Bitcoin Wallet Vulnerability

[NyeFe]

If you go to blockchain.info I'm sure you will find wallets with $4,000,000 - $50,000,00+ inside them, where varying large quantities would have been spent over time.

Feel free to post your wallet address online,  it's called a public key for a reason,   please read this It is mathematically improbable, intellectually ignorant, and economically unviable, to even attempt to compute a private key from any give public key in this century, and hopefully the next.

Some people did mention keyloggers, which I would say,  is a good point if you did manage to get infected by anything that would be interested in Bitcoins,  so yes, I'm sure you're wise enough to have any of these free Antivirus tools installed (if you're a Windows user).

Some of the worst advice I've heard.
1) it's indeed improbable that someone can compute the private key from a public key
2) it's entirely probably that you will be targeted by criminal elements if they know you have a large stash
 2a) The cost of spamming you trying to get some malicious code on your system is minor.
 2b) The cost of social engineering you is pretty minor.
 2c) If you're entirely oblivious about privacy the cost of showing up at your place with a tire iron and beating the crap out of you until you open you stash is minor.

Depending on your environment the risk will vary. In Switzerland it may be alright to flaunt your stash. In Syria I would suggest being a bit more careful. As stated before; if you wouldn't flaunt the stack of gold bars you keep at your place then you probably shouldn't flaunt your bitcoin stash either.

As an added note; Anti-virus increases attack surface. Good luck with your free anti-virus applications.

Tbh this thread is a joke. So you think that if he posts his Bitcoin address online someone will show up at his house and kill him for it?  Well okay, thanks for the advice.

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[ABitNut]

So you think that if he posts his Bitcoin address online someone will show up at his house and kill him for it?  Well okay, thanks for the advice.

If they know there's a big pay off? Yes, criminals will use that information.

[shorena]

So you think that if he posts his Bitcoin address online someone will show up at his house and kill him for it?  Well okay, thanks for the advice.

If they know there's a big pay off? Yes, criminals will use that information.

Exactly. Your setup might not be secure, it might just be that no one bothered to try and break it. The larger the amount of BTC you knowingly own the higher the chance that you get targeted.

Beeing trageted must not mean that someone comes to your door and try a wrench decryption[1]. It can mean a variety of things, but overall its not bad advice to

#1 dont keep all your coins on a single address (or even wallet)
#2 dont tell the world how much you own

[1] https://www.xkcd.com/538/

[kakaron]

Users like us should be very cautious to choose which bitcoin platform we are gonna have. Reputable bitcoin startups such as BitPay, ANX, and OKcoin are suggested to have.

I have never heard OKcoin, but I was told a little about BitPay and ANX, they are nice~

I'm a ANX new user, could you mind to tell me more about ANX?

[airezx20]

Also try to use kaspersky total security so that you are in safe browsing.. just accept the addons if you are using online wallet kaspersky detects it like block chain the are just login kaspersky will automatically appears the safe browser from kaspersky..  i never had a problem using kaspersky because its very secured.. also if you just want to transfer your bitcoin to other wallet make sure you use the bitmixer so that they cant track your transaction..

[GKE]

Users like us should be very cautious to choose which bitcoin platform we are gonna have. Reputable bitcoin startups such as BitPay, ANX, and OKcoin are suggested to have.

I have never heard OKcoin, but I was told a little about BitPay and ANX, they are nice~

I'm a ANX new user, could you mind to tell me more about ANX?

I think this website can give you some help. http://www.anxintl.com/

[Boosterious]

If you have lots of coins in your online bitcoin wallet,will posting that address in public like forums,facebook etc make it more vulnerable to hacking?
1.Should such addresses be kept secret as much as possible to keep them away from hackers eye?
2.If kept secret,is there a way for others to know how many wallet addresses holds big amount if bitcoins?

its not to be worry if you share your bitcoin address,its will be fine for your wallet.
1. its really hard to just use address and your wallet public key o hack your wallet,online wallet have good security and if you put 2FA,its better.
2. its hard to know how amount of bitcoin in your wallet if you dont share bitcoin address.

[2c0de]

If your coins are held in an online wallet, they are vulnerable to confiscation anyway.
Thus, if coins are online, it is good to keep the address somewhat private.

But in general, it is ok to hold addresses public.

[Jasad]

If you have lots of coins in your online bitcoin wallet,will posting that address in public like forums,facebook etc make it more vulnerable to hacking?
1.Should such addresses be kept secret as much as possible to keep them away from hackers eye?
2.If kept secret,is there a way for others to know how many wallet addresses holds big amount if bitcoins?

posting address in public media will not give you more chance to lost your bitcoin,you should know that hacking bitcoin wallet is not easy for hacker,the only way to hack your wallet is by give you phising email and links,and then you donwload some application or login.

[kakaron]

Users like us should be very cautious to choose which bitcoin platform we are gonna have. Reputable bitcoin startups such as BitPay, ANX, and OKcoin are suggested to have.

I have never heard OKcoin, but I was told a little about BitPay and ANX, they are nice~

I'm a ANX new user, could you mind to tell me more about ANX?

I think this website can give you some help. http://www.anxintl.com/

so good, how do i turn this service on?

[Yakamoto]

Bitcoin wallets are only as vulnerable as you make them, if you keep them on an offline storage device and keep the private key and any other data erased from any other PC and in a relatively inaccessible place, then you have a very, very secure wallet. A Bitcoin wallet itself is already quite secure, but any way someone can access it is a vulnerability point.

[justspare]

I keep all my money in my ledger wallet except for when I get paid by my signature campaign. I leave that money in my Coinbase wallet for a day or two before moving it to my ledger wallet.

[justspare]

So you think that if he posts his Bitcoin address online someone will show up at his house and kill him for it?  Well okay, thanks for the advice.

If they know there's a big pay off? Yes, criminals will use that information.

That is exactly why I don't use social media. Because then criminals would target me. That is definitely the reason, not like it's a waste of time or something.

[pooya87]

So you think that if he posts his Bitcoin address online someone will show up at his house and kill him for it?  Well okay, thanks for the advice.

If they know there's a big pay off? [u r l=http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Do+criminals+use+social+media+to+find+targets%3F]Yes, criminals will use that information[/url].

That is exactly why I don't use social media. Because then criminals would target me. That is definitely the reason, not like it's a waste of time or something.

it will all come down to two important factors, how anonymous are you and how careful are you about security.
for example if you are protecting your privacy online and don't associate your bitcoin address and balance with your real identity publicly then there is no fear.
and also for security, you should use cold storage and have protections like antivirus and never click on unknown links

[katrimans]

Wallet is safe i guess

[katrimans]

Bitcoins Coinbase is best

[Doms]

As with everything that has value, there's always some kind of risks associated with storing it. Be it physical money, digital currency or something, there should be ways in which you could minimize risks by putting necessary security measures in place.

[Viyamore]

Its vulnerability is safe just like what others said , i think because our transactions are anonymously ,unless our bitcoin wallet address
Is shared that's not a safe way .it will be safe depends on our handling just keep secret like alias on wallets, our vulnerability will be safe in that way.

[ranochigo]

If you have lots of coins in your online bitcoin wallet,will posting that address in public like forums,facebook etc make it more vulnerable to hacking?
1.Should such addresses be kept secret as much as possible to keep them away from hackers eye?
2.If kept secret,is there a way for others to know how many wallet addresses holds big amount if bitcoins?

1. No addresses are relatively secure as of now and there is no way for anyone to guess the private key unless the RNG used is weak. If the RNG is weak, the address would probably be emptied by then. The only compromise here is the privacy since it ties the address to a specific person.
2. Blockchain is public so users would be able to see the balance in the address. You can, however, spread it out over various address while taking note not to spend-link to send directly to the different addresses.

If you have lots of coins in your online bitcoin wallet,will posting that address in public like forums,facebook etc make it more vulnerable to hacking?
1.Should such addresses be kept secret as much as possible to keep them away from hackers eye?
2.If kept secret,is there a way for others to know how many wallet addresses holds big amount if bitcoins?

If you have lots of coins in your online bitcoin wallet,will posting that address in public like forums,facebook etc make it more vulnerable to hacking?: Yes, just as posting pictures of a stack of gold or a box of diamonds will increase your odds of getting robbed. You are essentially making yourself a target. Someone could want to hack you now who previously wouldn't have known.

1.It depends on your privacy and storage techniques but usually YES

2.They will still be on the blockchain so technically yes.

Nice,  okay. Could you please explain how posting a public key would increase its vulnerability? -  have you got an unknown method of spawning a private key from a public key?

Why bother...

No it want increase its risk of getting stolen. You need to worry more about the trust between you and your wallet provider. No online wallet is hack proof, but levels of mitigating attacks do vary depending on your provider. Right now, blockchain.info is the only 99% provider that I've seen. They if I remember correctly,  they give you the KEKey (key encryption key)

If you're using P2PKH addresses, you're fine if you don't reuse address. If you use P2PK hash, you might be vulnerable to quantum attacks even if you did not spend the coins from the address before. However, this isn't a valid concern since quantum technology is quite sometime away before it can crack public keys.

[Rizky Aditya]

If you have lots of coins in your online bitcoin wallet,will posting that address in public like forums,facebook etc make it more vulnerable to hacking?
1.Should such addresses be kept secret as much as possible to keep them away from hackers eye?
2.If kept secret,is there a way for others to know how many wallet addresses holds big amount if bitcoins?

If you have lots of coins in your online bitcoin wallet,will posting that address in public like forums,facebook etc make it more vulnerable to hacking?: Yes, just as posting pictures of a stack of gold or a box of diamonds will increase your odds of getting robbed. You are essentially making yourself a target. Someone could want to hack you now who previously wouldn't have known.

1.It depends on your privacy and storage techniques but usually YES

2.They will still be on the blockchain so technically yes.

Those are very valid points but I doubt someone would stalk you to get your Bitcoin address so that they could hack you. It doesn't really make you more vulnerable to hacking.