Have security install before Setting up bitcoin core on my computer?

[TC777]

Hello everyone,

I want to download bitcoin core program my computer are there any security risk I should worry about? I have Ipvanish vpn and also Mcafee install on my computer.   Any suggestions I will appreciate it.


Thank you stay safe out there.

TC777

[LoyceV]

I want to download bitcoin core program my computer are there any security risk I should worry about?

Well, it depends: Assuming you download it from the official source (see News above this topic), you can be pretty sure you're not downloading malware. But the rest of your computer should be clean too.

In general, you shouldn't keep too much funds in a hot wallet (=connected to the internet). So it really depends on what your goal is.
Note that you're looking at a 400 GB download.

[hugeblack]

I want to download bitcoin core program my computer are there any security risk I should worry about? I have Ipvanish vpn and also Mcafee install on my computer.   Any suggestions I will appreciate it.

about security No, you only need to download it from official source and have enough space and time for sync.
Some antiviruses give false reports, so ignore them as long as you download from the official source.

Regarding privacy, Ipvanish vpn is not a good option, you need to install Tor properly for extra privacy.

[NotATether]

VPNs do not ensure the privacy of Bitcoin Core operation as it does not contain any code for understanding VPN protocols. Tor is the only privacy protocol that's implemented in Bitcoin Core source code.

[Regarding McAfee antivirus, it might actually block the Bitcoin Core binary if it trips over the peer-to-peer traffic as a false alarm. So you might want to whitelist the binary.]

[ranochigo]

VPNs do not provide any security, and any VPN in general is not designed for privacy as well, even if Bitcoin Core has code provisions for it. I will not rely on Anti Viruses to determine if a computer is a safe. AntiViruses works on the basis of behavior analysis and heuristics. It may or may not detect any malware present in your machine.

[pooya87]

VPNs do not ensure the privacy of Bitcoin Core operation as it does not contain any code for understanding VPN protocols.

I'm not an expert in this area but VPN has to technically cover all your communications over the internet which means the software you are running (such as bitcoin core) doesn't have to do anything or have any code for it, you just enable your VPN and it takes care of everything.
I have done some small tests by connecting to peers with VPN active and I wasn't leaking anything.

[BlackHatCoiner]

I want to download bitcoin core program my computer are there any security risk I should worry about?

It depends on the computer. Generally, you can ensure the authenticity of the open-source software you're installing by verifying the signature(s) of the developer(s). But, beyond it, it's solely on the programs you've installed, your OS etc.

For Bitcoin Core, you can check the signatures here: https://bitcoincore.org/bin/bitcoin-core-22.0/SHA256SUMS.asc
Here are the contributors' public keys: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/contrib/builder-keys/keys.txt

[ABCbits]

VPNs do not ensure the privacy of Bitcoin Core operation as it does not contain any code for understanding VPN protocols.

I'm not an expert in this area but VPN has to technically cover all your communications over the internet which means the software you are running (such as bitcoin core) doesn't have to do anything or have any code for it, you just enable your VPN and it takes care of everything.
I have done some small tests by connecting to peers with VPN active and I wasn't leaking anything.

Generally it's true, but horrible VPN could leak some of your data (such as DNS request) and protocol (such as WebRTC) could leak your ISP IP address.

[ranochigo]

I'm not an expert in this area but VPN has to technically cover all your communications over the internet which means the software you are running (such as bitcoin core) doesn't have to do anything or have any code for it, you just enable your VPN and it takes care of everything.
I have done some small tests by connecting to peers with VPN active and I wasn't leaking anything.

I can't remember which VPN I was using but one of the client that I've used didn't do a proper routing and my Core client was still listening on my local port. Might be a good idea to just listen=0 or check if Core is listening on the correct interface.

Anyways, VPN isn't for privacy. It merely obfuscates your traffic from your computer to your ISP, but gives the VPN provider everything that they'd need.

[TC777]

I want to thank everyone for the replies, very helpful and good advice.

Now another problem I am experiencing I lost my electricity for 5 minutes on my desktop while downloading bitcoin core transactions but I have the bitcoin core on my external hard drive. I had 4 years left of transactions my question is how to start downloading the rest of the transactions to complete the download?  my screen is black just the cursor flashing on my left corner of the screen when my external drive is plugin  now once I unplug the external drive and plug it back in I can open and see the files but which file to reactivate to finish downloading the transactions.  Or just start all over?  My goal is to be a part of this wonderful bitcoin core I believe in bitcoin 100% this is our future and I want to be part of it.

Again Thank You,

TC777

[QuickAccount]

I would just run tor instead of using a VPN, it cheap and their are plenty of exit nodes. Step two, uninstall McAfee, if your worried about security, McAfee is not the way to go, your data is being harvested every second that you use McAfee. After that, install the Bitcoin core files, and start downloading the blockchain.

Good Luck!

[ranochigo]

I had 4 years left of transactions my question is how to start downloading the rest of the transactions to complete the download?  my screen is black just the cursor flashing on my left corner of the screen when my external drive is plugin  now once I unplug the external drive and plug it back in I can open and see the files but which file to reactivate to finish downloading the transactions.  Or just start all over?  My goal is to be a part of this wonderful bitcoin core I believe in bitcoin 100% this is our future and I want to be part of it.

You should re-launch Bitcoin Core. Bitcoin Core should automatically search for and continue synchronization at the previously selected data directory, if it was specified at start-up. If not, then you can point your Core back at the data directory again as well. If it isn't corrupted, then Core will continue to synchronize, otherwise it will prompt you to restart the synchronization.

[TC777]

I have my bitcoin core up and running! Now I'm able to finish downloading 4 years of transactions to have a full node. Thank you guys for all your suggestions now I can be part of this wonderful team.

Be safe out there.


TC777