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Topic: What's wrong with my current cold storage? - Weaknesses in cold storage methods (Read 4002 times)

full member
Activity: 129
Merit: 100
I've updated this topic which can be seen at keyois.com http://www.keyois.com/information/cold-storage-risks/

full member
Activity: 129
Merit: 100
full member
Activity: 129
Merit: 100
full member
Activity: 129
Merit: 100
Why invent something when the existing class of hardware wallets work. You will have too much competition out of the gate.

It's not intended to be something everyone gets, but as the OP indicates the hardware wallets have to have a backup seed which is vulnerable to all the things listed in the post. Also it's art, just for fun. And it's for people who don't have access to multiple places to store their back up seeds and the like.
newbie
Activity: 37
Merit: 0
Why invent something when the existing class of hardware wallets work. You will have too much competition out of the gate.
hero member
Activity: 683
Merit: 513
http://bitcoin-engrave.com/ & https://bitcore.cc
Paper wallet being secure is definitely one of the biggest misconceptions in my opinion. First you need to BIP38 encrypt the private key, and you also need to store your keys on a proven secure metal.


What kind of metal do you consider 'proven secure'?   I wish I could get some nitinol or something like that for fun.

We offer to engrave any metall with your Wallet and BIP38 Key, most we work with is stainless steel and we
get some new silver 999 bars / coins to engrave with the Data you like.

Stainless steel is fire secure also.  Cool
full member
Activity: 129
Merit: 100
Paper wallet being secure is definitely one of the biggest misconceptions in my opinion. First you need to BIP38 encrypt the private key, and you also need to store your keys on a proven secure metal.


What kind of metal do you consider 'proven secure'?   I wish I could get some nitinol or something like that for fun.
full member
Activity: 129
Merit: 100
Paper wallet being secure is definitely one of the biggest misconceptions in my opinion. First you need to BIP38 encrypt the private key, and you also need to store your keys on a proven secure metal.

It's as secure as any other documents you keep in your house I'm sure. I don't have people in my house that I don't trust so I'm not all that concerned about someone stealing a paper wallet from me!

I am more concerned with fire/smoke damage/mold/water damage/ theft by picture than I am with someone stealing a seed/key/capsule itself.

legendary
Activity: 966
Merit: 1042
Paper wallet being secure is definitely one of the biggest misconceptions in my opinion. First you need to BIP38 encrypt the private key, and you also need to store your keys on a proven secure metal.

It's as secure as any other documents you keep in your house I'm sure. I don't have people in my house that I don't trust so I'm not all that concerned about someone stealing a paper wallet from me!
sr. member
Activity: 266
Merit: 250
Invulner
Paper wallet being secure is definitely one of the biggest misconceptions in my opinion. First you need to BIP38 encrypt the private key, and you also need to store your keys on a proven secure metal.
legendary
Activity: 3472
Merit: 10611
the thing about cold storage is that i believe there is not just one good option, any option can be good depending on what you want to do. you can never say this method is better than that one. but it is very good to know the "pros and cons" of each method you use.

with that said i liked the idea of multi encryption it may be a little paranoid but it sounds good because even if one encryption can be broken you will still hit another brick wall Smiley

Multiencryption is good for protection yes, but maybe bad for long term storage, no? What if you forget the keys, or if you want someone to get the treasure when you die and then you just die? Like all things like that the more layers you add the more complexity the harder it is to get to and the more likey it will to be lost.

of course, that is what i said you can't say there is only one good option. there are always many pros and cons to every method that you use, so you have to consider them before choosing if the pros were more.

Quote
Still, I dare say you can say one medium or method is better than another. E.g. storing a seed on a titanium disc is probably better than written on tissue paper.

lol who writes on a tissue paper.
but a serious comparison between titanium disk and paper wallet or a wallet on my live linux which is installed on my USB disk, i would go for this instead because titanium thingy is gonna cost me a lot and there is no place around me that does that.
full member
Activity: 129
Merit: 100
Hiding it behind math, that's like having a manual transmission to deter car-jacking; so crazy it actually works much of the time.

In North America that's very true but in a lot of European countries you'll almost never see an automatic vehicle. So it also depends how smart the people in your family or people in your house regularly are.



Now I didn't see anything on hardware wallets. Are we lumping them in with something else or not considering them cold storage?


For the purposes of this post I am not considering them cold storage, they are some sort of fancy hybrid; cool-warm storage(?). I don't have many problems with hardware wallets, they are great  for what they do. Stamping your backup seed on a fireproof piece of metal would probably be a good idea though. Stamping kits or engravers are cheap but it's a PITA to do.



Outlining potential good solutions and methods would probably be another family of posts that I am trying to write up; but I would be happy to see someone else do so.
legendary
Activity: 966
Merit: 1042
Hiding it behind math, that's like having a manual transmission to deter car-jacking; so crazy it actually works much of the time.

In North America that's very true but in a lot of European countries you'll almost never see an automatic vehicle. So it also depends how smart the people in your family or people in your house regularly are.



Now I didn't see anything on hardware wallets. Are we lumping them in with something else or not considering them cold storage?
full member
Activity: 129
Merit: 100
the thing about cold storage is that i believe there is not just one good option, any option can be good depending on what you want to do. you can never say this method is better than that one. but it is very good to know the "pros and cons" of each method you use.

with that said i liked the idea of multi encryption it may be a little paranoid but it sounds good because even if one encryption can be broken you will still hit another brick wall Smiley

Multiencryption is good for protection yes, but maybe bad for long term storage, no? What if you forget the keys, or if you want someone to get the treasure when you die and then you just die? Like all things like that the more layers you add the more complexity the harder it is to get to and the more likey it will to be lost.

Still, I dare say you can say one medium or method is better than another. E.g. storing a seed on a titanium disc is probably better than written on tissue paper.
legendary
Activity: 3472
Merit: 10611
the thing about cold storage is that i believe there is not just one good option, any option can be good depending on what you want to do. you can never say this method is better than that one. but it is very good to know the "pros and cons" of each method you use.

with that said i liked the idea of multi encryption it may be a little paranoid but it sounds good because even if one encryption can be broken you will still hit another brick wall Smiley
full member
Activity: 129
Merit: 100
Very useful thread but the list thing is the best one a good backup and a good encryption.

What I prefer to use is an encryption that is hard to decrypt and a number of encryption (like double or triple encryption)

But if I ever forget what encryption have I used I prefer to make a combination of letters with math formulas which is hard to decrypt.


Hiding it behind math, that's like having a manual transmission to deter car-jacking; so crazy it actually works much of the time.

What types of encryption do you use or recommend?
legendary
Activity: 1540
Merit: 1003
Very useful thread but the list thing is the best one a good backup and a good encryption.

What I prefer to use is an encryption that is hard to decrypt and a number of encryption (like double or triple encryption)

But if I ever forget what encryption have I used I prefer to make a combination of letters with math formulas which is hard to decrypt.
hero member
Activity: 1092
Merit: 520
another thing i always wonder about is could it be best keeping all bitcoin on one address or spliting it up  Huh??
full member
Activity: 129
Merit: 100

i am curious to know which Titanium alloy it is used in this product.




Hi there sorry for the long delay on this, it is grade 2 titanium being used for the ring pieces
legendary
Activity: 2674
Merit: 2965
Terminated.
Thanks, I changed it to this

'A pre-funded physical bitcoin coin (where the manufacturer generates and installs the secret key)'

to reflect the proper terminology.
Thank you. I think that you could now write up on how to mitigate some of these risks. Example with hard drives is that you keep at least 3 backups, including drives of three separate manufacturers (this pretty much destroy the risk of short term data loss).
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