Is John Mcafee right that HD are risky?

[kubricktrader]

I want to use some mobile wallets but John Mcafee has said half of phones now have key loggers on them that will grab your 12 word pass phrase that all the latest wallets use. Is it really a big risk?

[jackg]

I want to use some mobile wallets but John Mcafee has said half of phones now have key loggers on them that will grab your 12 word pass phrase that all the latest wallets use. Is it really a big risk?

I don't think it is.

A wallet like electrum won't do this (they use their own keyboard so a key logger would have a difficult time trying to pick up that data).
If you're especially worried, use andreas schildbach's version of bitcoin client on a mobile device as they don't even use seeds that you type in and it takes quite a few steps to try toextract the seed from them (you can't really do it on your phone).

[kubricktrader]

True that can help with keyloggers possibly but John Mcafees says the big risk is also your phone taking screenshots of your phone. Which makes it crazy easy to take your funds if they grab your passphraseq when it pops up.

[okspam]

If you keep your phone unrooted and you use mostly standard apps on it,  I don't think you have to worry about much. Also it would have to be well locked.

There's no way that half of the phones have keyloggers on them.

[Lucius]

I want to use some mobile wallets but John Mcafee has said half of phones now have key loggers on them that will grab your 12 word pass phrase that all the latest wallets use. Is it really a big risk?

Any device that is connected to the Internet is subject to hacking,and that is also the case with smartphones maybe more then our PC.If you ask why answer is simple.,Very low level of security on most smartphones these day,most of them have no any antivirus/firewall protection and they are online most of the time because owners use Viber,Instagram,Facebook etc.There are great opportunities for hacking and John Mcafee he certainly has the right if he warns about it.

For me personally use antivirus on my smarthphone is normally like I use it on my PC,and if I use mobile wallet there should not be big amount of coins in it.We all know where and how to store coins in a safe way.

This news is almost one year old and you can read it here : http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/john-mcafee-mixing-smartphones-bitcoin-will-leave-cryptocurrency-absolute-chaos-1590714

[jackg]

If you keep your phone unrooted and you use mostly standard apps on it,  I don't think you have to worry about much. Also it would have to be well locked.

There's no way that half of the phones have keyloggers on them.

Antivirus can also help with this. Symantec do an app version of Norton which is great and free. It can detect common malware at least (though I use a subscription so maybe mine's more secure).

Even though AV protects against a lot. It's still not 100% secure.

[crairezx20]

I think there is some keyboards and some apps can keylog and screenshot in our phones.. but for safety don't root your phone if ever you are using  wallet in your smart phone.. because there are some hide app can monitor what you are doing and record it without notice if your phone is rooted..
For safety almost use a phone which is new flashed firmware or programmed so that they are far in viruses and malware..
There are new viruses in smart phone and mostly affected are android OS..  and the hard thing in those viruses they can't be easily removed even you formatted your phone to clean your phone you must flashed them with new firmware and deleted the old firmware..
The other altnernative is to use apple OS much more safier than android os..

[Coin-Keeper]

Although not mentioned on this thread so far, your safest way is to use a hardware wallet along with your Android so you have total mobility and ease.  This provides convenience and complete safety since NO phone will ever see the private keys "online".  Its super slick and easy to use BTC on the run and not have to ever worry about malware.

[Intel 4004]

If you keep your phone unrooted and you use mostly standard apps on it,  I don't think you have to worry about much. Also it would have to be well locked.

There's no way that half of the phones have keyloggers on them.

Well... Imho rooted phones give you MORE security than unrooted. You just have to "uncheck" the root ability to apps when doesn't need.

Encrypt, encrypt, encrypt and use Diceware passphrase!

[Coin-Keeper]

That is what I do with all my linux hardware.  If you are not rooted do you really have control?  Obvious answer is NO.  For newer folks though the rooting of an Android is quite over their heads.  The process is also prone to damaging smartphones if you don't take the time needed to process the learning curve.  Most don't and they are good at creating "bricks".  This is why I prefer to send newer folks to a hardware wallet where its totally safe and you can be a "newbie" and secure in a few minutes.  I go a step further I won't trade BTC on a smartphone (even if rooted) without a hardware wallet dongled "in".

[jossiel]

I want to use some mobile wallets but John Mcafee has said half of phones now have key loggers on them that will grab your 12 word pass phrase that all the latest wallets use. Is it really a big risk?

It's possible as long as you are exposing or connecting your smart phones to the web. But you won't be at risk if you'll not gonna click any link that is fishy.

Most of the time we are starting to become a victim of those key loggers when we tried to visit a website that contains malware and other malicious software that we are not aware.

And always be cautious about if there are ads popping on your phone, don't ever click them. Hackers, phishers are now wiser on this thing but we should be wiser.

[philipma1957]

only crazy people have access to serious cash/crypto-coins/cc's on their phones.

You can have a small wallet but no more.

the biggest risk is a guy with a club saying open the wallet and send the coins.