Hello Everyone,
Wallet security is paramount on most everyone's mind. I'm not talking about the wallets you use on your phones/tablets etc... they usually have small amounts of Bitcoin. I'm talking about your "main bank", the whole enchilada, or your Bitcoin en mass... etc.
...and having it portable! (for storage in a safe or safety deposit box etc.)
Downloading and using a wallet for the average user on a Windows machine seems very risky with all the key loggers, trojans, viri etc. Mac OS and Linux are not as vulnerable (except for password theft, laptop theft, and general lack of portability). An online wallet certainly has its risks too! (hackers, servers down, loss or no internet connection) So a portable standalone secure USB stick/key that is bootable on any computer (via POST not OS) is really what is required.
I think its time the big guys who manufacture USB memory sticks (
San Disk, Kingston, Verbatim, Lexar, Trancend, Patriot, Corsiar... etc.) should build a secure bootable usb wallet. It would consist of: (bootable ROM (Linux encrypted OS and wallet files) with a large amount of RAM for the .dat files including the wallet.dat files (64G+ or bigger).
Starting your machine with this USB stick inserted (after POST) it would prompt you for your password (and/or fingerprint) then boot into the software. Following that, access to the wallet on the USB stick, including a different password for the transferring of any Bitcoins. Using the current built of (Bitcoin-Qt / bitcoind) as the industry standard.
Now, plugging the USB stick into an operating system (Windows, Mac OS, Linux) would display a locked drive, and all the .dat files including a further encrypted wallet.dat file. This would allow users to back up their wallet.dat file elsewhere - in the case of USB stick damage or failure.
These big companies already have this implemented on most of their USB sticks (with hard coded (ROM) software etc.) It's small work for any of them to produce a USB hard-wallet.
Some people already do similar to what I've described (without the ROM feature). But, we need something for the mass majority. Wallets in general being weakest link are a large concern to current Bitcoin users and new users too. (How do I keep my BTC safe?? -
without taking a computer course)
So lets solve the issue of our permanent wallet security.
The first company that gets the Bitcoin consortium (Gavin Andersen and group) stamp of approval on their product would make a ton-o-BTC... or that old fiat stuff
TC.