Jump to: , Contents 1 2 3 4 Modern operating systems are highly complexity, leading to a large attack surface.They also constantly leak information without the user’s knowledge or consent.No matter how many precautions you take, it is very hard to ensure your wallets is reasonably secure on an Internet connected computer.Because Bitcoins can be stored directly on your computer and because they are real money, the motivation for sophisticated and targeted attacks against your system is very high.Previously, only large organizations had to worry about advanced attacks.The bitcoin ecosystem is still relatively young and unfortunately not many user friendly and highly secure wallets have been developed yet.Today these are the two best ways to secure your bitcoins against theft: 1.Using a hardware wallet such as TREZOR.A hardware wallet has two functions - it stores your Bitcoins in a hardened device that is designed to be simple and highly resistant to the usual range of attacks (viruses, hackers, keyloggers).

Create a cold storage wallet using BitKey.Cold storage wallets generates and stores private wallet keys on a clean air-gapped computer.Used correctly, an air-gapped wallet is safe from all online threats, such as viruses and hackers.It is however still exposed to offline threats, such as hardware keyloggers, extortion, or people looking over your shoulder.To spend funds from cold storage securely, an unsigned transaction is generated on an Internet connected computer.An unsigned transaction is akin to to an unsigned check.The unsigned transaction is then transfered to the air-gapped computer to be verified & signed with the wallet keys.Using a cold storage wallet on an air-gapped computer may seem tedious, but remember that security almost always comes at the cost of convenience.When you deposit money at a bank, you let them worry about security.Bitcoins, however, are stored on your computer and that means you are fully responsible for securing them.Unfortunately, most people are not security experts, which means it's very hard for them to fully understand the risks.

This increases the risk of making a fatal mistake that will result in Bitcoin theft.For example, paper wallets are typically generated by potentially compromised PCs connected to the Internet, then printed for offline storage.This is not enough as malware running on the computer may steal your private keys and then later steal any Bitcoin you send to that address.Many Internet connected printers also save printed documents to memory.There used to be no other way to setup an offline wallet than to do it from scratch.Today there are solutions such as BitKey that can help simplify the process.If you're still interested in doing things the hard way, the rest of this guide will instruct you on how to create an offline wallet by hand.Watch Bitcoin address is a way for you to check your cold storage balance online without exposing your private key.SatoshiLabs has released an update to the beta version of TREZOR Password Manager (TPM).With this update we have squashed a few bugs and implemented a user friendly auto-fill.Auto-Fill Function — Login from the Context MenuWith your TREZOR device plugged in and your TREZOR Password Manager extension active (open) in the background, you can browse your favorite TPM-saved websites and log in with a simple right click.The TREZOR will prompt you to confirm the choice on the device, and then fill the login form for you.

Easy and secure!Right-click to loginConfirm on the deviceSuccess!You Asked, We Listened!In a poll on which cloud storage service should be integrated, the majority of you chose Google Drive as the next supported cloud for the Password Manager.With the release of the new beta version of the TPM, you can connect your TREZOR to Drive.Functionality-wise, there is no difference between Dropbox and Drive, the database remains stored under /Apps/TREZOR Password Manager/.bitcoin byte order to Slush Pool, the world’s first bitcoin mining pool.Sharebitcoin to ether exchangeAn easy way to payfriends and family Data encryption All your financial information in Google Wallet is encrypted and stored on Google’s protected servers in secure locations.bitcoin exchange ipo

Fraud protection Google Wallet comes with 24/7 fraud monitoring and covers 100% of all verified unauthorized transactions.When something went wrong …I will tell only a few possible stories that are waiting for you in the case of lack of computer literacy:If you catch some “shit” in an attempt to generate a license key for some extremely desirable game.This software will scan your hard disk, then it will find the private key.cafe accepting bitcoinAfter a few milliseconds a new transaction appears on the bitcoin network that will take all of your hard-earned moneyIf your email provider will loose the database of its users.bitcoin bits to btcThen some guy John will buy it in the darknet and quickly begin to run different semantic analyzers.hire bitcoin developers

After a couple of hours, it will lead to the disappearance of all bitcoins from all of the services that use authorization via email, after a couple of hours.In other case, some guy Peter, who works for Google and has a admin rights (like Snowden had) simply steal your Bitcoins from some service.And nobody will notice that.Will be like magic.Some virtual exchange, where all of your crypt is stored will disappear along with all the money.bitcoin online handelExactly what Mt.Gox did and dozens of others.If you catch some trojan in the process of hunting for a cool porn.ethereum apple stockIt can encrypt all the files on the hard disk.ethereum lostAfterwards it will find all links to your wallets and it quickly realize how much money you have and how much money it can demand from you.

If you wan’t pay your hard drive will not be decrypted.This is a tragic scenario.After all, you can’t even send money to this hacker, because your keys will stay on an encrypted hard drive!If you lose your unencrypted laptop or phone.If you catch a clever Keylogger, none of your activities will save you from epic fail.If you will get an email from the service where your crypto-money stored.However the name of website is not blockchain.info but, for example, blokchain.info, and all will look identical.If you click on the link and successfully authorise it, simultaneously your bitcoins will disappear.One morning you will wake up without your money because the NSA agent will take advantage of some delicious backdoor in Windows operating system.If you decide to transfer cash to the smart contract that you think will do what it supposed to do, in fact, it will do something else.So this smart contract turned out to be smarter than you are.Clearly, this is not a complete list.But maybe it will give you some ideas when something goes wrong.

Now you see, cryptocurrencies — is not bucks.You are fully responsible for it’s safety.Neither Jesus Christ nor the Pope, nor Vladimir Putin nor Donald Trump will not be able to help you if you do something wrong.But those guys can’t take your money if you do everything in a right way.With great power comes great responsibility.My overall recommendation is to increase computer literacy.A specific recommendation is act strictly according to instructions without unnecessary actions.What kind of wallets I do not recommend to use?Here is one basic rule:Do not give ANYONE your private key.This means - do not use any of these wallets:Online web wallets, like blockchain.info, Coinbase, etc.In generally, all wallets which keep the private key on their servers.Any hot wallets.Any app on computer or phone which is used with Internet connection.It can be used with small amounts to make payments, but not for storing your whole money.Use Cold StorateCold storage in the context of Bitcoin refers to keeping a reserve of Bitcoins offline.Methods of cold storage include keeping bitcoins:On a USB drive or other storage mediaOn a Paper walletOn a bearer item such as a physical bitcoin.Use a offline Bitcoin Hardware walletMy scheme.I will share my own method which I use.

The main thing to understand is the basic rule:Do not give ANYONE your private key.Step 1 — Create a bootable USB flash drive Create a bootable USB flash drive with permanent encrypted storage.Tails will be perfect, because it has an Electrum (Bitcoin wallet) and encryption in box.Set up two passwords for login and for encryption.Tutorial hereStep 2 — Create a cold wallet.Load with Tails (without the Internet).Create your cold wallet using Electrum.Come up with a complex password and write down 12–13 words (seed) on paper or think of something other place.This seed — is your money!!!These 12 words will allow you to regain access to the wallet from any computer in the future.You must also select the check box on the option “View Transaction Before Signing” in the wallet Settings.Thus, you will cause Electrum to show the transaction details before enter a password (i.e.signature) and send the transaction to the network.Step 3 — Create a “watch-only” wallet in the main OS or mobile phone.Copy your Bitcoin public address from Electrum into a text document on a flash drive and shutdown the Tails.Create a ‘watch-only’ wallet using your public address in any wallet app you like on main OS or on mobile phone.Now we can view the balance of our Bitcoins but can’t spend them.Step 4–Spend Bitcoins in a secured wayTo send your Bitcoins in a secured way: run Tails again (do not use Internet).Then make the transaction > a window will appear (as we have enabled the checkbox ““View Transaction Before Signing”).At first click “Sign” and then when you enter the password, click “Save”.

Do not send the transaction to the network and do not enable internet, just copy the transaction file to the flash drive.Start in the main OS > Open your wallet > In the menu choose something like “Load transaction from file” > load the signed transaction from a flash drive > and push “Broadcast” buttonThus the signed transaction is sent to the Blockchain from the ‘watch-only’ wallet, and your private key is not leaked anywhere from your Tails usb.Very important.Always check address AFTER you have copied it in the field.Just going back to wallet, remember the first 2 digits and last 2, and then go to the form and check whether these are the numbers that you copied!First, we sometimes make mistakes.Practice shows that quite often.Second, now there are so smart viruses that will determine when you copied the bitcoin address to the clipboard, and replace it to another address.What about other cryptocurrencies?The same logic can be used in relation to all other cryptocurrencies.I agree that this scheme is not the most comfortable to use, because you need to make a lot of manipulations with multiple OS and usb devices.If you are looking for a good usability — look at buying a hardware wallet.

These hardware wallets works by scheme described above, but also they have some unique advantages:private keys are often stored in a protected area of a microcontroller, and cannot be transferred out of the device in plaintextimmune to computer viruses that steal from software walletscan be used securely and interactively, as opposed to a paper wallet which must be imported to software at some pointYou can feel like James BondSome of these wallets support not only Bitcoin but also Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin, ZCash, DASH, Stratis.And also it has integrations with many wallet apps like Electrum, BitGo, Copay, GreenBit and others.If you ignored all of the above, or strongly believe to other people, or really appreciate the convenience or maybe all at once — you can even make a credit card linked to your bitcoin wallet.That’s all.I hope you got the main rule.Please, write your comments and questions below.And one more thing: let’s spread the knowledge.Recommend and Share this article.