As we say in bitcoin, not your keys, not your coins, and the threat of losing your money on an exchange is an ever-present one. It could be through faulty security measures or the fact that exchanges are not exactly renowned for being fully collateralized or honest with client funds.
Regardless of what you think of exchanges, the fact that bitcoin allows you to take custody of your money is a revolutionary action everyone should take if they want to reap the benefits of the system.
Now taking control of your funds requires you to take personal responsibility and spend some money on security measures. You would need a cold storage device to create an off-line air-gapped set of private keys. Once you've done that you will want to secure your keys on something that cannot easily be accessed or destroyed like a steel seed phrase plate.
Once you're hodl set up is ready to go, you might not be tempted to touch those funds, but others may, there is always a point of failure that you need to consider, and one of them could be family.
Not everyone learns to lower their time preference
I read this article about a son trying to steal his father's bitcoin and that's the reality of the world. You can't trust anyone, even those in your inner circle, the temptation of wealth will expose the weak ones around you, the ones who aren't willing to put in the work and they become a very real threat as your bitcoin stash becomes a bigger honey pot.
There are of course options you can use like setting up a private multi-sig address and using this wallet which splits your keys, setting up child wallets under a primary key or setting up a duress wallet to protect some of your funds.
Bitcoin is all about security and there are options to protect yourself in the case of an internal attack on your funds. Yes I know it can be annoying adding all these safety measures because it gives you more work to manage, but you need to consider how much your bitcoin means to you.
The harder you make it for yourself to use, the harder you make it for others to access.
It really is up to you how you secure your bitcoin and any fragility in your setup can and will be exploited so you need to be careful and consider all the angles.
Are you taking the steps to protect your bitcoin? If so, which ones, and if not, why haven't you?
Have your say
What do you good people of HIVE think?
So have at it my Jessies! If you don't have something to comment, "I am a Jessie."
Let's connect
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The last time I change my private keys was on STEEM, been thinking of changing my HIVE keys of late as a precautionary measure.
The responsibility lies with us in keeping our funds safe as possible form hacks...
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All hive keys are hot keys, so they're potentially always at risk, what you ideally want are keys that are generated offline and air-gapped from a device with an internet connection. Changing your keys on a internet-connected device is just security theatre
I feel ok at the moment with the system I have. But I'm trying to come up with a solution for when I'll travel more and of course, still need to be able to access my crypto. I don't want to walk around carrying a cold storage device all of the time, haha.
Perhaps you can look at having a multi-sig set up, so you can keep one key and have another key with another signer, so you always need 2 of the 3 keys to sign a transaction so even if your wallet is stolen with the keys no single person can move the funds
You can also add things like duress wallets where funds are split based on how many additional seed phrases you add or you can set up child wallets and just keep the main seed safe somewhere so you can always change access on those child accounts if one becomes compromised
Wow, you are really an expert on this 🙂 I'll bookmark this post so I can reference it later. Thanks for the advice.
Lol thanks totally just learning as I go, i've made all the mistakes first hand and got burned so I tend to be on the extra careful side, always happy to help if you have any questions
I know I'll lose some crypto at some point. I just hope it won't be a lot.
Thank you. I'll keep that in mind 🙂
“The harder you make it for yourself to use, the harder you make it for others to access.” - so apt and logical, one needs to be cybersecurity conscious. It is of great importance..
The world is only getting more digital, you have to acquire these skills if you want to make the most of where the world is going
i changed my hive keys and also always check the type of key an application is looking for what i use any application built on hive. Never give them active key if you dont trust.
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That’s all good and well but you’re still storing your keys on an internet connected device I could gain access to your mobile phone or computer and then have access to your keys so changing your keys might help for external threats but not internal
Indeed, great notice
You can never be too careful when it comes to your bitcoin
As long as people aren't scared off from buying and hodl'ing.
You have to pay for security and encryption hardware to keep your crypto safe in cold storage.
But you also have to pay for an RFID blocking wallet to keep your credit and debit cards safe when you go shopping in the high street.
You have to hope that your wallet doesn't physically get lost or stolen and your cash and cards are taken.
You have to hope that your Dow/FTSE/Nasdaq/Nikkei share portfolio goes up, and not down. Or that companies you invested in go bust. Or there is a crash in the market.
You have to hope that your bank doesn't go bust (especially if you are over the FSCS protection value).
What I am trying to say is that people shouldn't be scared of cold storage of crypto. There is a risk to everything - even fiat currency and "normal" methods of investment - and you should balance your own risk.
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In all wealth there is risk for sure and you have to decide which ones you prefer, the personal responsibility kind or the third party kind. I prefer taking it on myself since theres more control, even if you lose or destory your hardware wallet you should have back ups, you should have a mutli-sig option and you should have duress wallets set up to protect as much of your wealth as possible.
If we compare bitcoin to any other asset, it's got the most security of anything out there
Damn that’s fucked, a son trying to steal his dads bitcoin. That would generate such a backhand..! Lol
One thing I’m scared to do is update my cold wallet software on the device itself. I have to delete the bitcoin app to do so and that makes me nervous lol I know I have my recovery phrase and all but damn. I don’t want to enter that anywhere if I don’t have to.
Lol I never get used to it either, sweat bullets when I need to use my private key, but I've set it up now with an X-pub so i've got enough addresses so I never need to sign to create a new address, have them all ready to go and since its only going in, I don't need my keys since im not signing out UTXOs
I would like to add some more layers of security though, as my stash becomes more valuable
I think I'm gonna buy a second wallet so that I can transfer it there, update and transfer back. I don't know if that's adding an unnecessary layer but I've wanted to get a second one anyway so I can have two places to store.
Always good to have 2, in fact you can even use the two as multi-sig signers so you need 1 of the 2 keys on your cold wallet and a hot key you keep on lets say a software wallet to sign your transactions, it may be complex but the amount of security you adding is miles better and protects you in case of loss or damage of 1 of your seed phrases
Protecting your wallet, that's the reason we need to verify any wallet before sending our Crypto because many wallet are easily hack by hackers.
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and how many people bother to verify the software they use? or the device lol they don't and they will get burned
That's the problem
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I agree with you completely being secure is important, and cold storage is the way.