Best way how to prevent BTC wallet from hackers

[bornil267645]

Seal it in your paper wallet or tattoo your cold storage password in your Butt 

[1714151067]

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[1714151067]

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[1714151067]

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[ranochigo]

Is not download any soft or file from file uploading sites or E mails ?
What do you guys think ?

Anti-virus.

Anti-virus softwares aren't 100% foolproof. Anti-viruses cannot detect every single computer malware that exist in the world. There are plenty of FUD viruses which have signatures not recorded in the Anti virus database. Anti-virus may not always identify the virus you download. The best way is to avoid downloading shady stuffs and keep a cold storage or at least enable 2FA features on the sites you use.

[PowerCordZ]

Don't need to overkill, getting hacked should  be very rare, just need the basic security programs and common sense not to go to suspicious sites or downloads, use virtual box or sandboxes for that

[LiberyOrDeath]

Well if your that paranoid use the paper wallet or brain wallet.

[sandykho47]

Use Secure Linux distribution with enchanted network security & use great bitcoin wallet app (Bitcoin Core)
And encrypt your wallet.dat with cryptography security & long password

And you mustn't have a single address only with a lot of bitcoin in that address

[_chance_]

Either use multisignature address or you can create a paper wallet that's two most secure ways.

[thew3apon]

What is meant by "air gap"?

It means the computer signing the transactions (computer with the keys) is never connected to the internet or any other computers. It is 'air gapped' between the computer broadcasting the transaction.

This gap is bridged by various methods, some use usb drives, some mentioned usb cameras and qr codes, so the computer with the keys cannot be hacked from internet.

I don't think it is a very good idea to use USB drives to "bridge" the air gap as you could theoretically bring maleware to your cold storage computer which could potentially get your cold storage computer to sign a TX sending your bitcoin to an address that is not yours

[rohanpandit1992]

I think you need to have a good antivirus program

[Xch4ng3]

I think you need to have a good antivirus program

Account in human error and any protection suite is useless. I don't think you have to go above and beyond to look after your wallet. Simply security practices such as not downloading random files, keeping your programs up to date and encrypting your wallet with a strong password should be more than enough.

[bitkilo]

Don't download anything that your not sure is 100% safe.
Always use 2fa to open wallet and when sending ANY amount of BTC.
Only keep what you can afford to lose on your mobile (hot wallet)
Have a good strong password.
And i shouldn't have to say this but don't store your password on your email or dropbox ect.

[hongw]

What is meant by "air gap"?

It means the computer signing the transactions (computer with the keys) is never connected to the internet or any other computers. It is 'air gapped' between the computer broadcasting the transaction.

This gap is bridged by various methods, some use usb drives, some mentioned usb cameras and qr codes, so the computer with the keys cannot be hacked from internet.

I don't think it is a very good idea to use USB drives to "bridge" the air gap as you could theoretically bring maleware to your cold storage computer which could potentially get your cold storage computer to sign a TX sending your bitcoin to an address that is not yours

This is a very good point. This is why using QR codes is probably the best way to get your TXs signed when dealing with your cold storage. You never want to have any hardware touch both your "hot" computer and your cold storage computer

[Kakmakr]

Just shift the coins you not going to use to cold storage or paper wallets ^Smile^
If a hacker goes through all the trouble to hack a wallet with a few Satoshi's, he is poor, and you should tip him with it.
I always leave some unprotected wallets on my computer, with a few Satoshi's, if it get's emptied, I know I have a hacker lurking and I react accordingly. ^Laugh^

[fdylstyx]

Well if your that paranoid use the paper wallet or brain wallet.

I searched the term brain wallet and all I got was this from LibertyOrDeath. Can someone explain how I can create one,
or several?

I expect a self coded encrypted personal phrase that only a head injury or dementia could erase is the
point?

If a little knowledge is dangerous, then even less is reason enough for paranoia. 

[phillipsjk]

Well if your that paranoid use the paper wallet or brain wallet.

I searched the term brain wallet and all I got was this from LibertyOrDeath. Can someone explain how I can create one,
or several?

I expect a self coded encrypted personal phrase that only a head injury or dementia could erase is the
point?

If a little knowledge is dangerous, then even less is reason enough for paranoia.  

Brian wallets are very risky because people hopelessly underestimate the entropy of their pass-phrase.

The most secure way to store Bitcoins is with paper wallets (or something longer lasting like nickel or stainless steel) generated off-line. You should either make two copies and store them in separate locations, or create a multi-signature script/transaction such you need m of n pieces to authorize the transaction (and store those in n locations).

I saw a comment up-thread the some measures such as this may be considered over-kill. Last year around this time the price of Bitcoin went up 1000% in a month or so. If the price of Bitcoin spikes to something like $400,000 per coin, suddenly "use an anti-virus" is going to start looking seriously inadequate for protecting your 5mBTC (now worth $2000).

Bitcoin is game-changing in that it now makes previously impractical attacks profitable. I believe it is only a matter of time before a major software vendor pushes a wallet stealer in a software update. The only way to keep your Bitcoin savings safe is to keep them away from your network-connected machine in the first place.

[fdylstyx]

Well if your that paranoid use the paper wallet or brain wallet.

I searched the term brain wallet and all I got was this from LibertyOrDeath. Can someone explain how I can create one,
or several?

I expect a self coded encrypted personal phrase that only a head injury or dementia could erase is the
point?

If a little knowledge is dangerous, then even less is reason enough for paranoia.  

Brian wallets are very risky because people hopelessly underestimate the entropy of their pass-phrase.

The most secure way to store Bitcoins is with paper wallets (or something longer lasting like nickel or stainless steel) generated off-line. You should either make two copies and store them in separate locations, or create a multi-signature script/transaction such you need m of n pieces to authorize the transaction (and store those in n locations).

I saw a comment up-thread the some measures such as this may be considered over-kill. Last year around this time the price of Bitcoin went up 1000% in a month or so. If the price of Bitcoin spikes to something like $400,000 per coin, suddenly "use an anti-virus" is going to start looking seriously inadequate for protecting your 5mBTC (now worth $2000).

Bitcoin is game-changing in that it now makes previously impractical attacks profitable. I believe it is only a matter of time before a major software vendor pushes a wallet stealer in a software update. The only way to keep your Bitcoin savings safe is to keep them away from your network-connected machine in the first place.

Thanks for the helpful reply phillipsjk. I'd read about inscribing in 2 pieces of metal and stashing them in different locals and that does seem to be likely the safest way. I don't intend on purchasing bitcoin until I know how best to protect them.

I'm inclined to use my BlackBerry to purchase locally but I feel that's just as bad as using my computer. I'm ready to pull the trigger and start accumulating but the more I read the more I'm confused about how not to get scammed between transacting with a temporary wallet to my paper or metal wallet.

A trusted link or two on how to best go about this would be greatly appreciated. I live in Canada and prefer to achieve anonymity, as far acquiring and holding is concerned.

Thanks in advance,

fdyl 

[Rampton]

Everyday I see at least one person complaining of losing their money. To be 100% safe I'd recommend booting from a live linux cd or usb everytime you want to use your coins. I'd say the vast majority of coins stolen are taken from windows computers after they've had a keylogger or some other virus installed.

[phillipsjk]

Thanks for the helpful reply phillipsjk. I'd read about inscribing in 2 pieces of metal and stashing them in different locals and that does seem to be likely the safest way. I don't intend on purchasing bitcoin until I know how best to protect them.

The advantage of paper is that it is cheap and fast. You would only want to only inscribe Hierarchical Deterministic wallet seeds on metal.

I'm inclined to use my BlackBerry to purchase locally but I feel that's just as bad as using my computer. I'm ready to pull the trigger and start accumulating but the more I read the more I'm confused about how not to get scammed between transacting with a temporary wallet to my paper or metal wallet.

A trusted link or two on how to best go about this would be greatly appreciated. I live in Canada and prefer to achieve anonymity, as far acquiring and holding is concerned.

Thanks in advance,

fdyl  

You can send directly to the metal or paper; no need to temporarily store it somewhere else. The hard part would be transcribing the Bitcoin address and then generating a QR code (if needed).

If you have a relatively modern machine, Bitcoin Armory should be good. It supports "watch only" wallets, as well as multi-signature addresses. It relies on Bitcoin core to interact with the network.

Bitcoin.org has a very good Choose your Bitcoin wallet page.

[pooya87]

look into cold storage. i use Electrum so i will explain how to do so in electrum.
the official site: https://electrum.org/
offline transactions: https://electrum.org/tutorials.html#offline-mpk

basically you create the transaction on an offline, safe pc and then move it to an online pcto send out

[4theLOVEofCrypto]

Cold storage that shit!  Without a doubt

[fdylstyx]

Thanks a lot guys, some vibes of trust coming my way from your contributions. Not really paranoid...just not
into catching a bad experience that would push me away from this.

I've got unlimited data usage for my Blackberry 10 (grandfathered) I was lucky I didn't make the original contract
a business designation but as a consumer. Apparently they've phased out free unlimited data on business phones.

So I'm curious, how many gigs would my phone require to be able to take advantage of doing all of this on my phone?
I trust it more than my windows. My phone uses a gmail address as they discontinued @blackberry.com when I upgraded.
I'm wondering if it's all doable using around 10-20 gigs (need some for daily use but I could probably get by allowing 20 gigs
dedicated for BTC usage) what would be a more secure email provider than gmail? I'm guessing there's something better
available for my needs.

Again, thanks for the info, I'll work on my due diligence before deciding which is best for me.

fdyl