Alternative Block Chains : be safe!

[michaeljwiltshire]

Hi Gavin,

All good questions. When Bitcoin started it was geared very much towards the business owners and not the consumers so you will find many more advantages to use them if you are a business owner. This does mean that more and more businesses will eventually start using some form of cryptocurrency so if you are buying new coins make sure you research the company and check the unique properties they can offer businesses, this will be a big factor in the success of the coin.

Safety for consumers is a late arrival in the cryptocurrency party, but many new coins are writing rules into the block chains that do protect you. Check Electroneum for the safest new currency, which allows you to store your wallet off-line, meaning that hackers can not get to it at all. They are currently the only coin to offer this.

Many new currencies are scams, but a little research into the brand will usually raise some warning flags. Look into their named investors, if they are multimillion dollar business traders then you should be safe, these people are risking their own money for a big payoff, they aren't trading their first class reputation in business development to scam regular people out of $1000 or more. 

[1713524069]

1713524069

[1713524069]

1713524069

[Qunenin]

Just a side note here. I recently saw, having nothing at all to do with crypto currency, a specific virus type that can operate inside and outside of a virtual machine. Now this particular think doesn't really apply here because it encourages the people to download app reconstructed virtual machine image, and then it outside file allows that virtual disk to be opened even while the emulator is not operating.

[nodav]

I haven't seen anybody post about what would be my biggest worry if I were trying out alternative block chains. I realize this may be perceived as "Gavin is FUD'ding anything that isn't bitcoin!"  (FUD == Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt)  But I think some of you might be forgetting some basic computer security fundamentals in the excitement to be early adopters.

When I first heard about bitcoin, my questions were:

1) Can it possibly work (do the ideas for how it works make sense)?
2) Is it a scam?
3) If it is not a scam, could it open my computer up to viruses/trojans if I run it?

I answered those questions by:

1) Reading and understanding Satoshi's whitepaper.  Then thinking about it for a day or two and reading it again.
2) Finding out everything I could about the project.  I read every forum thread here (there were probably under a hundred threads back then) and read Satoshi's initial postings on the crypto mailing list.
3) Downloaded and skimmed the source code to see if it looked vulnerable to buffer overflow or other remotely exploitable attacks.

If I were going to experiment with an alternative block-chain, I'd go through the same process again. But I'm an old conservative fuddy-duddy.

If you want to take a risk on a brand-new alternative block-chain, I'd strongly suggest that you:

1) Run the software in a virtual machine or on a machine that doesn't contain anything valuable.
2) Don't invest more money or time than you can afford to lose.
3) Use a different passphrase at every exchange site.

Thank you for your thoughts, and for the instruction. Just what I was looking for. Very useful and cognitive.

[michaeljwiltshire]

Some people only have one computer and that must suck. Fortunately I have multiple so I can use some of my alt-miners to do this safely.

One computer can be enough for the newbies if they act fast enough on new coins, but you are right the more the merrier. especially as mining is becoming faster and cheaper now.

[michaeljwiltshire]

Just a side note here. I recently saw, having nothing at all to do with crypto currency, a specific virus type that can operate inside and outside of a virtual machine. Now this particular think doesn't really apply here because it encourages the people to download app reconstructed virtual machine image, and then it outside file allows that virtual disk to be opened even while the emulator is not operating.

Great. do you know where we can get this? Just kidding.

The virus would still need to beat the offline password and reconnect to the internet and transfer with another password which would be traceable.

[jonatuzc]

I haven't seen anybody post about what would be my biggest worry if I were trying out alternative block chains. I realize this may be perceived as "Gavin is FUD'ding anything that isn't bitcoin!"  (FUD == Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt)  But I think some of you might be forgetting some basic computer security fundamentals in the excitement to be early adopters.

When I first heard about bitcoin, my questions were:

1) Can it possibly work (do the ideas for how it works make sense)?
2) Is it a scam?
3) If it is not a scam, could it open my computer up to viruses/trojans if I run it?

I answered those questions by:

1) Reading and understanding Satoshi's whitepaper.  Then thinking about it for a day or two and reading it again.
2) Finding out everything I could about the project.  I read every forum thread here (there were probably under a hundred threads back then) and read Satoshi's initial postings on the crypto mailing list.
3) Downloaded and skimmed the source code to see if it looked vulnerable to buffer overflow or other remotely exploitable attacks.

If I were going to experiment with an alternative block-chain, I'd go through the same process again. But I'm an old conservative fuddy-duddy.

If you want to take a risk on a brand-new alternative block-chain, I'd strongly suggest that you:

1) Run the software in a virtual machine or on a machine that doesn't contain anything valuable.
2) Don't invest more money or time than you can afford to lose.
3) Use a different passphrase at every exchange site.

So in words, right this second, there is a virus that can access a virtual disk while the emulator is not running. At this moment you would have to specifically download that file and the virtual hard disk goes with it. But, that means it is not too much off in the future where that same virus type will be expanded into different uses.

[jostorres]

I haven't seen anybody post about what would be my biggest worry if I were trying out alternative block chains. I realize this may be perceived as "Gavin is FUD'ding anything that isn't bitcoin!"  (FUD == Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt)  But I think some of you might be forgetting some basic computer security fundamentals in the excitement to be early adopters.

When I first heard about bitcoin, my questions were:

1) Can it possibly work (do the ideas for how it works make sense)?
2) Is it a scam?
3) If it is not a scam, could it open my computer up to viruses/trojans if I run it?

I answered those questions by:

1) Reading and understanding Satoshi's whitepaper.  Then thinking about it for a day or two and reading it again.
2) Finding out everything I could about the project.  I read every forum thread here (there were probably under a hundred threads back then) and read Satoshi's initial postings on the crypto mailing list.
3) Downloaded and skimmed the source code to see if it looked vulnerable to buffer overflow or other remotely exploitable attacks.

If I were going to experiment with an alternative block-chain, I'd go through the same process again. But I'm an old conservative fuddy-duddy.

If you want to take a risk on a brand-new alternative block-chain, I'd strongly suggest that you:

1) Run the software in a virtual machine or on a machine that doesn't contain anything valuable.
2) Don't invest more money or time than you can afford to lose.
3) Use a different passphrase at every exchange site.

I assume the idea of developing a virus like this is not to attack cryptocurrency world, but to allow attacks within a VPS. Personally, every single new piece of crypto currency software be it a wallet, coin, blockchain or whatever, I operated on a completely isolated PC.

[NeonXL]

okay, but what with assets?

[digaran]

Thanks for the information gavin because it is very useful for bitcoin members to be applied at any time and add a broader knowledge in the online world well and certainly more regularly in running a job later.

I am just curious to know king Gavin's opinion about thousands of new coins and blockchains with their new wallets and codes, I don't think back in 2011 there were more than a few alt coins, but I think he's banned or thanks to Satoshi he is so rich that being a part of this community is below him.

I'd like to add something here:

When you see a self moderated thread for an alt coin despite many replies don't be stupid to think if there are so many pages and so many replies it must be something legit, it's not and every single one of them are shady projects or scam pure and simple.

[sch_lau]

I've been experimenting with altcoins for a few months now but I'm still no real expert on the subject. Before buying I read through white papers quickly and try to look for additional information on the web in order to find out its legitimacy. So far I haven't had a problems with my wallets and software, but I was wondering if it is in anyway possible to fall into a trap and end up buying something which I think is a coin but in reality a virus or something that could affect my software or my wallets?

[Opporty_ico]

Most of the new coins coming out daily are created by ignorant developers. Now that's scary.

[ljtronics]

Good advice ! Anyway you can point me the right direction in terms of being able to read and understand the code the quickest way ? Please don't tell me to go to class lol, i hate classroom

[RebelAngel]

I'm sure that traditional financial institutions be affected by Blockchain technology in the future or even replaced by it, but before the more extensive monetary administrations and managing an account enterprises move to blockchain  we should be aware of scammers and be careful in our choice.
Thank you so much for this instruction!) 

[kambaralikhan]

I haven't seen anybody post about what would be my biggest worry if I were trying out alternative block chains. I realize this may be perceived as "Gavin is FUD'ding anything that isn't bitcoin!"  (FUD == Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt)  But I think some of you might be forgetting some basic computer security fundamentals in the excitement to be early adopters.

When I first heard about bitcoin, my questions were:

1) Can it possibly work (do the ideas for how it works make sense)?
2) Is it a scam?
3) If it is not a scam, could it open my computer up to viruses/trojans if I run it?

I answered those questions by:

1) Reading and understanding Satoshi's whitepaper.  Then thinking about it for a day or two and reading it again.
2) Finding out everything I could about the project.  I read every forum thread here (there were probably under a hundred threads back then) and read Satoshi's initial postings on the crypto mailing list.
3) Downloaded and skimmed the source code to see if it looked vulnerable to buffer overflow or other remotely exploitable attacks.

If I were going to experiment with an alternative block-chain, I'd go through the same process again. But I'm an old conservative fuddy-duddy.

If you want to take a risk on a brand-new alternative block-chain, I'd strongly suggest that you:

1) Run the software in a virtual machine or on a machine that doesn't contain anything valuable.
2) Don't invest more money or time than you can afford to lose.
3) Use a different passphrase at every exchange site.

Thanks Gavin, really helpful information and I would like to add people must have a knowledge what a blockchain actually is and it would help them alot to cope with many issues.
https://blockgeeks.com/guides/what-is-blockchain-technology/

[sameerghimire]

Hi, I am new to the crypt world and the technical one too.
You sounded like people like us with no technical background wont be able to judge if the upcoming project is good or bad.

My question is - Is the whitepaper and the roadmap good enough for you to understand the project? Cant it be misleading sometimes? Is it really necessary to understand the codes in order to know the vulnerability of the project?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Cortes_Cripto]

I agree with the previous speakers, I believe that passwords are appropriate to use different

[cryptopass]

Far from being an unprecedented breakthrough, with unintended consequences, the blockchain technology stack is a culmination of decades of cryptography and security research.

The 1970s cryptography breakthrough of the Merkle tree and the distributed hash tables of the 1990s combine to create autonomy, fault tolerance and scalability for distributed systems. They're the tools that built famous decentralised applications like BitTorrent, Napster and Freenet.Bitcoin's most impressive contribution is recognising the synergies between this field of distributed communications and file sharing systems, and digital currencies, which had seen many false starts prior to Bitcoin's success since 2009.

The key was Hashcash, a system proposed in 1997 to limit and suppress email spam and denial-of-service attacks. Hashcash is an algorithm that requires the sacrifice of processing power as a security mechanism. This proof-of-work creates the incentive structure and network verification that now powers cryptocurrencies.

The final step is the addition of smart contracts to the blockchain stack, a name coined by Nick Szabo as early as 1993. Smart contracts are algorithmic; a type of self-executing code which enables more complex asset transfer and the automated exchange of rights. These are the building blocks of a complete programming language, and the more advanced blockchain applications such as those envisioned by Ethereum.

What we get is a set of security tools that are very good at coordination between mutually unknown actors and secure data or value transfer. We think of blockchains as having four key characteristics to this end: they're cryptography-based, distributed, peer to peer, and, in many cases, open source.

[bountyhunter1313]

I haven't seen anybody post about what would be my biggest worry if I were trying out alternative block chains. I realize this may be perceived as "Gavin is FUD'ding anything that isn't bitcoin!"  (FUD == Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt)  But I think some of you might be forgetting some basic computer security fundamentals in the excitement to be early adopters.

When I first heard about bitcoin, my questions were:

1) Can it possibly work (do the ideas for how it works make sense)?
2) Is it a scam?
3) If it is not a scam, could it open my computer up to viruses/trojans if I run it?

I answered those questions by:

1) Reading and understanding Satoshi's whitepaper.  Then thinking about it for a day or two and reading it again.
2) Finding out everything I could about the project.  I read every forum thread here (there were probably under a hundred threads back then) and read Satoshi's initial postings on the crypto mailing list.
3) Downloaded and skimmed the source code to see if it looked vulnerable to buffer overflow or other remotely exploitable attacks.

If I were going to experiment with an alternative block-chain, I'd go through the same process again. But I'm an old conservative fuddy-duddy.

If you want to take a risk on a brand-new alternative block-chain, I'd strongly suggest that you:

1) Run the software in a virtual machine or on a machine that doesn't contain anything valuable.
2) Don't invest more money or time than you can afford to lose.
3) Use a different passphrase at every exchange site.

This is gold. Solid advice is solid. Thanks Gavin, if you are reading this

[aztecminer]

source code of any alt must audit

[onesalt]

Thanks Gavin, really helpful information and I would like to add people must have a knowledge what a blockchain actually is and it would help them alot to cope with many issues.
https://blockgeeks.com/guides/what-is-blockchain-technology/

Helpful source. There are many people around me having any idea about blockchain technology but they use most of they money for investment. Having information is a must before investing. This is another explanatory page, a visual demo of the technology for those who may be interested: https://anders.com/blockchain/