Concerns on Bitcoin and Seed phrase handling

[Ishicryptic]

Regarding this, some or most non-custodial wallets would not allow you take screenshot of your seed phrases in order to discourage you from storing it on your device storage or immediately uploading it online which is a bad security practice.

This feature is very important especially for users who don’t realize how dangerous taking a screenshot of your wallet seed can be. This is why any reputable wallet must have it. You can think of it as the security measure on most platforms that hides your account password on the registration or login form.
Even if you delete the screenshot, it’s still not safe as there is still a risk that it can be recovered.
Not just screenshots, it’s not recommended to store your seeds digitally, and if you do so,at least make sure to encrypt your files.

I'm glad to hear this, I have never tried to screenshot my seed phrase before because I know the implications of doing so, nothing is entirely safe and secret online, one way or another information can be hacked. The safety of your seed phrase is 100% your responsibility, you cannot blame your wallet provider if it is compromised in anyway, that is every wallet owners must make the security of their seed phrase a top priority. Seed phrase is the price of self custody, without it in your custody your coins can become somebody else's coins if they import it to another wallet.

[Sonia_123]

Even we're in our worst situation, but pretty sure we aware with our secret thing especially it's related to money. If I got caught, I would go out and carry my seed phrase, then won't show it to the police.

We have a right to not show our private thing, don't be weak and obey everything they asked.

But, it's only work if you live in a country with a good regulation, if you live in country with shitty regulation, avoid this.

Yes every citizen actually has is right to privacy but I think there are some case scenario where you can not oblige to not show them things, there are warrants that actually requires one to having show them everything even and you can refuse but that definitely that will be for a high criminal or big crime suspect and from the picture there was certainly nothing like that. This was looking more like a road side search for either drugs and anything and ignorantly the suspect might have had his seed phrase in a bag or wallet which they searched. It wasn’t intentional from the security operative and was ignorance from the owner.

There are people who are seriously having this bad culture of moving around with there seed phrase. Too much protection of this seed phrase usually gets it exposed or lost. For someone not in a permanent environment they can simply have it back up and their main residential homes or home town rather than moving around with it most especially students that find themselves in situations like this

Seed phrase should be handled with utmost care and protection which can't be disclosed to anyone no matter the situation you find yourself because that is your life, onces being expose you should be rest assured that your funds are no longer secured and needs to be moved out immediately .

The world is now getting used to bitcoin now,and so we should always keep our seed phrase in a safe place and not moving all about with it wherever we go knowing fully well that it's not safe

As for this guy question, I feel he his trying to be proud and want to show off his investment in bitcoin and nobody is a novice in bitcoin, he should be held responsible for his actions, if anything goes wrong with his asset in bitcoin since he has decided to be careless with his investment.

[Rgram]

I'm glad to hear this, I have never tried to screenshot my seed phrase before because I know the implications of doing so, nothing is entirely safe and secret online, one way or another information can be hacked. The safety of your seed phrase is 100% your responsibility, you cannot blame your wallet provider if it is compromised in anyway, that is every wallet owners must make the security of their seed phrase a top priority. Seed phrase is the price of self custody, without it in your custody your coins can become somebody else's coins if they import it to another wallet.

It’s a mistake few persons entirely new to cryptocurrencies make, the idea of going to get pen and paper or some diary to write it down in for first verification always seems tasking and so, they would want to screenshot. Some wallets wouldn’t even let you but, that’s rightly something you shouldn’t do as, you never can tell whom might get into your device someday, either authorized or not and can have access to that seed.

[Baki202]

I'm glad to hear this, I have never tried to screenshot my seed phrase before because I know the implications of doing so, nothing is entirely safe and secret online, one way or another information can be hacked. The safety of your seed phrase is 100% your responsibility, you cannot blame your wallet provider if it is compromised in anyway, that is every wallet owners must make the security of their seed phrase a top priority. Seed phrase is the price of self custody, without it in your custody your coins can become somebody else's coins if they import it to another wallet.

And a screenshot is one of the biggest mistakes. One of the biggest mistakes that people make is that they think saving their seed phrase online is safe, but that is one of the wrong mistakes people make, and it is better to even write it down in a safe place, and people are still finding it very hard to keep their seed phrase safe, and when you are writing it down, you have to consider the fact that anything can also happen, and it can even get damaged. So it is better to have a more secure means to save your seed phrase. And I don't think this wallet will even allow you to screenshot your seed phrase because they know how dangerous it can be, so it's programmed, and people should understand the dangers of screen recording or saving it on your phone.

And the issue is that why would you even blame the wallet provider? The person who is supposed to be blamed is the user for being careless, and there are people who will intentionally give out their seed phrase to scammers, and before they know it, they are already compromised.

[Scarlett_23]

Dangers with seed phrase handling

While surfing the tweeter(X) I came across a few seconds clip from a cops body camera that accidentally recorded the seed phrase of a suspect in the state of Nevada. This suspect ran a red light and as a result, he was parked for investigation and eventually, the cop went through his private things and stumbled on his seed phrase written in a scrambled piece of paper and the suspect went ahead to explaining what it was.


Link to tweet

This goes to highlight the risk associated with having to handle your seed phrase in public or having it on you at all times.
Key things here:
* Was it within the officers duty to go through what he had on paper?
* Suspect went around and about with his seed phrase
* Suspect ran a red light, putting himself in line for an investigation
* Suspect went out of his way to explain what the phrases was for

It’s one thing to properly store your Bitcoins in none custodian wallets and it’s another thing to safely store away your keys. Someone suggested in the comments that the best means to safe guarding a seed phrase is by memorizing it. While that might be some safe means, you are at risk of a memory loss or forgetfulness and all you need is just to forget the placement of one word.

What are some of the safe means to seed phrase handling:
1. Never carry your seed phrase around like a carry-on, it’s not your mobile phone or purse
2. Never upload your seed phrases online or take screenshots of it.
3. Never handle your seed phrase or access your wallets in public.

Safe practices to seed phrase handling: (I’ll like you guys to add to this some of the means you’ve known to work and use)
A. Writing it down on a metal plate and store away in a vault
B. Having bits of it written down on different pages of books or in several books and safely store it away
C. Never having it on like a carry-on
D. writing it in a will but, your lawyer might have access
E. Storing it in a banks safe deposit box

While D and E might be relatively safe, you must understand that, you are not the sole custody and that means you could loss them as well

Means to add a layer of security to your holdings
* Keep your Bitcoin in none custodian wallet
* You could store your Bitcoin using hardware wallets
* Don’t keep all your holdings in one wallet, you can have an expendable wallet
* Don’t employ the cheapest means to your Bitcoin and Bitcoin wallet’s security

Mind you, there is security in not having to make a thing looking too important as, it doesn’t attract to itself a lot of attention.
What do you guys have to add or criticize about this, the means and possibly what’s the best means that have kept your Bitcoins and See phrases secured over the years.

In Bitcoin, having the seed phrase in your possession means that it belongs to the person. But when someone else knows it, it will never be under the control of that person or it will be unsafe.

Therefore, the seed should be kept in a way that no one can understand. Again, a natural process should be chosen to protect it.

If you do too much research, people will be suspicious. And it is not right to carry it all the time. It needs a safe place.

[Xtraordinarious]

It’s a mistake few persons entirely new to cryptocurrencies make, the idea of going to get pen and paper or some diary to write it down in for first verification always seems tasking and so, they would want to screenshot. Some wallets wouldn’t even let you but, that’s rightly something you shouldn’t do as, you never can tell whom might get into your device someday, either authorized or not and can have access to that seed.

You are right bro. Many take screenshots without realising it initially, especially when everything seems new. But this small mistake can bring us great danger one day. For this, we have to be careful from the beginning. Taking screenshots means keeping a door open because if the door is open, any person can come in at any time, you don't understand. For this, I will say that although it is a little tricky to keep a handwritten note, I think it is a thousand times better in terms of security. In fact, even those we trust are not always aware. And it is normal not to be aware all the time. So I think it is wise to be extremely careful on your part.

[kasablings]

It really risky for keeping your seed phrase so exposed,if that cop has great know on what he has seen and them have a copy of it.is then a problem for the owner,that should be kept somewhere private that only you can access and not to be exposed.

[Issa56]

I'm glad to hear this, I have never tried to screenshot my seed phrase before because I know the implications of doing so, nothing is entirely safe and secret online, one way or another information can be hacked. The safety of your seed phrase is 100% your responsibility, you cannot blame your wallet provider if it is compromised in anyway, that is every wallet owners must make the security of their seed phrase a top priority. Seed phrase is the price of self custody, without it in your custody your coins can become somebody else's coins if they import it to another wallet.

Saving your seed phrase on you mobile phone, or online is one of the greatest mistake which you are going to make, if you are securing your seed phrase, then it should be stored completely offline, where their is no internet connection. Anyone that has access to your seed phrase already has access to your bitcoin, so it should be properly protected. If you decide to store it online, where you stored it might be compromised, and the person already has access to your bitcoin.

If you are storing your seed phrase, it should be stored in a secured place, and moving about with it is completely wrong, someone might just enter your car, and the person might just see your see phrase, and if the person is having a bad intention, they might be stealing from you.

[HajiBagi]

Should I call the owner of the seedphrase careless or stupid? I guess he's both... Why would one risk the security of his funds by taking it around written on a piece of paper? I wonder if he has some coins on that because if he does, before he must had realised this video his coins must have already been moved... One lesson here don't always try to be too safe with your seed... Write it down and store somewhere safe..it shouldn't be around you all the time...

Some people are so careless that they move around with the paper they write down their seed phrase, if not for a careless person, how can someone be working around with his seed phrase on a paper? I know that the paper should be protected at all costs, but it has not reached the level of working around with the paper in the car or anywhere you go; seed phrase is very important to protect because seeing it alone is very dangerous because it is the key to our wallet.

This type of person is the one who always shows themselves to the public with a coin in their wallet, and some carry the paper around because they don't trust anyone close to them. I won't just blame the person, I suspect that the corps did this on purpose to scam the guy because they shouldn't have opened it so clearly that the camera would snap it and the public would see it.

[letteredhub]

Dangers with seed phrase handling

While surfing the tweeter(X) I came across a few seconds clip from a cops body camera that accidentally recorded the seed phrase of a suspect in the state of Nevada. This suspect ran a red light and as a result, he was parked for investigation and eventually, the cop went through his private things and stumbled on his seed phrase written in a scrambled piece of paper and the suspect went ahead to explaining what it was.

This is a born fool behaviour to go about with your seedphrases in hand and in this case the man in the picture wasn't even said to be relocating that perhaps we could say it was due to that he had to go with his seedphrases in his car. A simple action here that explains how dump some people can be even when they're in the know about the importance of what they have and the possible consequences in its exposure to a third party.

[Mpamaegbu]

While surfing the tweeter(X) I came across a few seconds clip from a cops body camera that accidentally recorded the seed phrase of a suspect in the state of Nevada. This suspect ran a red light and as a result, he was parked for investigation and eventually, the cop went through his private things and stumbled on his seed phrase written in a scrambled piece of paper and the suspect went ahead to explaining what it was.

Nothing should justify the stupidity of that hodler. Why would anyone carry around their seedphrase? It beats my widest imagination. I find it unthinkable.

Someone suggested in the comments that the best means to safe guarding a seed phrase is by memorizing it. While that might be some safe means, you are at risk of a memory loss or forgetfulness and all you need is just to forget the placement of one word.

That's not a valid advice, if you asked me. All that's needed for everything to go wrong is just one word forgotten, misplaced or misspelt. Only when you're in such a situation you will realize how frustrating that can be to miss a word. I've a firsthand experience of that.

Means to add a layer of security to your holdings
* Don’t keep all your holdings in one wallet, you can have an expendable wallet.

Actually, that follows the long held maxim – don't put all your eggs in one basket. It really works.

[Uhwuchukwu53]

This scenario of this man is not laughable, as I may see this as ignorance, how can one exposed a key phrase where his holding a valuable asset and showcasing it publicly in this manner.
The way and manner many people handle there key phrase leads to some lost they experience in their asset, there are easy way which I employed in saving my key phrase even when it's showcase outside viewers will find it difficult to know what it's all about, I remove the first word on the key phrase and store it in my memory and also the last word of the key phrase it will be hard, and it will not be stored with the wallet name this work a long way in securing my key phrase. Secondly I keep memorizing my key phrase after writing it down until it's store in my memory even if I enrase where it's written I will not find it difficult.
 If the man hard clear understanding of this he would not have even taking screenshot is dangerous because the warning is always clear and some sight don't permit screenshot, writing this down make it more safer for me and also avoiding the display of this where one with such knowledge can access.

[rat03gopoh]

there are easy way which I employed in saving my key phrase even when it's showcase outside viewers will find it difficult to know what it's all about

It's still not secure, your approach shouldn't make you careless and reckless as in the OP's case, and all the security tips still apply.
In case you didn't know, the words in the seed phrase aren't random words but rather from a predetermined list according to the BIP39 standard^[*]. Using a combination of brute force and elimination techniques, one or two missing words can be found in just seconds on low-end computing devices.


[*] https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039/bip-0039-wordlists.md

[Uhwuchukwu53]

there are easy way which I employed in saving my key phrase even when it's showcase outside viewers will find it difficult to know what it's all about

It's still not secure, your approach shouldn't make you careless and reckless as in the OP's case, and all the security tips still apply.
In case you didn't know, the words in the seed phrase aren't random words but rather from a predetermined list according to the BIP39 standard^[*]. Using a combination of brute force and elimination techniques, one or two missing words can be found in just seconds on low-end computing devices.


[*] https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039/bip-0039-wordlists.md

Your point is also an eye opener, I think my way of storing key phrase need to be changed mostly the aspect of missing words,  I stick to that as it work for me but the way developers are coming up with different strategies of accessing one key phrase, mostly those with scamming intentions.

But writing down key phrase in  documents where no one can access aid best security than screen shot and online savings.

[goldkingcoiner]

Should I call the owner of the seedphrase careless or stupid? I guess he's both... Why would one risk the security of his funds by taking it around written on a piece of paper? I wonder if he has some coins on that because if he does, before he must had realised this video his coins must have already been moved... One lesson here don't always try to be too safe with your seed... Write it down and store somewhere safe..it shouldn't be around you all the time...

People do stupid things when they are under panic. I am guessing the guy never had an altercation with law enforcement before. Although writing it down and explaining what it is could have definitely been avoided, I think the cops already knew what it was but wanted to confirm. One should never write down their seed phrase without properly making sure to hide or obfuscate it in such a way that it would not look like a seed phrase to the first person who found it.

For example why not write it like this:

Seedword 1 blah blah blah text
Seedword 2 blah blah text and so on.

It would have a more natural feel to it like reading a book.

Foxhound is a breed of dog which....
Cabbage cannot be digested by this dog because....
Cellular damage can occur if....
.
.
.

And so on.

You can make it seem like a old school report.

[Hatchy]

People do stupid things when they are under panic. I am guessing the guy never had an altercation with law enforcement before. Although writing it down and explaining what it is could have definitely been avoided, I think the cops already knew what it was but wanted to confirm. One should never write down their seed phrase without properly making sure to hide or obfuscate it in such a way that it would not look like a seed phrase to the first person who found it.

With how fast cryptocurrency is being adopted today, I doubt many people won't be able to get the idea upon seeing a couple of words written in a  sequence and on a piece of paper. the best way to avoid all these is to simple keep your keys in a safe place. Bringing it with you all the time will put it at even more risk. Some people also take their hardware wallet with them which as well is not ideal.

[VRExpress]

I'm glad to hear this, I have never tried to screenshot my seed phrase before because I know the implications of doing so, nothing is entirely safe and secret online, one way or another information can be hacked. The safety of your seed phrase is 100% your responsibility, you cannot blame your wallet provider if it is compromised in anyway, that is every wallet owners must make the security of their seed phrase a top priority. Seed phrase is the price of self custody, without it in your custody your coins can become somebody else's coins if they import it to another wallet.

It’s a mistake few persons entirely new to cryptocurrencies make, the idea of going to get pen and paper or some diary to write it down in for first verification always seems tasking and so, they would want to screenshot. Some wallets wouldn’t even let you but, that’s rightly something you shouldn’t do as, you never can tell whom might get into your device someday, either authorized or not and can have access to that seed.

Almost everyone is confused in this crypto space.

Trust wallet for example won't let you take screenshot, you would think they are trying to protect their users which I do believe too but try to back up your recovery seed they will give you an extra option, the first option is to back up your recovery seed onto the cloud.

Are cloud backups not a big redflag? Yet Trust wallet made the option available, it seems those who are suppose to be protection new users are also opening doors for new users to lose their money, no one can be trust anymore in this space.

Anyone who want to make money via crypto must be patience enough to do some good numbers of research and choose to keep their recovery seed safe by themselves.

[tbct_mt2]

Trust wallet

Trust wallet is not a recommended wallet because it is close source.
https://walletscrutiny.com/?platform=allPlatforms&page=0&query-string=Trust

Trust wallet for example won't let you take screenshot, you would think they are trying to protect their users which I do believe too but try to back up your recovery seed they will give you an extra option, the first option is to back up your recovery seed onto the cloud.

Are cloud backups not a big redflag? Yet Trust wallet made the option available, it seems those who are suppose to be protection new users are also opening doors for new users to lose their money, no one can be trust anymore in this space.

Cloud backup is a very bad backup method and not only Cloud backup, if you use any method for backing up your wallet online, it's risky and not recommended.

With wallet backups stored online, they are more vulnerable to be hacked, compromised and you know what will happen with your bitcoin when your wallet backups were stolen. Your coins will be stolen and moved out of that wallet very quickly.

Clould backup method is risky as your cloud account can be hacked, data can be compromised including that wallet backup file, and also the cloud service provider can have data breaches, hacks which are possible and you can not control such digital accident.

[rat03gopoh]

Are cloud backups not a big redflag?

Yes,
Closed-source wallets have various absurd points of "convenience" features. To the layman, these wallets may seem more practical, but behind that, they also introduce more points of failure (attack surfaces).
And this is precisely where research and education come into play. Those who patiently understand the basics of security ultimately become the most secure.

[knowngunman]

Regarding this, some or most non-custodial wallets would not allow you take screenshot of your seed phrases in order to discourage you from storing it on your device storage or immediately uploading it online which is a bad security practice. I recently tried to screenshot seed phrase from the mobile version of an electrum wallet and it was not possible. This way users are reminded and motivated to store it offline and securely. Carrying it around is a very bad practice.

This is actually one of my security test practice. My first time using a wallet, I always attempt to take a screenshot of the seed phrase to see whether the wallet permits screenshots or screen recording. If it does, it's a red flag and I will know how to handle my interaction with such wallets. Once you take screenshot, the wallet is already vulnerable and anything might happen afterwards. There are several apps in your phone that you knowingly or unknowingly give permission to have access to your media and gallery. This means the third party apps can access your photos (screenshot inclusive) which automatically means having access to your seed phrase. Deleting it won't make any difference so it's best to avoid taking it in the first place.