXTREMELY SECURE wallet



Title: Re: My bitcoin security strategy - anyone see any flaws or potential problems?
Post by: spruce on July 25, 2011, 06:02:17 PM

for savings wallets of larger amounts, an offline wallet solution seems to be the only prudent method: http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/How_to_set_up_a_secure_offline_savings_wallet

Paper bitcoin wallets (http://paperbitcoinwallets.com) like those from Casascius seem to work well. Plus you can easily encode (offline, by hand) the private keys in an unbreakable fashion so they can be safely left lying around. See link in my sig for details. But don't forget the pass phrase!