How strong are hardware wallets

[SadGoodbye]

I read about hardware wallets using the forum search but I still have a question about it, since the wallet is a physical piece of hardware if thrown away or get lost is the assets onboard going to remain safe if the founder know nothing about the key 🔑?

[Charles-Tim]

It depends.

The seed phrase can be revealed (through low cost physical attack) on those hardware wallets that have only microcontroller unit, like Trezor. But on hardware wallets that has secure element, the seed phrase would be hard to know.

If you want to use hardware wallet like Trezor, just use passphrase with the seed phrase. Passphrase make it possible for different keys and addresses to be generated. If the person that get hold of your hardware wallet still know the seed phrases, he can not spend from the wallet because he did not know the passphrase.

But backup your passphrase too, because if lost, your coins are lost, just like you lost your seed phrase.

If your hardware is lost, better to create a paper wallet or another cold wallet and transfer your coins there. After, you can get a new hardware wallet. But using a strong passphrase would help also.

[Upgrade00]

It depends entirely on where it is thrown away, the condition of the environment and the duration for which it is lost. Most hardware wallets would be made of some sort of plastic, and while it can resist a fair amount of damege, if it is exposed to harsh conditions (like rain, storm, degradation etc) for a long period of time, it's safer to assume it is lost.

if the founder know nothing about the key 🔑?

I believe you mean the person who bought the hardware and owns the keys, the founder of the hardware company should ideally not know what your keys or phrases are.
Also, if one does not have backups in safe locations, your bitcoins are not securely stored.

[BitMaxz]

If you talking about the security of the hardware wallet then yes your assets are safe but not 100% because if you lose your hardware and someone found it there is still possibility the he/she can able to open it and try to brute-force your wallet if it's encrypted.

Or if you were talking about if the wallet has an online database about your hardware keys then they don't have control of your private keys it means it's safe that no one will take control of your private keys except you if you still have the backup seed phrase.

[jackg]

I think the pin you use for a hardware wallet is normally stored in a hashed form on the device so it's possible that that could be bruteforced (especially if it's only 6 numbers long pin with trezor, even if the hashed pin isn't stored).

This is what makes the passphrase significant with hardware wallets as when the device is lost, the passphrase isn't stored on the device and no version of it should be so an attacker wouldn't be able to gain access to your wallet that was generated by that phrase (unless they managed to guess it which is much harder to do if you generate one well).

[Crypt0Gore]

My advice is, don't lost your hardware wallet, do not feel too relaxed that even if your hardware wallet is lost your asset is safe, I have see video on YouTube where hacker hacked a hardware wallet for a owner that forgets his keys and it was successful. Do not lose your wallet.

[Stalker22]

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if thrown away or get lost is the assets onboard going to remain safe if the founder know nothing about the key 🔑?

It depends on the hardware wallet. In some cases, it is possible to hack a hardware wallet if there is physical access to it. There are also hardware wallets that cannot be hacked easily, even with physical access.

If you lost your hardware wallet and do not know where it ended up, you should consider it compromised. If this happens, use your backup seed phrase to immediately move all funds to the new wallet.

[5W-KILO]

Hardware wallets are not built in such a way that they are hack proof, you need go keep your seed phrase safe just like when using a hot wallet, also be careful commenting to a virus infected PC, see the danger is still present.

[ajiz138]

Go to this Thread maybe you will find the answer - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5364418.0

Like the image shown below you will see some useful threads for you to know about hardware wallets.

[348Judah]

since the wallet is a physical piece of hardware if thrown away or get lost is the assets onboard going to remain safe if the founder know nothing about the key 🔑?

Lost the key and lost your coin forever even nothing is happening about the coin bit you're inaccessible to get hold of the coins, the founder has no access tobit either untill he got the passphrase to accessing the wallet onbthe blockchain because the coins aren't stored on the physical wallet materials we see, the hardware is just a means to connect us to the access needed to the blockchain through the keys in it.

[Agbe]

I read about hardware wallets using the forum search but I still have a question about it, since the wallet is a physical piece of hardware if thrown away or get lost is the assets onboard going to remain safe if the founder know nothing about the key 🔑?

Yes it would be safe on the hardware but it would be very dangerous for you if someone found it and probably the founder is a crypto expert mostly on bitcoin. then your bitcoin is gone. A found a wallet on beach and the solution to deal the bitcoin found in the wallet was given by different bitcoiners. I found a paper wallet on a beach ... seriously
But if the founder is illiterate about bitcoin and know nothing about the found wallet. As for me that is were the main problem lie in, he might decide to erase it and use to write another things or giving it to children to play but if the founder knows about bitcoin and he is a good person you might get back your wallet with the coin inside intact. Advice, do not move with your wallet, keep your wallet in the house and in safe hidden place that nobody can see in the house. Moving around with wallet is very much dangerous.

[Cookdata]

I read about hardware wallets using the forum search but I still have a question about it, since the wallet is a physical piece of hardware if thrown away or get lost is the assets onboard going to remain safe if the founder know nothing about the key 🔑?

Do you know how Hardware works? Having a Hardware wallet is because you want to keep your coins offline, you want them to remain that way until you are ready to spend them and at the very launch of anyone you bought, a unique seed phrase will be provided for you which you must keep safe for the future purpose just the way you are asking now if it ever gets lost or stolen by anyone. You should also add an extension of the passphrase so that no one will have access to your coins should incase your seed phrase or recovery phrase becomes compromised.

As long as you follow tips and instructions, you will remain safe with your hardware wallet, you should be also careful of the type of hardware you want to use, don't buy from merchants, order directly from the company and make sure that it is well sealed.

[suzanne5223]

The founder of the hardware wallet knows nothing about your wallet seed phrase. Every hardware wallet is vulnerable to physical attack but Ledger wallet claim they have the needed highest level of security to withstand both physical and software attacks and it will be nice if we can see someone from the crypto community to confirm if this actually true.
Meanwhile to prevent a physical attack is better to encrypt the wallet

If you talking about the security of the hardware wallet then yes your assets are safe but not 100% because if you lose your hardware and someone found it there is still possibility the he/she can able to open it and try to brute-force your wallet if it's encrypted.

if it's encrypted or not encrypted

[taufik123]

-snip-
As long as you follow tips and instructions, you will remain safe with your hardware wallet, you should be also careful of the type of hardware you want to use, don't buy from merchants, order directly from the company and make sure that it is well sealed.

Each hardware wallet already provides complete instructions that can be learned about the security that is applied it will work if the user also understands how to use it, because if there is a loss of assets or damage to the device it is purely the user's fault.

And for purchasing hardware wallets, it is safer to buy directly on the official website, such as the official order website for safepal wallets and Ledger Wallet. a few months ago I bought directly on the official safepal wallet website with free shipping and the arrival was indeed quite long, but it is highly recommended rather than buying in a marketplace that is already in the hands of a third person. Instead of wanting safe assets, they become targets for used hardware wallet scams.

[Lucius]

The founder of the hardware wallet knows nothing about your wallet seed phrase.

We assume that this is a fact, although we can never claim it with 100% certainty, especially not for those hardware wallets that are not completely open source.

Every hardware wallet is vulnerable to physical attack but Ledger wallet claim they have the needed highest level of security to withstand both physical and software attacks and it will be nice if we can see someone from the crypto community to confirm if this actually true.

As far as I know there is currently no physical attack that could be successfully performed on Ledger (S, X, S Plus) although they have existed in the past - but that doesn't mean that there isn't one that hasn't been made public, or that there isn't one which has not yet been discovered. Trezor, on the other hand, has a vulnerability that cannot be repaired with a firmware upgrade, and the seed can be extracted relatively easily and cheaply if someone comes into possession of your hardware wallet, and you have not protected it with a passphrase.

Meanwhile to prevent a physical attack is better to encrypt the wallet

The only additional security that the user can additionally set is the passphrase mentioned above, and there is no other way (that I know of) to encrypt the hardware wallet. The only thing you can do is store it safely away from the reach of anyone with bad intentions.