first question: Can an earlier unencrypted wallet.dat file be stolen and used to access an encrypted wallet?
Second question: when unlocking my wallet for minting there is a check box 'minting only', with some notes regarding security only stopping coin withdrawal. How secure is a wallet while minting?
Third question: is an encrypted wallet secure enough to store on google drive or other cloud storage for recovery purposes?
Thanks in advance,
chilo
1.) yes all old unenencrypted wallet.dat or with old low secure password should be destroyed
encryption only affect wallet.dat for the blockchain/network each wallet.dat and its stored private keys are equal
it doesnt know that u encrypted some so all old unencrypted ones still work
for the savety of a encryption password the lenght of it and amount of used letter kategories is most important
u can mix a short high secure passphrase with a lot simple to remember words example
thisismysupersecretpasswordXY!1682CyGZandnoonewilleasyhackitNONONO
2.) only gui of wallet is secured so if someone have keyboard access to ur PC he cant make a transaction without key required
someone with knowledge to interact with a wallet without need for GUI have full access to a unlocked wallet
so always make sure the PC u run ur minting wallet is save
we know there is a comunity project in work to create a rasperry pi (banana pi) based wallet minicomputer with high security settings
(this is a weakness all POS coins share but we will try find a solution for it, at least we point out the truth and dont hide the facts like some others do)
3.) that deepend how much u trust the cloud storage to be save a good long wallet pasdsword will take long long time to crack but we know computer power increase some uncrackable difficult encryption might be a 5 min job in 3 years....... and a wallet dat stolen from u today can even if unhackable today be user in 5 or 10 years too when its crackable............
my hint is to never store them as a wallet.dat file
who would care to analyze and crack a somehow "corrupted" babysaymama.mp3 file?
if u understand that hint....... hide ur backup filenames that have no sign about wallet.dat visible
the amount of data is a great protection
a malware would most likely scan ur PC for any wallet.dat but dont be able identify wallets with changes names
im sure there a lot more security tips existing this is just a fast brainstorming from my side