Private keys really need to be strongly encrypted. Like, yesterday. At the moment theft is much too easy considering how potentially profitable it is. I should have to enter in my passphrase every time I want to send bitcoins---a forgotten passphrase is unlikely if it's used frequently enough.
And there ought to be an automatic backup system as well. Right now I have an encrypted wallet.dat in my Dropbox which I update periodically (I deliberately produced a lot of keys up front), but I don't trust my mother or aunt to remember to do something like this. Even a centralized backup server is better than nothing.
Topic: Most people are not capable of keeping their wallets safe? - page 3. (Read 6090 times)
You'd see the following things:
1) Trojans/viruses/exploits getting to the wallet file. If I understand correctly, this file is unencrypted, so anyone who takes this file can take control of your wallet.
2) People may lose their wallet. Their computer crashes, they accidentally delete it, etc... Bye bye Bitcoins forever.
3) People will encrypt stuff, but forget the password and screw themselves.
Anything else that you would expect a casual user to screw up?
1) Trojans/viruses/exploits getting to the wallet file. If I understand correctly, this file is unencrypted, so anyone who takes this file can take control of your wallet.
2) People may lose their wallet. Their computer crashes, they accidentally delete it, etc... Bye bye Bitcoins forever.
3) People will encrypt stuff, but forget the password and screw themselves.
Anything else that you would expect a casual user to screw up?
If Alice owes Bob 100 btc and her wallet contains exactly 100 btc, she may just email him her wallet.dat.
Now it's stored unencrypted in both parties email accounts...
Plus Bob possibly now gets any future money intended for Alice as he has those old keys.
I suspect that the biggest problem will be trojans/viruses/exploits if wallet remains unencrypted. This should be addressed ASAP.
As to the other two points, backing up and remembering your password are trivial tasks. It's not 80's anymore - computers are here to stay and will become increasingly bigger part of our lives. We should learn to interact with them.
As to the other two points, backing up and remembering your password are trivial tasks. It's not 80's anymore - computers are here to stay and will become increasingly bigger part of our lives. We should learn to interact with them.
did Mtgox and Mybitcoin get hacked?
I suspect that the biggest problem will be trojans/viruses/exploits if wallet remains unencrypted. This should be addressed ASAP.
As to the other two points, backing up and remembering your password are trivial tasks. It's not 80's anymore - computers are here to stay and will become increasingly bigger part of our lives. We should learn to interact with them.
As to the other two points, backing up and remembering your password are trivial tasks. It's not 80's anymore - computers are here to stay and will become increasingly bigger part of our lives. We should learn to interact with them.
There is already MyBitcoin, but then we have seen with MtGox that services like this are already being targeted.
can u elaborate on what u mean by this?
There is already MyBitcoin, but then we have seen with MtGox that services like this are already being targeted.
Right now there are a lot of technology geeks involved, so most people are capable. But if BitCoins were to spread to a more widestream appeal, most people wouldn't be able to safely keep track of their wallets.
You'd see the following things:
1) Trojans/viruses/exploits getting to the wallet file. If I understand correctly, this file is unencrypted, so anyone who takes this file can take control of your wallet.
2) People may lose their wallet. Their computer crashes, they accidentally delete it, etc... Bye bye Bitcoins forever.
3) People will encrypt stuff, but forget the password and screw themselves.
Anything else that you would expect a casual user to screw up?
Those two things are real deal breakers that I would recommend to people who were not computer geeks to NOT use BitCoins, just because they would be incapable of having a good experience with them almost all of the time.
Some people have said "fools and their money should be parted, so this parts them faster", but I disagree. We are the small minority and we cannot expect Joe Sixpack or Grandma to ever learn anything about computer security or backing up files. Even knowing what to do, it would be a lot nicer if it was done for me automatically.
As the market matures, these issues will be solved. But I would expect either an enhanced client for those types of users (clearly not a priority now), or some type of more centralized service for those types to keep from shooting themselves in the foot.
Are there any other common scenarios where someone would really shoot themselves in the foot?
You'd see the following things:
1) Trojans/viruses/exploits getting to the wallet file. If I understand correctly, this file is unencrypted, so anyone who takes this file can take control of your wallet.
2) People may lose their wallet. Their computer crashes, they accidentally delete it, etc... Bye bye Bitcoins forever.
3) People will encrypt stuff, but forget the password and screw themselves.
Anything else that you would expect a casual user to screw up?
Those two things are real deal breakers that I would recommend to people who were not computer geeks to NOT use BitCoins, just because they would be incapable of having a good experience with them almost all of the time.
Some people have said "fools and their money should be parted, so this parts them faster", but I disagree. We are the small minority and we cannot expect Joe Sixpack or Grandma to ever learn anything about computer security or backing up files. Even knowing what to do, it would be a lot nicer if it was done for me automatically.
As the market matures, these issues will be solved. But I would expect either an enhanced client for those types of users (clearly not a priority now), or some type of more centralized service for those types to keep from shooting themselves in the foot.
Are there any other common scenarios where someone would really shoot themselves in the foot?
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