Questions about Bitcoin security and wallets

a reply to: darkbake

Exodus should have a passphrase as well as a password. Store that passphrase somewhere safe. Iota has their own walllet, dunno about ripple. You can store your BTC, Eth and LTC on Exodus as well.

It's difficult to hack the wallets but not impossible. Safest way is to store them on an offline machine.

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
a reply to: Arbitrageur

Now that is some serious wealth distribution!

That was "only" $70 million in losses, but Mt Gox was at least 5 times that. They say the bitcoin protocol is secure but that Mt Gox had some flaws in their software and they may not be the only exchange to have flaws:

Mt. Gox Bitcoin Meltdown: What Went Wrong

There is also a lot of bitcoin-stealing malware out there:

Bitcoin-Stealing Malware: Now In 100 Flavors

RSA CONFERENCE 2014 -- San Francisco -- For just $35, you can buy a popular, specialized malware tool that steals Bitcoins and other such electronic currency -- and researchers have unearthed more than 100 different malware families that specialize in this form of theft.

Dell SecureWorks researchers Joe Stewart and Pat Litke discovered 80 of those cryptocurrency-stealing malware families in the past year as thieves clamor to cash in on the growing use of digital currency. Some of the malware variants are custom, while others are cranked out via malware-generator tools, but, either way, the average rate of detection across all antivirus tools is just below 50%, the researchers said at the RSA Conference this week.

Less than a 50% chance of your antivirus tool detecting the bitcoin-stealing malware isn't too good, is it?

a reply to: Arbitrageur

That's really bad, and I imagine the thieves are tirelessly working on new and improved ways of stealing coins.

It's amazing how something that is mass-less and weighs nothing, that you can't see, can't feel, can't touch, can't smell, can't hear, could be worth more than all the tangible assets that have these other properties.

That's the power of the human mind.

I mean, I can understand,

A piece of music, has value because I can "hear" it.
Perfumes have value, because we can "smell" it.
Gold has value, because we can "touch" it.
Art Painting has value, because we can "see" it.
Sex has value, because we can "feel" it.

But, bitcoin? Well, bitcoin has value, because we can "imagine" it.

And that's the amazing thing.

a reply to: nOraKat

If you are really bothered. Learn to use pgp encrpyion. Boot up tails run tor under a vp. Encypt your seed and upload it somewhere safe online. No one will be able to trace you or know where you have put it and you can keep your pgp key in plain site.

originally posted by: JinMI
a reply to: darkbake

Exodus should have a passphrase as well as a password. Store that passphrase somewhere safe. Iota has their own walllet, dunno about ripple. You can store your BTC, Eth and LTC on Exodus as well.

It's difficult to hack the wallets but not impossible. Safest way is to store them on an offline machine.

Esodux

Not open source, allows week passwords, easy to steel seed from screen, repeats use of same addresses and run by a private company. Poor security :-)

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
a reply to: Arbitrageur

Now that is some serious wealth distribution!

DANN COMMIES!
...always after me lucky charms...

a reply to: purplemer

Reasonable assessment. 'Easy' is rather subjective if were honest however and the addresses aren't something you want to post often, agreed. However:

Encypt your seed and upload it somewhere safe online.

No..no.....no, and no...NO!

a reply to: JinMI

No..no.....no, and no...NO!

Why No

a reply to: purplemer

Where is safe online?

What encryption is safe, especially with quantum computing en route?

Even exposing yourself to safe methods of putting it online is risk. Two big points of failure.

It's best to print or write down the seed key and store it safely offline. Better yet, in your own head! That's extremely difficult for most folks, myself included.

Imagine...

You've made a wise investment in bitcoin....

Your bitcoin has boomed in value...


Then, the governments shut down the internet.

What then?

a reply to: trollz

just write it down on paper, but obfuscate it with a cypher you alone know the key to, its easier then it sounds and useful for many things.

a reply to: AMPTAH

Then your problems span to a much larger degree than what Bitcoin is doing.

originally posted by: JinMI
a reply to: purplemer

Where is safe online?

What encryption is safe, especially with quantum computing en route?

Even exposing yourself to safe methods of putting it online is risk. Two big points of failure.

It's best to print or write down the seed key and store it safely offline. Better yet, in your own head! That's extremely difficult for most folks, myself included.

PGP encyption is safe. As soon as they can bust that they can bust the coin encryption. Use something like protonmail. Its encypted on the server and you can double encrpyt it with pgp. No one is going to touch that. If peeps dont know where it is it safe. You can then leave your pgp in plain site.

But you are right. Best in your head. I dont trust mine though.

a reply to: purplemer

A simple program like Steganos Locknote is reasonably secure with AES256 encryption for simple text files. The resulting executable file could then be encrypted with PGP to make it virtually unbreakable. Store the file in multiple locations so your data can survive most common calamities (theft, fire, hardware failure etc)

originally posted by: JinMI
a reply to: AMPTAH

Then your problems span to a much larger degree than what Bitcoin is doing.

My life doesn't depend on the internet.

Not yet, anyway.

I can still do my banking in person, even though I do most of it online.

I can still go to the cinema and see a movie, even though I do more movie watching via internet.

I can still go to the bookstore and buy books, even though amazon.com is now my primary source.

I still get the occasional letter in my mail box, even though email is what I mostly use.

I don't buy newspapers anymore, but I still can if there's no internet for news.

In fact, if the governments all shut down the entire internet, I'd probably save a lot of money.

It's access and awareness of all the products out there that I see via the internet that has increased my spending.

Life before the internet was much less hectic.

It was actually livable.

Today, it's all rush. Rush to read this email, facebook message or post, twitter following, tons of merchant sites sending me ads in my email box, unlimited online news sites to "check" to see how things are going in the world, multiple forums to follow posts and threads...my mind is going 24/7 from on thing to the next. People are even walking down the road and watching the tiny screens on their cell phones, instead of taking in the 3-D scenery. They have become "reduced" to one dimensional text messaging. Life has "shrunk".

Now there's bitcoin to watch.

Used to be my money was "just bank it and forget it." But, with bitcoin, I have to watch my money every minute of the day, and follow what my money is doing.

Life is not getting any simpler with all this technology.

It's just getting harder to understand. More difficult to make "good and wise" decisions.

a reply to: Arbitrageur

[ex..]the company has posted that they will distribute losses amongst all users to the tune of 36.067%

Thats messed up. If they lost the coin, they should eat it up.

a reply to: nOraKat


Have you heard from customer service at coinspot yet ? I'm beginning to think theres no one running it well not a real person anyway.

a reply to: Arbitrageur

Holy cow -

TOKYO – When Mt. Gox, the world’s largest bitcoin trading exchange, collapsed in early 2014, more than 24,000 customers around the world lost access to hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency and cash. More than three years later, with the price of bitcoin skyrocketing to more than $7,000, not a single customer has recouped a single cent, crypto or otherwise.

MT Gox customers lose their money

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

I still have not gotten a human reply.

My money is going in a personal wallet