How safe are the wallet apps we are using?

[Compromise me]

I used to think hardware wallets were safe but right now after the recent news I realize there are retailers who can and will tamper with original hardwallets to turn them into spyware. So I am completely on the ropes when it comes to such wallets.

But even so, the same can be said about your laptop, phone, whatever device you connect to the internet... They can all be tampered with in such a nefarious way to steal your coins.

Nothing is 100% safe. 

There were enough people who were feeling the same about hardware wallets because they were doing good, but suddenly things are coming on a level where there is no guarantee about anything because spyware with the help of AI is not entering into a level where handling all is never been easy for anyone. People need to do their own way of staying secure, even though it's also not easy because anyone can enter into any place, which is a challenge. Not everything is going to be tampered with, it's really stressful for people who do not have enough knowledge of technology and things that they are having in their life, for their future more challenges are coming because it's always on the way of having more difficulties and issues for us.

[uchegod-21]

I used to think hardware wallets were safe but right now after the recent news I realize there are retailers who can and will tamper with original hardwallets to turn them into spyware. So I am completely on the ropes when it comes to such wallets.

But even so, the same can be said about your laptop, phone, whatever device you connect to the internet... They can all be tampered with in such a nefarious way to steal your coins.

Nothing is 100% safe. 

There were enough people who were feeling the same about hardware wallets because they were doing good, but suddenly things are coming on a level where there is no guarantee about anything because spyware with the help of AI is not entering into a level where handling all is never been easy for anyone. People need to do their own way of staying secure, even though it's also not easy because anyone can enter into any place, which is a challenge. Not everything is going to be tampered with, it's really stressful for people who do not have enough knowledge of technology and things that they are having in their life, for their future more challenges are coming because it's always on the way of having more difficulties and issues for us.

Honestly, everything seems not to be guaranteed anymore. I can still remember when I could beat my chest and say my bitcoin is secured since I have them in my hardware wallet. Now, with the recent hacks, it reminds us that if you do not protect your wallet, your bitcoins will not be safe. Similarly, if you for some reasons won't buy from the official website, you put yourself at the the risk of buying a compromised device.

Also, people should normalise not buying fairly used devices, most of those devices are compromised before they get to the user.

Investing in bitcoin comes with alot of responsibilities irrespective of how and where you store your bitcoins.

[Abuobyda218]

In fact, whether it is called a Bitcoin wallet or a centralized exchange, there are some risks in using both and we have experienced several hackings recently. The Binance hack on October 31 proved that centralized exchanges are not safe at all. And a few months ago, the ColdCARD hardware wallet was compromised, proving that hardware wallets are not safe. In the past, the Ledger hardware wallet was compromised, which also signaled the danger of hardware wallets. So we now understand that nothing is safe in the crypto world, but rather any unwanted event can happen at any time.

[terrific]

I have an ick towards reading some of the replies of the members that if it's from the Official Website you would have nothing to worry about. I don't really like that and it's better to verify/authenticating the file that you have downloaded or the release..

That's the universal thought of downloading it from the official website, that's just fine.
But it's still different from verifying what is being released and downloadable. Just as we usually say, "verify, not trust!".
Files that are downloadable through an official website could also contain and put some injection with a malicious code behind or from the backdoors if not verified and checked because they're hidden.

[Antotena]

In fact, whether it is called a Bitcoin wallet or a centralized exchange, there are some risks in using both and we have experienced several hackings recently. The Binance hack on October 31 proved that centralized exchanges are not safe at all. And a few months ago, the ColdCARD hardware wallet was compromised, proving that hardware wallets are not safe. In the past, the Ledger hardware wallet was compromised, which also signaled the danger of hardware wallets. So we now understand that nothing is safe in the crypto world, but rather any unwanted event can happen at any time.

The Binance hack was expected but I'm not sure if we expected it to be this big. Almost all the centralized exchanges on the internet have been hack, why will anyone think that Binance is exceptional and nothing will happen to Binance. On this forum it is always warned to avoid centralized exchanges. Any person that used them and hold coins there did it with their intention and gladly they are refunded, they still have time to change.

As for Coldcard, I can't say if it was an insider, deliberate or was not deliberately. So far, there has not been any announcement on any wallet which I also think that that other manufacturers of hardware wallet would have done check if there is any error or mistakes. Only Coldcard wallet was reported to have done this kind of mistake in the history of hardware. It's painful for others that lost their coins but we can't deny that hardware wallet are better than exchanges.

[Inwestour]

Hey guys,

This might sound delusional, but I think a year ago we would have found it delusional to put a eSIM in Ledger devices too. My question is: how safe is the Trezor Suite app we are using? I mean is it possible for hackers to put something into the app to follow other people’s activity etc?

Please tell me the reason if my question is not a valid one.

p.s. I used Trezor as an example because I have one, but I’m asking this question about all wallet apps.

I can share my experience with Ledger because I own one of their wallets. On Ledger's official website, there is a section showing what the inside of an authentic wallet should look like, without any tampering by scammers.

https://support.ledger.com/ru/article/4404382029329-zd

I can also say that opening a Ledger wallet is not particularly difficult, so you can inspect it and make sure your device hasn't been tampered with.

As for Trezor, I assume they should have something similar, but perhaps its casing is not as easy to open. You would need to ask someone who has already tried opening and inspecting their device.

I understand that this might not be an easy task for everyone, but when it comes to security, we need to learn to adapt to these kinds of precautions.

[Bitcoin Maxi]

In fact, whether it is called a Bitcoin wallet or a centralized exchange, there are some risks in using both and we have experienced several hackings recently. The Binance hack on October 31 proved that centralized exchanges are not safe at all. And a few months ago, the ColdCARD hardware wallet was compromised, proving that hardware wallets are not safe. In the past, the Ledger hardware wallet was compromised, which also signaled the danger of hardware wallets. So we now understand that nothing is safe in the crypto world, but rather any unwanted event can happen at any time.

That is just the truth and crypto investors need to be very observant with the way we are seeing how hackers have been making sure they steal from exchanges and crypto wallets. We have to be vigilant at every time we notice irregularity with the way our app my be behaving. These hackers may have not get to us yet but we need to prepared if they are going to be facing crypto users not the exchange again. Everyone has a role to play in protecting their wallet and fund so hackers do not manipulate our errors and use it to steal funds.

[M47AK16]

In fact, whether it is called a Bitcoin wallet or a centralized exchange, there are some risks in using both and we have experienced several hackings recently. The Binance hack on October 31 proved that centralized exchanges are not safe at all. And a few months ago, the ColdCARD hardware wallet was compromised, proving that hardware wallets are not safe. In the past, the Ledger hardware wallet was compromised, which also signaled the danger of hardware wallets. So we now understand that nothing is safe in the crypto world, but rather any unwanted event can happen at any time.

The actual truth is that the safety of your funds is totally in your own hands, you can't trust any system or software or platform blindly and think that you are safe with them. Things can happen in a financial market, and people will need to deal with the issues they are facing or those who didn't face them yet should learn from the mistakes others have made. With the Binance hack, luckily, the company took full responsibility and no burden was put on the users, but if it was a smaller exchange with not enough funds to cover everything, they could file bankruptcy and then users would lose all their funds.

With the coldcard incident, the reason why people lost their funds was because they didn't have a passphrase on their wallets. I know that the wallet software had a vulnerability and that caused the problem, but if users had passphrase with their passwords, they wouldn't lose their money because even if the attackers had access to their seed phrases, they wouldn't be able to get into the wallets without the passphrases.

This is why I say that we should always take the security of our funds very seriously, and don't think that not using one precaution won't do anything, because it does, at times, which is why we should use every security option we have.