Hardware wallets newbie questions

[neuro-artisan]

Hello, I'm planning to buy a hardware wallet for myself.
I wonder if you need to synchronize your wallet from time to time in order to make sure your cryptocurrencies are not lost or something?
Another thing is - can those wallets break down over time so you won't be able to run them? What then, have you lost all of your cryptos there? Or what if you simply lose your hardware wallet, is there any remotely based recovery option?
Can any kind of malware steal your funds or private key or anything at all?

And what is the best hardware wallet in your opinion and why (compare it to others if you can)?

[Zocadas]

Hi, in Beginners & Help section, there is an awesome thread about wallets and also hardware wallets.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1631151.0
You needn't synchronize, although you want to transfer Bitcoins.
The good hardware wallets are protected against loss when bursting. You get a seed, so you can restore your funds on supported wallets, software or browser extention, depending on the kind of your hardware wallet.
Hardware wallets are mostly also protected against thefts. They are secured with passwords or additional seeds.

[HeRetiK]

Hello, I'm planning to buy a hardware wallet for myself.
I wonder if you need to synchronize your wallet from time to time in order to make sure your cryptocurrencies are not lost or something?
Another thing is - can those wallets break down over time so you won't be able to run them? What then, have you lost all of your cryptos there? Or what if you simply lose your hardware wallet, is there any remotely based recovery option?
Can any kind of malware steal your funds or private key or anything at all?

And what is the best hardware wallet in your opinion and why (compare it to others if you can)?

Both Ledger and Trezor offer a browser-based user interface that is basically a thin-client, so you don't need to synchronize your wallets, the servers of the respective hardware wallet providers will do it for you.

If your hardware wallet breaks down, you can use the wallet seed (ie. the random word list that is used to generate your addresses) to restore either to a new hardware wallet, or a software wallet such as Electrum. This way you can also recover your coins in case you lose your wallet, so always keep a backup of your seed on paper in a separate location.

There are no known vulnerabilities by which malware can steal the private keys of your hardware wallet. Should the paper backup of your wallet seed be stolen however, it is recommended to move your coins. Either way you should have an additional passphrase set just to be sure.

I personally use a Trezor, but Ledger seems to be equally recommendable. Ledger is slightly cheaper and supports different alt coins, both have different GUIs, apart from that I guess it's mostly a matter of personal preference. Both are known to be secure and have a very good reputation.

[MANCRYPTOS]

If you afraid of malwares i think the best for you will be Raspbery PI with Linux OS, in internet there are a lot of guides how to make it works. And i think it`s a cheapest hardware wallet, but you should work with your brain. Easiest way to buy Ledger  - for me it`s the best!

[neuro-artisan]

Thanks for all the replies guys

Also, I've heard that Trezor 2 is coming soon - do you think it's worth waiting?

[eckmar]

Thanks for all the replies guys

Also, I've heard that Trezor 2 is coming soon - do you think it's worth waiting?

They say that Trezor 2 will mainly hold a lot more currencies but based on same security features as Trezor 1. If you only care about Bitcoin you can buy it now, if not wait for 2 and see what it will offer

[TryNinja]

Thanks for all the replies guys

Also, I've heard that Trezor 2 is coming soon - do you think it's worth waiting?

You can read a little bit about the new Trezor 2 in this[1] blog post by the Trezor team and in this article[2].

TL;DR of some features:

1. First of all, the Trezor 2 will come with a full-color touchscreen display, which is quite an interesting decision.
2. Furthermore, the Trezor 2 will include a MicroSD card slot, which can be used for separate data storage or as a way to keep a copy of private keys in an offline manner.
3. Last but not least, the device’s processor will undergo some major changes as well. The biggest changes will occur under the hood.
4. Developers will be able to create custom versions of firmware if they prefer to do so. This sounds quite similar to flashing a custom ROM on an Android phone, which is always at your own risk.
[1] https://blog.trezor.io/trezor-security-beyond-bitcoin-c99f27b18b6b
[2] http://www.bitcoinisle.com/2017/06/12/what-is-the-trezor-2-hardware-wallet/

[revelacaogr]

worth read

Hardware Wallet Vulnerabilities
Karl KrederFollow
Director of Energy at ConsenSys and Cofounder of Gridplus.io Building the future of energy on blockchain


 What is the safest convenient method for handling crypto? The best answer that currently exists seems to be a hardware wallet. The most popular wallets on the market presently are the Trezor and the Ledger Nano S. There are other wallets, such as the KeepKey, but they are essentially variants of the Trezor. I performed a teardown of both the Ledger Nano S and Trezor wallets, and would like to share those teardowns, as well as the high-level takeaways regarding security. This includes my opinion outlining areas where I see large attack surfaces, but I don’t necessarily know of or purport to have a specific exploit. Also, I did not look at any devices without on device screens because of the dramatically increased vulnerability to MIM attacks...........

https://blog.gridplus.io/hardware-wallet-vulnerabilities-f20688361b88

[XXX_BTC1@]

Hello, I'm planning to buy a hardware wallet for myself.
I wonder if you need to synchronize your wallet from time to time in order to make sure your cryptocurrencies are not lost or something?
Another thing is - can those wallets break down over time so you won't be able to run them? What then, have you lost all of your cryptos there? Or what if you simply lose your hardware wallet, is there any remotely based recovery option?
Can any kind of malware steal your funds or private key or anything at all?

And what is the best hardware wallet in your opinion and why (compare it to others if you can)?

every one need to maintain secure so for that reason you have to choose hardware wallet it is good and more secure to your coin. how much technology going to growth like that hackers also improving day by day for that reason we have to maintain more secure. i would like to prefer trezor wallet it is really good for secure. it keep our private keys more secure.so you have to try once trezor wallet it keeps your coin more secure.

[bob123]

Hello, I'm planning to buy a hardware wallet for myself.

Thats a good idea, and probably the most user friendly opportunity to safely store and still use your bitcoins!

I wonder if you need to synchronize your wallet from time to time in order to make sure your cryptocurrencies are not lost or something?

No, you don't have to synchronize your wallet. The application, from which you access your hardware wallet, uses an online service to sync the current
status of your addresses. So basically its always up to date when connected to the internet.

Another thing is - can those wallets break down over time so you won't be able to run them? What then, have you lost all of your cryptos there? Or what if you simply lose your hardware wallet, is there any remotely based recovery option?
Can any kind of malware steal your funds or private key or anything at all?

Theoretically they can break, yes. But at initialisation of your hardware wallet you have to write down a 12 or 24 word phrase from which your determenistic wallet can be
recovered (this 12/24 word phrase recovers all of your created private keys (and therefore the corresponding funds stored in your addresses).

A hardware wallet holds your private keys encrypted and never releases them to pc/outside of hw wallet.
Basically your (to the internet connected) pc creates an unsigned transaction and forwards it to the hardware wallet which signs your transaction and forwards it to your pc
back again. Your pc can therefore be infected and your funds are still safe and noone has access to your private keys.
The most important part is to have your pc clean when initializing your trezor/ledger/... wallet