HOWTO: create a 100% secure wallet

[speedracerrick69]

   Good info to know, I really need to actually learn EVERYTHING. I need to make a wallet, get coins, and spend em quick...(back problems)

[nexus]

Thanks

[cinos11]

I just use truecrypt, and have a savings+spending wallet.

[motivx]

Good idea. Thanks for advice.

[kidage]

Good idea, but I prefer my way.

[DataDiscretion]

Hi Everyone,

Security seems to be a bit of a problem for Windows users- we have an existing product that is easily adaptable for this use!

We have come up with a solution using our ‘DiscreetKey’ product – all it requires is an additional download on your part.
Here’s how it would work after the initial set up:

•   Insert your DiscreetKey into your computer (via the USB port)
•   A padlock icon will appear on your screen
•   Simple drop the wallet file onto the padlock icon
•   Your wallet is now encrypted and the BitCoin application starts.

You can now use the BitCoin program as usual. When you exit the program your wallet is automatically re-encrypted. The wallet file encryption is highly secure (256 Bit AES with one-time password) and can be backed up (via e-mail, cloud computing services, etc.).

We expect the final product will cost around 3 BitCoins – this includes the physical DiscreetKey and KeyMaker as described on our website http://datadiscretion.com/products/discreetkey

What do you think?

We would appreciate any ideas!

[anden12]

I just wish I had done this a little earlier..

[AlanC]

Great info thanks.

[botlove]

What would be interesting is if anybody has a peer reviewed paper of a competitive crypto currency that has various improvements... Personally, I'd like to see a method to eliminate the initial 'gold rush' to reduce valuation volatility in the beginning phase.... and a method for automatic backups of wallets between peers with some kind of strong of encryption of the primary private key using a passphrase.  Maybe there would be a time-to-live set for the backup copy on any given peer, like 2 hours, and then the backup would roll to a new random peer and get purged from the original peer with a handoff transaction record stored in those peers involved, the log would live for a set time, like 3 weeks...  Then a way to poll the network for a count of available copies of backup keys, where certain nodes could delete a few backups if extra nodes respond, request creation of more backups if the count is getting low... blah blah... I don't know... seems like the currency might be better if people could trust that their money won't get erased when their hard drive goes bad without having to trust any one person with their key, and the rolling backup might allow a mechanism to track down anybody dedicated enough to crack a passphrase. Also, I'm not sure what method exists to prevent a node from a DoS attack on all peers, but hopefully the system is/could be really good at identifying malicious activity and temporarily banning the IP address used at the source.

Anyhow, I don't know what the heck I'm talking about, so I'm here to learn and BS until I figure out answers to these questions.

But this is something I'm pretty sure is an easily fixed problem that might be worthwhile for a non-newbie to post on the forums...  Why isn't there really good password complexity requirement so that the wallet.dat file could be stored on your hard drive in a safer manner?  When I typed a password into the system after installing BitCoin, I wasn't required to enter a very complex password. People hate the need to create a really complex password, but without FORCING people to do so, there will inevitably be a little devaluation of the system.  Again, maybe I just don't know what I'm talking about, so I will shut up now. =)

[PandaMiner]

What do you think?

We would appreciate any ideas!

It's a novel idea.

[Dansko]

This is not 100% safe. Probably 99%. You forget about the BIOS,MBR and Viruses that can Infect your Graphics Bios. These will Infect your CD/USB distro after reboot.

[Jezzz]

Nice tip

[Nobu]

This is not 100% safe. Probably 99%. You forget about the BIOS,MBR and Viruses that can Infect your Graphics Bios. These will Infect your CD/USB distro after reboot.

If you're worried about those writing to your sd-card, then you can set it to read-only when you don't need to write to it. If you're worried about it reading data on the card...any virus could do that already (so if you're infected, you're SOL). If you have one of those on your computer, then you're in pretty bad shape already and I don't know how to help you. 

[mvoss]

I downloaded BitCoin and installed the program, and it shows up in my C;/Program Files, but no where in there is a wallet.dat file. Does anyone know why?

[gromit1977]

thanks for this i am new and security IS needed

[owowo]

I always thought there is nothing 100% secure, but death and taxes,... ;o)

[Leon]

Thanks for the tip!

[edge06]

Thanks for posting this!

[petemole83]

I downloaded BitCoin and installed the program, and it shows up in my C;/Program Files, but no where in there is a wallet.dat file. Does anyone know why?

Look in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin

Note: the AppData folder is hidden, you'll have to edit folder options to see it.

[mvoss]

wow, thanks. SEE?!?! I am a total newbie. Hope to change that soon. Got the mining working, buying a "middle-of-the-road" quality 6870 video card tomorrow. THANX for the info!