Bitcoin Forum

Hi All

I have been trying to get my head around this.. but I am not sure....

Say I have a password on my wallet as i assume everyone does... I need to enter that password whenever I send a payment, so thats all pretty standard..

Now say someone gets my wallet.dat I imagine they also need to know the password otherwise its useless to them right ? Ive read a few things about how people have been hacked/lost there wallet.dat, but I dont understand what the hacker can do with your wallet.dat if they dont have your password ??

Perhaps I am not understanding some vital concept of how the hole system works :) ??

thanks

J

Your assumption is wrong, actually very few ppl encrypt the wallet. Most ppl keep it unencrypted and thus they are vulnerable to attacks.

If you encrypt your then make sure you use a good password, otherwise an attacker can crack it very fast

ah ok thanks for that :) would of thought the password was the first thing people did.

so to confirm, long as your password is pretty tricky/long and someone gets your wallet.dat you should *probably* be ok ?

Yes, you will be ok.

Also most of the hacks happen on automated systems. Computer to do operations on behalf of the user must either have unencrypted wallet or have password storred somewhere on its hard drive. If you can steal one you can steal the other.

cool thanks again guys :)

I suppose most ppl with a lot of BTC keep an encrypted wallet with a lot of BTC and an unencrypted one for their daily expenses.

I have my regular wallet just sitting on my gaming computer, which I use all day. It's never had anymore then 15 BTC in it at a time, and I think my limit would be around 20-30ish. I have another wallet that I created on a separate computer running a Live disk of Linux, then backed the wallet.dat onto a floppy, CD, and MicroSD card. I unplugged all three, and saved the address. So whenever I have a lot of Bitcoins (Over 20), I send them directly to MtGox-->Dwolla-->Bank Account, or I just send them to my super secure wallet that I made for later use.

I figure if you make a wallet on a potentially vunerable computer, there is always the chance of some sort of keylogger and/or wallet cloner out there. You don't want to lose 300 Bitcoins six months from now when you release they cloned your wallet a long time ago, and didn't get around to stealing your coins six months later. I don't trust any company, or any online bank, with my USD or Bitcoins.

Yup, when stronger security is warranted, there are methods that protect further:
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Securing_your_wallet

thanks :)

On an unrelated topic (didnt want to make a new thread) I have been reading about the hole mining thing and pools vs solo.
Is it actually possible to solve blocks if you do it solo and dont have the fastest equipment ? I way I gather it, its like the lotto ? and having a faster setup is sort of like having more lotto tickets i guess ?

I have just been playing with guiminer i think its called, say i did solve the block running solo, as unlikely as that is, would the 50btc just show up in my wallet that i connect to ?

Yes every hash can "win".

So you could solve a block with nothing more than an Atom CPU.

That being said even with decent hardware the variance on solo mining is brutal.  You cold mine for a decade and never solve any blocks and someone with less hashing power solve two blocks in a week.  With p2pool there really is no reason to solomine.