Securing Wallet.dat?

[malumeze86]

I use Bitcoin-QT and have password locked my wallet with a 48 character password.

I have several backups that are stored away safe and sound.  So, if someone was to get ahold of my wallet.dat file (from my PC) could they steal my coins?  Or would the password prevent that?

I feel like I'm asking a silly question....

I just want to be as safe as possible. 

I am aware of cold storage already, this is just to secure my spending coins, still wouldn't want to lose those though. 

[1715478163]

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[1715478163]

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[wmcleod]

Good question.
You can be doubly sure that it's safe if you encrypt the .dat file itself... better yet, encrypt your entire Bitcoin directory.

[CIYAM]

The private keys are encrypted (by AES) in your wallet so they are about as safe as they can be.

Understand that the rest of the wallet is *not* encrypted so if you are worried about people seeing your balances or your transaction history then you might want to consider encrypting the entire file.

[malumeze86]

Good question.
You can be doubly sure that it's safe if you encrypt the .dat file itself... better yet, encrypt your entire Bitcoin directory.

The private keys are encrypted (by AES) in your wallet so they are about as safe as they can be.

Understand that the rest of the wallet is *not* encrypted so if you are worried about people seeing your balances or your transaction history then you might want to consider encrypting the entire file.

Ah,okay.  That's good to know!  Thanks a ton for the help!