Trust No One

[Richy_T]

These sounds abit strange however I think its not hard to know a would be ripper /scammer they some how show their "colours"

Half the people scammers scam are just dumb, the other half think they're too smart to be scammed...

[TheLQ]

Yay miner with encrypted hard drive and a wallet I only access in Linux (also encrypted)

[zxyzxy]

These sounds abit strange however I think its not hard to know a would be ripper /scammer they some how show their "colours"

you know, if something sounds too good to be true, it usually isnt.. but some people..

[simmja]

the crazy issue about trusting no one is if you dont trust any one basically your dead .. so instead of not trusting any one use your instint

[scapa14]

good thread, thanks

[dance4x]

you can always use escrow if you need it...

[CoolHandLuk3]

escrow is where it's at

[tjohej]

virtual machines for software you don't trust, though then you have to trust the virtual machine. I recommend the virtual machine to be free libre and open source. Though that won't be enough to trust it. Maybe you will need the developers or distributors public key. If you got a distro like Ubuntu it's in their software center so then your distro already have the relevant keys. Then just make sure that you trust that you got an "exact copy" of Ubuntu that everybody else got.
Do a checksum check, maybe download it through https? What else can I do?

[tjohej]

I just remember one thing. Usually the bitcoins can be found in the .bitcoin folder. I think that may become a problem as malicious programs may want to steal my wallet. I really don't have a solution to this yet...

If I use another program it may be stored somewhere else. I would like to have an option to select manually where my bitcoin settings folder is so that malware can't use that technique to find my bitcoin settings folder. Any other way?

Otherwise I'll have to trust ALL software on my computer to not try stealing my wallet in my .bitcoin/.multibit folders. I'll be forced to use the encryption feature in Bitcoin then and I am also forced to make up and remember a passphrase. Argh.

It is open source so you may modify it how you wish.

However, if the main client was modified to make the wallet location definable or random, it would have to somehow store that location so it could find the wallet again and any mal-ware would easily be able to find and use that information.

hmm, if it was portable like portableapps? Some programs are portable even if they are not part of portableapps. I remember some program that if you dropped a text file called "settings.txt" in the program folder it immediately started storing settings in the same folder. That would then make it portable and you could move it to your usb stick or other place. Yes the malware can try to search for bitcoins on a usb stick...

[fido]

This is why you should only use services like exchanges or instawallets for temporary holding of small amounts of BTC.  Larger amounts should always be in an offline wallet (cold storage).

[snoodles]

It wont be long before we get Nigerian princes asking us to hold thousands of bitcoin for them.

[chmod]

you can always use escrow if you need it...

Escrow just transfers trust to whoever runs the escrow system.

[mightycount]

... TL;DR ...
2. Encrypt that wallet with the maximum security you can find, using the most secure password you can keep track of
... TL;DR ...

2.1 Write down your password on a piece of paper and deposit it in the bank safe vault. Next to your life insurance, you know.

BTW, I like your avatar. I seen it before somewhere, do you play chess?

[SimpleMan]

great info thanks

[burnedcelery]

2. Encrypt that wallet with the maximum security you can find, using the most secure password you can keep track of
3. Delete the plaintext wallet, and distribute the encrypted wallet to every piece of physical media you own, store it online, and send it to several people you trust

I haven't seen this mentioned in this thread yet. I've encrypted my wallet in bitcoin-qt, but I assumed it replaced the unencrypted one itself in a secure way.

Is there some other file beside wallet.dat I should be concerned about? Should I be shredding my disk's free space, to eliminate traces of the old wallet? Is my computer judging me? Am I going to die?

N.B.: I won't trust replies, but I will appreciate them and print them out and bury them in the time capsule in my back yard.

[Eskimo]

you can always use escrow if you need it...

Escrow just transfers trust to whoever runs the escrow system.

Very true.

[hardcore-fs]

you can always use escrow if you need it...

I operate an escrow service and will take very good care of your funds at the following address :

Hardcore Retirement fund Escrow Ltd: 1PCTzvkZUFuUF7DA6aMEVjBUUp35wN5JtF

[josephliton]

Our relationship in bitcoin is founded on mutual business and trust.

[joshblum87]

I don't trust anyone.

[nr]

I agree, do not trust anyone out there.