Security question: safely storing coins

singula

sr. member

Activity: 462

Merit: 251

For hot wallet actively used - yes.
For cold walled just sitting for years in the bank and not used - there is risk of forgetting if the password is not used elsewhere. I lost some data because of this in the past - date encrypted, password forgotten. Not something really important (I had no need for that in several years), but that taught me a lesson

So maybe it'll be worth to have the wallet password same or similar as for some other local offline stuff (like password for full disk encryption or for the hot wallet - anything that is not transmitted anywhere online) - slightly larger risk in revealing the password, but much smaller risk in forgetting the password. Though it depends on how good is your memory

arcke

newbie

Activity: 46

Merit: 0

Quote from: singula on January 05, 2014, 04:10:08 PM

Possible, but they you have to balance this risks:

the less places your bitcoins are stored at, the more likely you'll lose your coins (robbery, defective media, fire, flood, ...)

the more places your bitcoins are stored at, the more likely you'll lose your coins if someone steals it - though a strong password on the data can thwart that quite effectively (unless you forget the password of course - if the box is in storage for few years and you have not written the password down - there may be quite some trouble remembering what actually have you used as the password).

Every time you unlock your wallet you train memory of the passphrase. I kow from experience that a passphrased used for 6 months on a regular basis will probably never be forgotten by me. I have recalled passphrases not used for 5 years just because I used them a lot back then.

kalus

sr. member

Activity: 420

Merit: 263

let's make a deal.

Quote from: xploited on January 05, 2014, 03:41:56 PM

Am I the only one who sees the irony of storing you bitcoins in a bank?

But yes, it's possible

no, but lol

singula

sr. member

Activity: 462

Merit: 251

Possible, but they you have to balance this risks:

the less places your bitcoins are stored at, the more likely you'll lose your coins (robbery, defective media, fire, flood, ...)

the more places your bitcoins are stored at, the more likely you'll lose your coins if someone steals it - though a strong password on the data can thwart that quite effectively (unless you forget the password of course - if the box is in storage for few years and you have not written the password down - there may be quite some trouble remembering what actually have you used as the password).

Markov

sr. member

Activity: 258

Merit: 250

Breizh Atao

Have a look at Armoury, yes it can be done if you want

arcke

newbie

Activity: 46

Merit: 0

Quote from: jdndndndx on January 05, 2014, 03:37:25 PM

Is it possible to regularly remove coins from a wallet and place them in a separate wallet, then move the wallet to encrypted physical media, then put into a safety deposit box at a bank?

Yeah, I'm paranoid as hell, but I'd rather have a several safety deposit boxes full of encrypted media, than an empty wallet.

I backup my wallet encrypted with a strong passphrase on two separate services. In my case I use two email providers and sometimes send myself two emails with the wallet in it.

This is additional security to having two separate machines at home in the case of theft or fire.

xploited

sr. member

Activity: 304

Merit: 252

CLAM Dev

Am I the only one who sees the irony of storing you bitcoins in a bank?

But yes, it's possible

Nullu

hero member

Activity: 532

Merit: 500

I believe it's called cold storage, and sure, you can store your cold storage coins wherever you like.

Not sure about multiple wallets, though. You could do it with 2 machines for sure, not sure what the most efficient way to do it with 1 machine would be.

jdndndndx

newbie

Activity: 28

Merit: 0

Is it possible to regularly remove coins from a wallet and place them in a separate wallet, then move the wallet to encrypted physical media, then put into a safety deposit box at a bank?

Yeah, I'm paranoid as hell, but I'd rather have a several safety deposit boxes full of encrypted media, than an empty wallet.

Topic: Security question: safely storing coins (Read 431 times)