Is Hardware wallet really secure enough?

[shinratensei_]

Recently I have seen the news that Trezor hardware wallet was hacked in 15 minutes! Was it true guys? Or I have misunderstood? I thought they have very strong security that can't be breach so easily! But look at what can be happened to Trezor within 15 minutes! So, how can we feel 100% safe in the hardware wallet?

The security flaws will always there but this is my first time to see there is a flaw in my trezor wallet one series. I have stored for a few years in my trezor wallet and nothing happen and all gone very smooth until kraken was reveal. Maybe you are missing some sentences here just like this

“It’s important to note that this attack is viable only if the Passphrase feature does not protect the device. A strong passphrase fully mitigates the possibilities of a successful attack,”

https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/news/kraken-says-trezor-wallets-can-be-hacked-in-15-minutes/

I have my very strong passphrase anytime and i never feel worried about that. Just remember never try to put all of your money in one basket. Just activate all of the security features that already provided in your hardware wallet and that's enough to make you safe.

[Kemarit]

Recently I have seen the news that Trezor hardware wallet was hacked in 15 minutes! Was it true guys? Or I have misunderstood? I thought they have very strong security that can't be breach so easily! But look at what can be happened to Trezor within 15 minutes! So, how can we feel 100% safe in hardware wallet?

You can read official response here.

(https://blog.trezor.io/our-response-to-the-read-protection-downgrade-attack-28d23f8949c6)

So they acknowledge the hacked, however, for us more mortals, it will be very hard to perform that exploit, as you need to have special skills to really break the hardware wallet, so it's not that easy as it sound. So for me it is still 100% safe.

[samcrypto]

Recently I have seen the news that Trezor hardware wallet was hacked in 15 minutes! Was it true guys? Or I have misunderstood? I thought they have very strong security that can't be breach so easily! But look at what can be happened to Trezor within 15 minutes! So, how can we feel 100% safe in hardware wallet?

You can read official response here.

(https://blog.trezor.io/our-response-to-the-read-protection-downgrade-attack-28d23f8949c6)

So they acknowledge the hacked, however, for us more mortals, it will be very hard to perform that exploit, as you need to have special skills to really break the hardware wallet, so it's not that easy as it sound. So for me it is still 100% safe.

Hardwallet is still secured especially when you’re the only knows about it. Its security is good it just happen that hackers are so genius and know where to start, maybe he saw that hardwallet before. Since trezor acknowledge the hacking incident, I hope that they will increase more their security on the wallet and make it more impossible to hack it unless the owners made a big mistake and expose their keys.

[btc_angela]

Recently I have seen the news that Trezor hardware wallet was hacked in 15 minutes! Was it true guys? Or I have misunderstood? I thought they have very strong security that can't be breach so easily! But look at what can be happened to Trezor within 15 minutes! So, how can we feel 100% safe in hardware wallet?

You can read official response here.

(https://blog.trezor.io/our-response-to-the-read-protection-downgrade-attack-28d23f8949c6)

So they acknowledge the hacked, however, for us more mortals, it will be very hard to perform that exploit, as you need to have special skills to really break the hardware wallet, so it's not that easy as it sound. So for me it is still 100% safe.

Correct, you can read from their response that you need to see the conditions before the hackers can exploit the system. Then you have to the skills or specialised hardware to get inside and perform the exploit. And for those who wanted to buy Trezor, go for the official site and not just from some websites so that you will stay safe.

[XCANA]

No matter how strong a security is, it can be tamper with at anytime . There is no 100% guarantee security. We must be careful because no perfect innovation.

We definitely know that but hardware wallet is one of the most secure wallet. Basically, what happened might be that, the hacker got access to the hardware wallet from where he/she exploit the target victim. With the knowledge I got from science, it won't be possible to hack hardware wallets without physical access. Hardware wallets are among the most reliable wallets in this industry.

[knuckey]

I personally haven't heard the news about the hack, but as long as I use the hardware wallet I don't find any problems and I'm satisfied using it. We must know that hackers are also smarter at this time in carrying out their actions and always find new ways, therefore we must be careful to access something that is connected to the internet, especially if the source is unknown or uses other new devices.

[gunungkembar]

I personally haven't heard the news about the hack, but as long as I use the hardware wallet I don't find any problems and I'm satisfied using it. We must know that hackers are also smarter at this time in carrying out their actions and always find new ways, therefore we must be careful to access something that is connected to the internet, especially if the source is unknown or uses other new devices.

of course with a hardware wallet you can secure the assets that you have well because the wallet is not always connected to the computer and has very high security so hackers who usually steal through computers will have difficulty entering the hardware wallet system.

[Febo]

Recently I have seen the news that Trezor hardware wallet was hacked in 15 minutes! Was it true guys? Or I have misunderstood? I thought they have very strong security that can't be breach so easily! But look at what can be happened to Trezor within 15 minutes! So, how can we feel 100% safe in hardware wallet?

It was hacked once someone had it in their hands. Nothing is 100% secure. There are always risks if you do not minimise them.

The point of hardware wallet is that private keys dont leave the HW and even if machine you are on have some malware your keys and coins are safe. That is it. That is the function of hardware wallet. Nothing else.  

[kawetsriyanto]

Can you provide the link, please? Actually, a hardware wallet is more preferable and save enough than the online wallet. However, if it is hacked, it is one of the weaknesses that may happen to all devices. This is so silly. But, we should know what reasons make the hardware hacked, the low-security system or the carefulness of the owner?

[SlimShadyMmp]

Personally I will just use paper wallet and store them there find safe location and keep it there There is no need for expensive hardware but if you want that there are some hardware wallet that are secured enough It depends on your handling most of the time

[antsam]

How can Hackers access it if you don't have the hardware? Nothing is 100% safe but if we can secure our Hardware Wallet it is still the best choice in my opinion

[leowonderful]

No storage solution for cryptocurrencies is perfectly secure and it's unrealistic to ever expect anything to be completely foolproof, but hardware wallets are a great compromise between security and usability for most people when compared to other more 'hot' wallets and paper wallets and other cold storage solutions, so I find them to be secure enough as long as you aren't keeping all your funds in one place. Always distribute your holdings between multiple storage solutions, so if one thing is compromised, you still have the majority of your funds.

[Hippocrypto]

Recently I have seen the news that Trezor hardware wallet was hacked in 15 minutes! Was it true guys? Or I have misunderstood? I thought they have very strong security that can't be breach so easily! But look at what can be happened to Trezor within 15 minutes! So, how can we feel 100% safe in hardware wallet?

This story can't be confirmed as it really hacked or someone close to the person who is an owner of the wallet, acquired an access to that wallet of interest. Security maybe breached when there's a third party involved, which we're having no control out of it. Hardware wallet has very strong security compared with online or software wallet, because it will run independently and doesn't need any network connection but it should be handled confidentiality without the knowledge of other strangers.

[FireBallex]

Either trezor or ledger hardware wallet you still need to keep your keys safe which is why I ask myself why the need of a hardware wallet when you still have to keep your private key secured? its same thing with mobile wallets and paper wallets, Keeping private keys safe

[minairia3]

Recently I have seen the news that Trezor hardware wallet was hacked in 15 minutes! Was it true guys? Or I have misunderstood? I thought they have very strong security that can't be breach so easily! But look at what can be happened to Trezor within 15 minutes! So, how can we feel 100% safe in hardware wallet?

That's possible if they can gain personal access to your trezor. I dont think its that easy to hack a hardware wallet especially if its well encrypted and secured. Chances that you be hacked is if the wallet back up has been leaked which they can import your btc wallet easily. Stored the backup key somewhere safe. I heard of these scams but for me, this isnt a typical hacking like using web wallets.

How can Hackers access it if you don't have the hardware?

Exactly, only those who are really careless will be compromised with this method. Keeping your key and avoiding clicking phishing sites are the best method of prevention. Dont believe in such article lurkings without any valid proof. Some are just creating nonsense fud.

[NeuroticFish]

~
Cold storage is not so difficult to use anymore for the ones with basic computer skills, but it's still underused.

I'm not sure how basic my computer skills is but this is something that I would also like to know.

You'll need 2 USB sticks and your computer/laptop. I'll assume you have the seed written onto paper and you know if your address starts with 1, 3 or bc1.

1. Burn Tails OS onto stick 1. All you need is explained on https://tails.boum.org/

Tails OS has Electrum on it. It's a bit overkill to use it since any live OS would do, but this one is already set up.
I won't discuss about persistent storage either, I'll consider that more advanced than the current purpose. Yes, this means that you'll enter the seed on every run of Tails, but if you make payments more often you better buy a hardware wallet.

2. Make sure your computer is not connected to internet (this means: unplug the cable if you have wired internet; if you're wireless you're good).

3. Boot from stick 1 into Tails OS, start Electrum, enter the seed for your wallet.

4. From Electrum tutorial read how to get the master public key. Plug in stick 2 and copy the master public key into a text file onto stick 2.

5. Shut down, remove both sticks, start computer into your normal OS. Start Electrum there and create a new watch only wallet based on the master public key from stick 2 (see the same Electrum tutorial)

And you are set.
Keep in mind that every time, before you boot from stick 1 you have to check that you have the internet unplugged.

When you want to spend, create the transaction in Electrum on your main computer from the watch only wallet, save it to stick 2, boot into Tails OS (and start Electrum, enter seed, load tx from stick 2), sign that transaction and save it signed to stick 2, boot again to the main computer, load up the signed transaction and broadcast it. All it's explained with images in the same page of Electrum docs.


So all you need to know is to follow pretty well explained steps (on Tails OS and Electrum doc pages), boot from USB where necessary and work with USB sticks.

[fortunecrypto]

Recently I have seen the news that Trezor hardware wallet was hacked in 15 minutes! Was it true guys? Or I have misunderstood? I thought they have very strong security that can't be breach so easily! But look at what can be happened to Trezor within 15 minutes! So, how can we feel 100% safe in hardware wallet?

I don't know if there is such a news if you have one, you should just drop the link here for us to verify the truth fullness of the news, hardware wallet is very secured so many people have verified that it is the safes and it is created to be the most secured wallet, it is quite expensive because they guaranty it's use fullness and security.

[Google+]

Recently I have seen the news that Trezor hardware wallet was hacked in 15 minutes! Was it true guys? Or I have misunderstood? I thought they have very strong security that can't be breach so easily! But look at what can be happened to Trezor within 15 minutes! So, how can we feel 100% safe in hardware wallet?

I don't know if there is such a news if you have one, you should just drop the link here for us to verify the truth fullness of the news, hardware wallet is very secured so many people have verified that it is the safes and it is created to be the most secured wallet, it is quite expensive because they guaranty it's use fullness and security.

at least he should be able to provide valid evidence because until now I use a hardware wallet like that is also still safe, maybe depending on where he has access to the wallet because hackers will usually try to hack through a computer that has been infected by hackers so that their assets are stolen, it's better to access the wallet on a computer that really has very high security.

[tbterryboy]

Hardware wallets are into the market for more than 5 years and I guess this much long duration would be more than enough for exploiting its weakness if any. Also, hardware wallet is not a big thing, it is 80% similar to what we have as wallets on desktop or mobile phones. Similar software but runs in a USB device.

Hardware wallet will be safer as you will be having their recovery phrases. Even your device is broken or stolen, you can get your coins back. The main aspect of hardware wallet is, once you unplug the device, it become disconnected from internet which means you are getting into cold storage in quicker manner. For this reason, hardware wallets are getting their fame.

[coinmaster241]

Recently I have seen the news that Trezor hardware wallet was hacked in 15 minutes! Was it true guys? Or I have misunderstood? I thought they have very strong security that can't be breach so easily! But look at what can be happened to Trezor within 15 minutes! So, how can we feel 100% safe in hardware wallet?

My opinion it could happen, if Trezor is connected to a PC that is online to the internet, but if Trezor is not connected it is very unlikely that happens. No matter how great a security system it is, humans can certainly be hacked into by other, more intelligent humans