██ Tutorial: How to keep your Bitcoins 100% secure! ██

[needFREElunch]

Would you people consider the block chain wallet secure because that is what I recommend to most people who are new to bitcoin because it is super easy.

I`d say all online wallets have moderate security. Sure they can be hacked, or some keylogger reads your password while your write it in, or your government is suspicious about you and all it takes is a court order to empty your online wallet, and you can do nothing about it, as the wallet will comply with the authorities.

So I personally would never store more than 1 BTC on online wallets. Sure they are good for quick-access spending wallets if you want to shop stuff or buy things with bitcoin, and you need quick access to funds (because using the offline funds needs more carefulness), then go ahead.

However if you want to store your retirement fund or your savings, then definitely dont trust them. I don't care if angels run the wallet service, you can never trust a 3rd party with 100% confidence, especially not for funds > 1m$.

Just look how responsibly banks handle the funds:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/banco-de-madrid-files-for-bankruptcy-after-parent-accused-of-money-laundering-1426495127

Ok thanks I will keep recommending it to my friends.

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[GreenStox]

Ok thanks I will keep recommending it to my friends.

Sure, since so many newbies dont know how to secure their funds well, we need to help them keep their money safely.

I just saw another minor exchange got hacked and hacker stole some funds, so its hard to keep your money secure but it's possible!

[GreenStox]

There is 1 vulnerability though, there are malwares that can infiltrate themselves inside the nonpartitioned sector of the USB stick..

So if they are hidden well enough them they could copy themselves into the offline PC, steal the private keys, copy back on online PC and then broadcast it to the hacker

I`ll find a solution for this, stay tuned

[memai]

Your tutorial is great ! I sincere thanks for your post. I will mark this page to learn it carefully

[GreenStox]

Your tutorial is great ! I sincere thanks for your post. I will mark this page to learn it carefully

Sure, study it carefully and if you find a vulnerability in my tutorial please tell. This is the exact methodology that I too follow, so if there is 1 vulnerability I risk my coins also by using this tutorial, so it's better if we all study it and see if we missed anything, because it's better to be paranoid and careful with our coins, than to learn it through the hard way

I would definitely add malwarebytes to whatever antivirus you might recommend. Other than that nice guide

I studied malwarebytes and indeed its a good one. It picked up malware on my Pc that Kaspersky didnt saw, so I added it to the list.

It's a free trial that I have and it's already doing wonders. So definitely recommend Malwarebytes too.

So i added it into the tutorial

[roadbits]

good guide OP appreciated!

[notalin]

Though I have learned about how to keep bitcoin for safety but I am not sure I have done it right

[GreenStox]

Though I have learned about how to keep bitcoin for safety but I am not sure I have done it right

If you are not sure about your coins are safe or not, then create a safe cold storage and transfer your coins there, because your current storage could be compromized and let's just not risk that. Better to do some extra work to make it secure than to find out the hard way isnt it...?

[GreenStox]

There is 1 vulnerability though, there are malwares that can infiltrate themselves inside the nonpartitioned sector of the USB stick..

So if they are hidden well enough them they could copy themselves into the offline PC, steal the private keys, copy back on online PC and then broadcast it to the hacker

I`ll find a solution for this, stay tuned

Alright I found a solution to this one, I searched hours on the internet to find out how to make sure that the VOLUME BOOT RECORD or the USB stick is clean.

Ok the USB stick has basically 2 sectors, the main sector which is partitioned, so there you can put files which you transfer from 1 PC to the other, (and if the hidden files & folders are shown) then you dont have to worry about a virus copying itself to the USB stick because you see it.
And when you put the unsigned transaction file, make sure that only that single file is on the USB and nothing else, because everything else could be a virus.

However there is a hidden sector in the USB stick which is called the VOLUME BOOT RECORD which contains firmware settings and it's usually 4kb size, but advanced viruses can hide here, obviously 4kb is not enough for a sophisticaded virus, so if you see that this unpartitioned sector is like 20-30 mb size, then its 100% that you have a VBR virus on it, which could steal the private keys and infect the offline PC.

As you can see my USB stick is 100% clean!


So to avoid this I put together the last phase to make sure nothing else sneaks out of the offline PC, and even if it infects the offline PC it can never sneak outside it and broadcast the private keys to the hacker.

So let's start:

HOW TO ELIMINATE ALL VIRUSES AND MALWARE FROM THE USB STICK (Windows)

0) Plug in the USB stick in the offline PC, where your bitcoin's are stored and follow the next tutorial, to clean up the USB before putting stuff on it, and connecting back to the ONLINE PC, so that even if it has a virus on it, it cannot send back any info to the ONLINE PC!
1) Open the start menu and write in the search "CMD" without quotes,( right click on it and "Run as Administrator" if needed).
2) In CMD write the following: "DISKPART" without quotes, and open the disk partitioning tool
3) You can now close CMD, we will work in dispartition tool now
4) Type in "LIST DISK", without quotes
5) Open the start menu again and write "disk management", and open "Create and format hard disk partitions"
6) See there which disk number your USB stick is, for me Disk 0 is my harddisk and Disk 1 is my USB stick, see for you which one is it, and remember the # number of the Disk.
7) Go back to the disk partitioning tool and you see there also the same thing
8] Type in "SELECT DISK #" ,no quotes, replace the # with your disk number of the USB stick, so for me its Disk 1, so I write "SELECT DISK 1", you write your own number there. Make sure you select the USB stick and not the HARD DISK, because otherwise you can mess up your windows!!!!
9) Type in "CLEAN" , no quotes, this will replace the VBR with 0 like the factory version had so any virus that was in there is now dead, this process could take a while, so wait until its finished
10) Type in "CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY", no quotes
11) Type in "SELECT PARTITION 1",no quotes, this is 1 for everybody so dont replace that number
12) Type in "FORMAT FS=FAT32"  or  "FORMAT FS=NTFS" ,no quotes,depending on what the USB stick can support, my USB can only support FAT32, so if you write the NTFS version and it returns an error at the end, then do it again with FAT32 because your USB doesnt support NTFS then. This process could take like 30 minutes but you must do this every time the USB stick is plugged in the offline PC to make sure no virus can steal your private keys.
13) Type in "ASSIGN" , no quotes
14) Type in "EXIT"

Now if you did this correctly, your USB stick is 100% clean from any virus. You must do this process every time your USB stick plugs into the OFFLINE PC, to make sure even if there is a virus on it, to not get out with your private keys, so it's a very important part!

 

[goldkey0070]

Nice Job  This is very easy to read

[GreenStox]

Nice Job  This is very easy to read

Thanks, because my tutorial is a little bit too stretched out in this forum, although its perfectly correct, but its disorganized and hard to read.

I`ll make a FREE E-book where i`ll sum it up and make it more organized, so it will be easier to read and study even offline, because obviously this forum needs online internet access.

So stay tuned until i`ll write my FREE e-book ,which will be FREE TO DOWNLOAD!

Enjoy my hard work, this is my contribution to the bitcoin community

[GreenStox]

Alright I finished my e-book, its 100% free to download and distribute, however I would appreciate some donations since I put hard work into writing this (you will find a donation address at the last page of the e-book). It's basically the same thing as in post #1 , but more detailed, with pictures and more organized, as it's hard to explain everything in a forum in detail.

So here is your FREE e-book about how to protect your bitcoin with 100% security (i`ll post this link into post #1 aswell):

DOWNLOAD HERE FOR FREE!

[Enzyme]

Thanks for taking the time to write this.

We are however, not sure that your program doesn't have any hidden malware.
Blockchain.info may be used to monitor addresses.

[vishwaratna]

1. using a hardware wallet such as TREZOR that has basically two functions - it keeps your bitcoins in an offline storage and when connected to a computer, it enables a highly secure way of spending as well (immune to viruses, hackers and keyloggers).

2. creating an offline cold storage which is useful for storing bitcoins, but has its limitations and security risks when you decide to spend the coins

This guide will instruct you on how to create an offline wallet, a wallet that never even touches the internet in its plaintext form. This security measure is also referred to as being an air gap. For all practical purposes, this wallet is safe from all online threats, such as viruses and hackers. It is however still exposed to offline threats, such as hardware keyloggers, extortion, or people looking over your shoulder.

The below procedure may seem tedious, but remember that security almost always comes at the cost of convenience. When you deposit money at a bank, you let them worry about security. Bitcoins, however, are stored on your computer and that means you are fully responsible for securing them.
How to Deposit Funds

    Set up a Wuala account, or other cloud backup service of your choice.
    Create a strong and unique password offline (manually). This password should be at least 20 characters long; it should contain numbers, upper and lower case letters, and symbols. It should be as random as possible, ie it should look something like this: Zr%8qL03&cvwS9@05AatdP71. Never use this password elsewhere.
    Do not forget this password. Recite it several times a day. It is easy to overestimate your ability to remember a password several months in the future. To be on the safe side, write it down and store the piece of paper in a safe deposit box.
    Download Bitcoin Linux binary and save it on a USB drive.
    Shut down your computer, and boot Ubuntu (or Linux distribution of you choice) from a liveCD. This will not affect your current operating system.
    Disconnect machine from the internet. Unplug any network cables and disable wireless. Verify that wireless is disabled in the icon on the upper right corner (Ubuntu). Double check that machine is disconnected by opening the web browser.
    Run bitcoin while disconnected to the internet. The client will show 0 connections and 0 blocks, but it will still generate a wallet.dat file and a bitcoin address.
    Encrypt your wallet using the strong and unique password from step 2 above. (Bitcoin Client > Settings > Encrypt wallet)
    Copy wallet.dat (found in hidden folder .bitcoin in your home directory) to USB drive.
    Save bitcoin address to a text file and copy it to USB drive.
    Shut down system and turn off computer. Before switching your computer on again, remove all power sources for about 1 minute. Physically remove battery from laptop.
    Backup encrypted wallet.dat file in several places:
        Send it to your 5 best friends by email attachment and ask them to save it for you.
        Save it on your Wuala account created in step 1.
        Save it on several USB drives and CDs and store them in different geographic locations.
    Send bitcoins to the address saved on the USB drive. Double check in the block explorer that they have been sent or you can add Watch Bitcoin Address in BlockChain Wallet.

How to Retrieve Funds

    Boot from Ubuntu liveCD, as in step 5 above.
    Insert USB drive.
    Run bitcoin client and close it again.
    Replace wallet.dat in ~/.bitcoin directory with wallet.dat from USB drive.
    Connect to the internet.
    Restart bitcoin client.
    Wait for blocks to download (optional).
    Send bitcoins.

How to Setup Watch Bitcoin Address

Watch Bitcoin address is a way for you to check your cold storage balance online without exposing your private key.

    Create an wallet account at https://blockchain.info/wallet/
    Go to import/export.
    At "Add Watch Only Bitcoin Address", add your bitcoin address.
    Wait for the balance to synch.
    You can also download the mobile version at Google Play, Apple Store

[GreenStox]

Thanks for taking the time to write this.

We are however, not sure that your program doesn't have any hidden malware.
Blockchain.info may be used to monitor addresses.

Indeed, but my program will always rest on the online PC and never get it touch with the Offline PC, if you read carefully the tutorial you will see that nothing will penetrate and coult extract data from the Offline PC, unless people are negligent and forgot to format their USB sticks.

Also my software is not it any form , nor it has to be , trusted than any other app that you have on your online PC. Besides my software used the Blockchain.info API too, it's just that it aggregates the data.

Instead of checking every single address on Blockchain.info separately, you can use my software and check the entire wallet automatically by inputting the addresses, which will be stored in a file. Also the software refreshes it every 20 seconds so it updates automatically.

It's a tool for lazy people.

Thanks for taking the time to write this.

Any donation is appreciated

[GreenStox]

Anyone would like to comment or give a feedback about this tutorial or the e-book? It would be really nice since I want to see if it helped you secure your bitcoins

Also if you would like change anything in the methodology of the tutorial feel free to comment it, it's not a perfect guide so maybe I missed something.

[Vandroid]

Serioussly this really good guide for newbie in bitcoin 
But if you want to really secure as possible you can buy a cheap laptop that and make it just for bitcoin wallet , if the wear on the computer that you often play could have been attacked by a virus and lose all bitcoin.

[gkv9]

Your tutorial is good for people who give some time here, as you need to be a bit more lenient I feel as not everyone who hops here is a tech geek and so, a bit easy language should be used, even if gets a bit more detailed then that would be awesome...

[Totaldice]

Thanks a lot OP, helped me out a ton.

[defcon23]

Nice writeup.  Here's a very simple one

1) Go here: https://www.buytrezor.com (you can pay with BTC)
OR
1) Go here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00R6MRI50 or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00R6LSAZI to purchase from one of our community members (windpath).  If you're Amazon Prime, free 2 day shipping.
2) Wait for it to arrive
3) Set it up
4) Safe and secure

+ 1 !  easy and efficient