Bitcoin Forum

Hi, How secure is an encrypted wallet?

The question should be how secure is encrypted information. If using AES 265 and a good strength password (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Password_strength ) and good entropy then it's very logically secure.

This does not mean physically secure and this is an area many people miss I think. Physical security is important as people could delete/corrupt even the strongest encryption. In this area key-loggers can steal the best strength passwords as well (many trogans about).

I suggest both physical and logical security measures. Keep large amounts more physically secure (i.e. in paper wallets (with a password)) and use multiple wallets as you would with money. Carry with you what you can afford to lose, but still use a very strong password if you can. Wallets such as the blockchain.info have two factor authentication (uses a second route such as google authenticator sms etc.). This is a good choice for a mobile wallet I think, but still keep your larger wellets safer than even this. 

I would say do not leave a wallet on a windows machine anywhere if you can help it.

It depends on which software/web site you are using (bitcoin qt, blockchain.info etc), the length of the password, the randomness of the password, whether the encrypted wallet is available to others (e.g. is it ONLY on your computer or is it on a public web server), does  your computer have malware and other factors.  If you used "password" as the password and posted the wallet on a public server, it would not be secure.  If you used a good password, only had the wallet on a non-internet-connected computer, it would be much safer.

If it has been compromised (e.g. off your computer somewhere with an easy to guess password), you should create a new address and send everything to that in order to prevent someone from stealing your bitcoins. (And make sure you don't have malware). 

Depends I guess, but should be secure but nothing is hack proof ever.

It's only as secure as you are. If you have a key-logger you’re fucked no matter how long or strong your passwords are.