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152 sats \ 6 replies \ @ek 1 Jun 2023 \ parent \ on: Too Embarassed To Ask - Your Bitcoin & Lightning Questions Answered bitcoin
No, I would say best practice is to always keep your hardware device and seed separate.
Only the seed is valuable. I don't have much experience with other wallets but trezor wipes your seed after 16 unsuccessful unlocking attempts so I think it's pretty safe to say that an attacker can do nothing with your hardware device (let's ignore nation-state threat actors for now).
I keep my trezor always with me on my key chain. The only downside is that people may notice that I am into bitcoin imo. But the people who will see my key chain and thus may notice my trezor are mostly the same people I would tell about bitcoin anyway.
My seed is hidden in a (hopefully) non-obvious way and I regularly check that it's still there.
However, at the end you need to know your threat model. What are you trying to defend against? Against theft, loss, natural disasters? Or against a sophisticated hack using malware, phishing, surveillance, ...?
edit: in case someone reads this and thinks that's a good idea:
DO NOT CARRY YOUR SEED PHRASE WITH YOU
threat model would for regular pleb who saves in bitcoin (maybe a years worth of savings? small enough that they don't do multisig). I think the biggest threats are natural disaster and theft from someone that knows they have bitcoin.
In your example of having a hidden seed, why not just have your hardware wallet with it? I don't envision people needing to sign with a hardware wallet so much that they would want it physically on them.
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Yeah, I think for a regular pleb your threat model makes sense. I would also add "loss" however. Sometimes, you yourself are the weakest part in the chain.
In your example of having a hidden seed, why not just have your hardware wallet with it?
Because I see no need to hide my hardware wallet. Hiding it at the same place with my hidden seed would even make it worse: Every time I access my cache, there is a risk that someone might find out where it is.
I don't envision people needing to sign with a hardware wallet so much that they would want it physically on them.
That's true. Since Lightning, I don't use onchain that often anymore. But keeping it physically on me is a protection against accidental loss. That wouldn't mean my funds are gone but it would still mean I lost something which did cost me around $80. So I basically keep my HWW where I keep other things I don't want to lose: on my key chain.
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Every time I access my cache, there is a risk that someone might find out where it is
I hadn't thought of that before! My cache game is not strong. Something I probably need to consider more.
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Yeah, a good cache is a trade-off between convenience of access, security and not being that good that even you yourself don't find it anymore, lol
last point is another reason why you should regularly check on your seed: to not forget where it is
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Why do you keep your trezor with you all the time??? IMO thats a big mistake.
Hardware wallet is for long term storage and transactions every now and then.
If you need to send or receive in a daily basics, I'd be using a good software wallet as Samourai, Phoenix, etc...
Do you know about thr $5 wrench attack???
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Why do you keep your trezor with you all the time??? IMO thats a big mistake.So I basically keep my HWW where I keep other things I don't want to lose: on my key chain.
-- #187000
If you need to send or receive in a daily basics, I'd be using a good software wallet as Samourai, Phoenix, etc...
I use that
Do you know about thr $5 wrench attack???
Yes, I do. How will me not keeping my trezor on me help me against that?
Most people won't notice that I have my trezor on me.
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