Bitcoin and the whole cryptocoin space has become interesting for me for past few months. During this time, I bought a Trezor. Looking through the documentation after I was introduced to it online by reading about Bitcoin best practices, the value proposition became clearer and clearer over time, that I felt that it was basically a bargain at $99.
The natural progression from owning your private keys (you don't own your Bitcoin unless you have the private keys) to keeping the private keys on the Trezor was extremely interesting. I am no security expert, but that does not excuse me from being ignorant to certain realities about what my data is about. However, to add to this ...
You can do more with your Trezor: store an encrypted file of passwords that can only be opened with the the Trezor, log into sites that support U2F, generate SSH keys, etc. This has opened up a whole world for me: you know that not only Bitcoin has value, but passwords and login credentials do too. In fact, if the passwords are important enough, they have direct monetary value.
Think about the passwords we generate: for our credit card accounts, for our bank accounts, etc. Some of us deploy services if through SSH or must access private version controlled repositories of code: those keys have value too. Depending on the context, they are prizes for those who wish to crack into our systems.
For this, there can be multiple points of failure in our personal security regime: we might get social engineered, we might fall for phishing scams, we might even, in a worst-case scenario, be kidnapped and forced to give up something of value. However, for this important type of data, the Trezor is a point-of-failure with extremely diminishing returns. It diminishes more if you set a passphrase, for example, on specific Bitcoin accounts on top of your 24 other words used to generate the private keys. In the docs, they say that they cannot prevent the $5 wrench attack (you don't give up the PIN, you will be whacked on the head with a $5 wrench.)
Now, tell me if I am wrong in any way, but I think this is a really good and has made me think more about what this all means. I am trying to find fault in my approach: smart use of the Trezor can apply to many scenarios where private keys that represent things that have direct or indirect monetary value are kept safe.
Any thoughts on this?
well thanks a lot for sharing.. i've been thinking for a while now wether to buy one of those or not.. i really think im buying like today or tomorrow.. every time i see it, its more awesome.. and yes.. all this crypto stuff will continue to gain value, and we can not continue to simple store them in the phone or in the laptop.... we definitively need another layer of security...
again.. thanks @bigpeopleareold!!!
The social implications of cryptography have been stunning. Not only Bitcoin and friends, but all what has occurred in the past 20-30 years. SSH, PGP, secure email, etc. etc. These little devices are another step: your data is yours to keep and to share.
Agree, i think im gonna follow you!!! yup... done!!!
have a good one!!!
Great testimonial. I will re-steem
Thanks!
generating proper private keys was the 1st thing i learned when i entered the Bitcoin Space. And yes Trezor is a great tool for it. The funny thing is that Trezor is just an access point by hardware. The Keys are the actual thing which carry your Bitcoins value.
Yep, this nails it in a few short sentences. The keys are the medium of value here.
I believe you can setup another account on your Trezor with its own PIN... load it up with enough BTC to satisfy that wrench wielder, and live another day. I will mess with this sometime in the nearish future. But I sure wouldn't walk around with my Trezor or Nano S hanging on a lanyard around my neck!
Don't wear it around your neck is like not waving around cash in front of people :D
Buy a Trezor. It makes keeping your private keys safe easier.