Topic: Steelwallets and Airport Security - Potential Exposure Concerns - page 2. (Read 626 times)

There are millions who don't have a fixed home, that rent their house or apartment so leaving something precious in a location where the landlord can come at any time and go through your things is just as bad, there are people who leave the months at a time, there are digital nomads and so on!
It's not like everyone is using planes only to go on a two-week trip at the seaside.


But that's actually worse, your laptop for sure will be a target for a thief, a few metal plates for which you only know the exact order can easily be discarded by almost everyone.

Why is everyone fixated on a piece of metal? I would never carry a seed phrase on a piece of metal with me. Are you afraid that a volcano will erupt near you, a worldwide sweat will occur, or an alien will spew its acid onto a steel plate? The metal seed phrase is necessary for local storage, and in order to carry it with you (which I would not do unless absolutely necessary) at airports, can use materials that are less noticeable to detectors. For example, engrave seed phrases on the plastic case of a laptop (or other device) on the inside*. Notice in the x-ray where the plastic casing becomes invisible. It is unlikely that the security service will disassemble your laptop during an inspection. This can be used as a temporary way of transporting seed phrases if a given task arises, as in the case described by OP.

* - Can use steel engraving dies that are preheated over a fire and then applied to the plastic. The plastic will melt and leave a stamp pattern.

Yup, was looking for this.
If you're concerned about detection use something different.
Better than stainless steel use a titanium sheet, 10x10cm 2 mm thick is like 10$, enough to make a solid wallet that will most likely not trigger a beep at the gates.

Also, you might think of keeping the pieces separate, you make yourself a note on the first letter order and then you spread them in your luggage so even if they find them they won't really be able to guess the order, and it will be even harder to get pictures of all of them.
But. this is a bit going overboard.

 

Personally, I wouldn't be risking carrying my steel seed phrase backup around. I don't even think such a thing is for you to bring anywhere you go. For me, that's the kind of backup that you would want to bury or seal on the floor under a tile or on the wall. If you want to keep your seed phrase with you anywhere you go, perhaps a small piece of paper would do.

Anything steel will attract attention in airports. It will be detected. Even my small scissor was confiscated once. Even my coins were detected and I was asked by the security staff to confirm if those are indeed coins.

Stainless steel has low magnetic permeability, which makes it difficult to detect its details. Therefore, when you are traveling, it is better for your physical storage to be made of that material. Also, using a steel container will make the possibility of identifying seeds almost impossible, but the problem is if the authorities decide to detect the existing metals.The officer may want to see the wallet seed, so always use a strong passphrase wallet seed and store it in a separate place.

But if it's the case that you need to move and you absolutely need to carry your seedphrase, is it possible to just put it somewhere in your person, you can just put it in a dog tag and then wear it on a necklace and then just walk right through the metal detector, most of the time, when I do this when I go to a bus terminal I just go past it without a hitch. I do agree with just storing it somewhere though but in the absolute case that it's not an option, would my solution be applicable. And now that I think about it, isn't aluminum foil a good way to cover your belongings so they won't show in the x-ray? I think I've heard it somewhere that it can block it out somehow.

As far as I know as long as it can not be used
as a weapon and you make sure to have it undergo
their security, there is no reason for them to prey
your ‘secrets’ open. If it is not suspicious nor dangerous
which it isn‘t then you should be good to go.

I think your concern is valid because you'll never know if the staff that is checking the scanner are already in crypto and they've got an idea on what it is. Typically just 12-24 words that are engraved to that steelwallet will already be catchy to the personnel. I wouldn't bring that if I were you but if you want to still bring your seed, I'd write it down on a hard cardboard, notebook or anything that won't get noticed on that as if it's just notes that I am studying on. While the steel plate, I'd leave that in my house and so I've got both backups.

Most likely the airport personnel would have no idea what it is. However if they are familiar with crypto and they see a steel wallet with 12 worded inside it wouldn’t be too hard for them to take out their phone and snap a photo and go on a lunch break right after.

My advice is don’t travel like this. Just leave it at home and write it down on a piece of paper and take that with you. If you lose the paper you still have the steel wallet at home.

1. Put your seedphrase into hex format 2. Use a hidden wallet.
So even if someone took a picture of all your words it would be useless to them.

Of course if they are already stamped you cannot do 1. but you can still do 2.
If you only have a standard wallet you would need to create a hidden wallet then transfer funds,
but leave a small amount in the standard wallet. Your seedphrase will be the same.

There's no way to see the phrase with x-ray inside your bag. All they'll see is a metal object, round or flat, depending on what type of a seed storage device you have. The problem is that they might think a steel container is some kind of a weapon.



Something like this in your bag looks a bit like a small explosive device (IED), but they won't take it from you (most likely) just ask you to show it and unscrew the cover. They won't see each individual seed, but if you're scared about exposing yourself as a bitcoiner, better travel with a paper wallet.

X-ray scanners at airports can see through a bunch of stuff - they can penetrate through a few centimeters of steel no problem, and their resolution is crazy too - they can make out little threads just 0.1 mm thick.  But the real magic is in the software behind it all.  It processes the scans and makes a color picture instead of just a regular black and white X-ray scans.

This helps the person watching the monitor identify different materials and objects inside people's bags. But they are not designed to decipher inscriptions engraved on metal plates. Therefore, there is no danger that someone will steal your coins that way.

However, while X-ray scanners might not be the biggest concern, carrying your seed phrase in your luggage remains a risky strategy.  Airport security can rifle through checked bags, potentially exposing your sensitive wallet information to prying eyes or surveillance cameras.  And with airlines' unreliable luggage tracking systems, lost bags or misdelivered suitcases could hand your precious seed phrase over to a complete stranger.  There are simply too many potential vulnerabilities to consider and  when securing your crypto assets, limiting access points by keeping your seed phrase far from airports and transit hubs proves the safest bet.

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This is not something you should bet on when it comes to the security of your crypto assets.

I don't know why you carry a steel wallet with you while moving from one place to another or while traveling. It is better not to take it with you and keep it at home or another safe place.

However, if you are afraid that the x-rays will be able to read the modified seed phrase on the metal, you can place the steel wallet inside a metal cover so that the x-rays will not be able to penetrate it and read the engraved inscriptions. I think that way you will be safer.

Perhaps our dear OP has a thing for hiding things in plain sight, because I don't see why there should be need to carry about a steel wallet, knowing fully well that it can get lost in a frenzy of unplanned events.

Still, I don't think it should be a problem even if it is carried about, because I know seed phrases could just be plain words that may not mean anything to someone who knows nothing about it, only if of course one makes it obvious.

From what I understand, X-ray are very good in detecting metallic objects so the metallic seed phrase will be detected by the X-ray machine and draw the attention of the inspection officers. But If you're worried about your seed phrase being compromised during airport checks, then you should use a cryptosteel capsule or other similar products that can allow you disassemble the words during transit and re-assemble it on arrival.

A video of Cryptosteel unboxing, assembling and disassembling.

Steelwallets are not designed to carry this around different countries and airport security. Steelwallets is necessary for long-term storage of the seed phrase and storage in a safe place. A phrase, be it on paper or on a piece of metal, is not something you should take with you to travel. Seed phrase should be difficult for others to find, but it should be easy to find in your pocket or backpack.

For your travels, a hardware wallet is better suited, which will be “lost” among other devices and from which it is impossible to extract a seed phrase, but leaves you the opportunity to access crypto wallets.

Thanks for the clarification.........
Given the high value of Bitcoin, I think it could be possible that some security personel figure out a way to take a pic of your seed phrase.....would just need 1 person on the scanner to look for the metal object  and the other person to maybe wear a hidden body cam or so to take a pic while checking it and holding it......  would be a nice earner and very hard to prove....

Depends on the security check.

If it's just a hand-carried devices, you might not face any problem since steel wallet using stainless steel or aluminum materials has a bad magnetic conductor especially if the size is small.

But when it comes to X-ray, there's a chance they could know all of your seed phrases because it able to see into the inside even if you have cover it.

My advise is don't carry your steelwallets, leave it somewhere hidden and create a new backup (if you want) when you've arrived on other country.


https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/120493/can-punched-in-seed-phrase-on-steel-plate-be-read-by-airport-security-x-ray

You can probably hide them using some kind of rubber to cover the metal that's got your seed phrase engraved into, that way, it just looks like a piece of metal. X-rays don't affect them I think, if you're worried that they might see through the inscriptions, you're safe because the only way that they'll see that seed phrase is if they use an amount of radiation on their X-ray that's enough to lethally dose you with radiation including the people around the machine. If you're really worried, you can probably ditch it for a much convenient to you like a piece of paper, that way you can wear that piece of paper somewhere within your person and not worry about X-rays since you're going through a metal detector.

Hi Bobby,
the steelwallet is a simple metal plate with the phrase seed engraved on it, It does not have any electronic components.

My doubt arises as to whether the x-ray scanner can read the phrase seed, or whether an agent suspicious of the strange object could check it and read the words (even worse if he were to photograph it)