Be prepared for the worse

[xBDT Script 4371]

Okay I was asking a question yesterday to the community that "What will you do if a thief takes your hard copy?". Here is the topic.

The goal was to create awareness of about the situation like this and looking at the responses I would say there are enough buzz surrounding it. But my main goal was to discuss about the ways we can do so that we do not see us in a situation like this. How do we do that.

This is how I would do:

1. Instead of one copy, I would print more than one copy of my seed. (say two more copies)

2. I would put one copy in the safe box in a secure place of course (this is where the thief will get the printed copy with other valuable things)

3. The rest two copy will go to the 4 person I know but they do not know each others. I will cut off each paper into two. each side will contain 6 words of my 12 words pass phrase. Each copy will be sending to those each individuals. 

 

This is my way to avoid a situation like I have explained on that topic. Feel free to read that topic if you have not read it and let me know your idea of protecting your asset.

Thank you.

[dentolas 551]

one thing is that I am not sure if the pass phrase will work as the private key does... I think pass phrase will only grant you access to the wallet that has your assets, the private key will allow you access to the asset on it's own blockchain...

If the wallet dissapears for any reason you'll still loose control over your assets...

Am I thinking correctly?

[xBDT Script 4371]

13 minutes ago, dentolas said:

one thing is that I am not sure if the pass phrase will work as the private key does... I think pass phrase will only grant you access to the wallet that has your assets, the private key will allow you access to the asset on it's own blockchain...

Okay I think you had a little confusion about pass phrase and private key. Of course we know we need to have access of the private key it we need to spend the coins we have but Pass phrase is something that binds all the private keys in one wallet so that you do not need to remember or need to copy of all private keys for your wallets.

You hard of HD wallets. Please read here.

Actually in HD wallets we have pass phrase and having the pass phrase means you have the access of all of your private keys.

[dentolas 551]

8 minutes ago, xBDT Script said:

Okay I think you had a little confusion about pass phrase and private key. Of course we know we need to have access of the private key it we need to spend the coins we have but Pass phrase is something that binds all the private keys in one wallet so that you do not need to remember or need to copy of all private keys for your wallets.

You hard of HD wallets. Please read here.

Actually in HD wallets we have pass phrase and having the pass phrase means you have the access of all of your private keys.

I understand how it works, in the end is having all your private keys compacted into a seed phrase, but what if the wallet devs stop the project, bankrupt, or anything like it... the wallet service would be down and you can't recover your keys... or not?

In the end one of the reasons I've started to use Zelcore is because they actually give you control over your keys

[xBDT Script 4371]

3 minutes ago, dentolas said:

what if the wallet devs stop the project, bankrupt, or anything like it... the wallet service would be down and you can't recover your keys... or not?

Wallet service are just a visual interface for us nothing else. The seed you create with Electrum and the addresses you get from there, if you use any other wallet that supports seeds to restore the wallet then you are going to restore the same wallet. 

All the information are saved in the blockchain which is never going to change. So there are no risk at all if a service such as Electrum shut down their wallet.

Edited October 17, 2019 by xBDT Script

[hexwin 4931]

I would make sure to have both backup for my seed words and/or private key and password (if you have it)

Use some metal plates to carve your seed words to protect them from fire, or put backup in multiple safe palces that are protected from fire and water.

 

[xBDT Script 4371]

1 minute ago, hexwin said:

and password

I really do not use password for my wallets. I feel hassle when spending the coins. By the way, I basically a regular bitcoin spender as well. 

If anywhere I see there is a scope to pay using bitcoin then I pay it using bitcoin. I also do gamble in bitcoin featured sites so I do regular tx using bitcoin.

[dentolas 551]

14 minutes ago, xBDT Script said:

Wallet service are just a visual interface for us nothing else. The seed you create with Electrum and the addresses you get from there, if you use any other wallet that supports seeds to restore the wallet then you are going to restore the same wallet. 

All the information are saved in the blockchain which is never going to change. So there are no risk at all if a service such as Electrum shut down their wallet.

hmmmm, now I see... thanks!!! I though that the wallets offering only seed phrase were not so safe, but I wans't understanding the matter correctly

coinomi for example is also a nice one to use... and this one only offers seed phrase... I use it sometimes for small amounts of coins that are not available in other wallets, but I didn't think it was safe enough

[hexwin 4931]

3 minutes ago, xBDT Script said:

I really do not use password for my wallets. I feel hassle when spending the coins. By the way, I basically a regular bitcoin spender as well. 

If anywhere I see there is a scope to pay using bitcoin then I pay it using bitcoin. I also do gamble in bitcoin featured sites so I do regular tx using bitcoin.

Passwords is just one more layer of security... something like people who use multisig wallets.😆
and can be good, like something Ledger have. I don't use it for Electrum, but I could.

[dentolas 551]

4 minutes ago, CryptoBry said:

Maybe I will just make a copy of the seeds and bury it on the ground at the back of my house with no one witnessing. I am sure any thief can find a hard time digging my ground if he is suspecting I buried it. See, there are many things we can do to safeguard our wallet private keys and seeds. 

I though about that.... but if you need to change something, or use a new wallet, you'll have to dig 😁 back to get the new info in there.... or produce a 2.0 version of the list and bury along side...

Seriously, I though about it, there are very nice sealed plastic containers that could do the job... and even if you forget about the place where you put it, you would have the option to dig away until you find it... it's your backyard

if people start doing this, in 50 years we'll hear stories about someone moving to a new home and finding a buried pass phrase

Edited October 17, 2019 by dentolas

[xBDT Script 4371]

4 minutes ago, dentolas said:

hmmmm, now I see... thanks!!! I though that the wallets offering only seed phrase were not so safe, but I wans't understanding the matter correctly

If you have a ledge wallet then you can test it easily. To use the ledger wallet using your electrum wallet you will require the same set of seed that you have created when you were activating your ledger wallet.

You can try the same with your Blockchain wallet too if you have the pass phase however I hard these days they do not give access to the pass phrase anymore.

2 minutes ago, hexwin said:

something like people who use multisig wallets.😆

Haha, I got why you smiled. Well multisig and using pass is two different security level LOL

Edited October 17, 2019 by xBDT Script

[hexwin 4931]

10 minutes ago, xBDT Script said:

Haha, I got why you smiled. Well multisig and using pass is two different security level LOL

Please don't start with multisig thing again sir... I beg you. 🙂

Buy some metal plate instead and carve your seed words to avoid  accidents and worst case.
t can be branded plate or simple cheap, and you use something sharp.

Edited October 17, 2019 by hexwin

[1millionClub 494]

53 minutes ago, wilbertson said:

I prefer making paper wallets, clamming the public and secret keys on my head then i eat the paper. Lost few wallets that way though, but the safest. 😁

Either do a paper wallet and hide it (don't use those online paper wallet creators*) or just memorize/write down your seed words which electrum gives you.

*One of those online wallet creator turned into a scam lately. I forgot which one. (bitaddress or walletgenerator) You better don't use neither.

[Kiddo 36]

2 hours ago, xBDT Script said:

Okay I was asking a question yesterday to the community that "What will you do if a thief takes your hard copy?". Here is the topic.

The goal was to create awareness of about the situation like this and looking at the responses I would say there are enough buzz surrounding it. But my main goal was to discuss about the ways we can do so that we do not see us in a situation like this. How do we do that.

This is how I would do:

1. Instead of one copy, I would print more than one copy of my seed. (say two more copies)

2. I would put one copy in the safe box in a secure place of course (this is where the thief will get the printed copy with other valuable things)

3. The rest two copy will go to the 4 person I know but they do not know each others. I will cut off each paper into two. each side will contain 6 words of my 12 words pass phrase. Each copy will be sending to those each individuals. 

 

This is my way to avoid a situation like I have explained on that topic. Feel free to read that topic if you have not read it and let me know your idea of protecting your asset.

Thank you.

Since I am a bit paranoid with the security of my crypto assets and I am the only one responsible for the crypto I own I keep all my backups under password.

Of course 3-4 copies of my backups.

[xBDT Script 4371]

10 minutes ago, hexwin said:

Please don't start with multisig thing again sir... I beg you. 🙂

Okay I won't for the sake of you 😆 but if anyone ask me about it then I can not resist LOL

9 minutes ago, 1millionClub said:

*One of those online wallet creator turned into a scam lately. I forgot which one. (bitaddress or walletgenerator) You better don't use neither.

You are talking about paper wallet. I too can not remember the name of the site they were putting some codes in there which actually by pass some of the information to them. And a lot of users lost their money in this scam.

[1millionClub 494]

4 minutes ago, xBDT Script said:

Okay I won't for the sake of you 😆 but if anyone ask me about it then I can not resist LOL

You are talking about paper wallet. I too can not remember the name of the site they were putting some codes in there which actually by pass some of the information to them. And a lot of users lost their money in this scam.

It is probably the best to get your private keys on an offline PC from either electrum or bitcoin core wallet. These are the trusted software and you can't get scammed because your PC won't be connected to the internet. I can't think any safer way than this.

[hexwin 4931]

24 minutes ago, 1millionClub said:

It is probably the best to get your private keys on an offline PC from either electrum or bitcoin core wallet. These are the trusted software and you can't get scammed because your PC won't be connected to the internet. I can't think any safer way than this.

I agree with you.  Some people also keep private keys in regular text files, and that is not secure at all.

Maybe using some secured USB drive with password protection and encrypted can be used as backup drive for private key and/or seed words.

Edited October 17, 2019 by hexwin

[1millionClub 494]

Just now, hexwin said:

I agree with you.  Some people also keep private keys in regular text files, and that is not secure at all.

Maybe using some secured USB drive with password protection and encrypted can be used as backup drive for private key and/or seed words.

I heard USB sticks are also not safe. I mean they can get destroyed when they are not used for long times. I should google it to see if it is true or not but I remember I read it not very long ago.

It is probably best to write them on something physical.

[xBDT Script 4371]

3 minutes ago, yhiaali said:

I want ask about Encrypt private key or seed words by some Encrypt and decrypt programs
Is this safe way or not,

You can use PGP encryption. Try this: https://www.gpg4win.org/

If you can do that this this is not a bad way. However make sure that you do not lose the private key to decrypt it or you are going to lose your information.

Thing is that there are a lot of ways to secure your wallet information. One just need to be creative and also very careful when handle it.

[hexwin 4931]

7 minutes ago, 1millionClub said:

I heard USB sticks are also not safe. I mean they can get destroyed when they are not used for long times. I should google it to see if it is true or not but I remember I read it not very long ago.

It is probably best to write them on something physical.

There are USB that are safe and encrypted. They are safer than hardware wallets for sure.

There is no connection with internet. You can keep it in a safe.
Everything is better than keeping it on .txt file

Edited October 17, 2019 by hexwin

[xBDT Script 4371]

1 minute ago, hexwin said:

There are USB that are safe and encrypted. They are safer than hardware wallets for sure.

Have you ever had this experience of the usb drive not working. USB  drives are very fragile however keeping several copy in several format is okay.

So keep them in:

USB

CD

Printed paper

Mobile device (offline)

Any other digital storage (offline)

[hexwin 4931]

3 minutes ago, xBDT Script said:

Have you ever had this experience of the usb drive not working. USB  drives are very fragile however keeping several copy in several format is okay.

So keep them in:

USB

CD

Printed paper

Mobile device (offline)

Any other digital storage (offline)

Most of the times I had CD not working. They are worst for keeping data.

Yes, keeping them in several places and devices is best, with carved plates as most durable, real and safest

Edited October 17, 2019 by hexwin

[xBDT Script 4371]

11 minutes ago, MAK said:

and both know of it and find each other then what will you do now.

This is why you need to make sure that both does not know each others and perhaps lives in different city or even county. Since they will not have any idea of even what this is this - it will be very hard for them to figure the other part.

Obviously you will have some degree of trust to these people.

[Mathers 295]

I have my seed and private keys in multi layers of encrypted documents then zip, rar and 4gz password enabled archives and I stored them on some online drive too, as well as other storage means.

[xBDT Script 4371]

8 minutes ago, Audu514 said:

We are not preparing for the worst than the price we are expecting it to rise to the high instinct nothing more worst than this

You actually did not read my post 😁

I was not talking about bitcoin price of stuffs. It's more about securing ones wallet so that they do not lose their fund for mismanagement.

Everyday we see people are asking questions that they lost their seed, they lost their private keys, they lost the wallet file, they lost their password, someone took their paper wallet information etc. How are you going to prevent this kind of losses? We were basically talking about this things in here.

It has nothing to do with the price.