Bitcoin Q&A: Hardware Wallets and Attack Surface

Can you give a basic introduction to hardware wallets? Why are bitcoin "wallets" more like keychains? How do we balance ease of use and security? What are possible ways to attack a hardware wallet? Why should you broadcast transactions through your own full node?
See the documentation and support pages of various hardware wallets for more information:
Trezor - doc.satoshilabs.com/trezor-fa... blog.trezor.io/using-advanced...
Ledger Nano S - support.ledgerwallet.com/hc/e...
Ledger Blue - support.ledgerwallet.com/hc/e...
KeepKey - help.keepkey.com/start-here/i... help.keepkey.com/how-to-guide...
Chapters
0:00 Can you talk a bit about hardware wallets?
7:35 Can the USB cable that connects your hardware wallet to your desktop be compromised? Can it leak sensitive information?
15:45 What options are there to have transactions signed on a hardware wallet and validated through your own full node, that is relatively safe and easy?
These questions are from the March and (rescheduled) April monthly Patreon Q&A sessions, as well as 'The Internet of Money' tour in Dublin, Ireland, which took place on March 31st, May 5th, and May 23rd 2018 respectively. Andreas is a teaching fellow with the University of Nicosia. The first course in their Master of Science in Digital Currency degree, DFIN-511: Introduction to Digital Currencies, is offered for free as an open enrollment MOOC course to anyone interested in learning about the fundamental principles. If you want early-access to talks and a chance to participate in the monthly live Q&As with Andreas, become a patron: / aantonop
Watch the full event talk here: • Measuring Success: Pri...
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Andreas M. Antonopoulos is a technologist and serial entrepreneur who has become one of the most well-known and respected figures in bitcoin.
Follow on Twitter: @aantonop / aantonop
Website: antonopoulos.com/
He is the author of two books: “Mastering Bitcoin,” published by O’Reilly Media and considered the best technical guide to bitcoin; “The Internet of Money,” a book about why bitcoin matters.
THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v1: www.amazon.co.uk/Internet-Mon...
[NEW] THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v2: www.amazon.com/Internet-Money...
MASTERING BITCOIN: www.amazon.co.uk/Mastering-Bi...
[NEW] MASTERING BITCOIN, 2nd Edition: www.amazon.com/Mastering-Bitc...
Translations of MASTERING BITCOIN: bitcoinbook.info/translations...
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[@sandeepvk]

He is doing God's work by propagating this knowledge.

[@Nautilus1972]

Casting the moneylenders from the temple ....

[@maartenarnou]

Brilliantly explained, as usual. Great job once again. Andreas rocks! 👍 🤘

[@CryptoCaliph]

We can all say that Andreas is the GOAT!!! Thank you ol wise one!

[@ICOTalk]

It"s good, that Bitcoin core support BIP 39 and pip 32 hierarchal deterministic wallets?

[@sundev3918]

Now current version of bitcoin core 18.0 supports hardware wallets Enjoy

[@zellkoss]

Very interesting FAQ, thank you. About hardware wallet, I would add the following question: How can we be sure that hardware wallet are not pre-seeded or there is no failure (like not well randomized seed generator) ?

[@b.griffin317]

others are saying trezor is open-source, so somebody would've seen that by now?

[@maartenarnou]

@@b.griffin317 Correct. Open-source is a very important feature of any hardware wallet

[@nmccw3245]

Excellent, as usual.

[@hhhgggds]

Andreas, security wise would you recommend trezor one or model t? They say firmware is different on model t implying like it is " better ". Is that just marketing to sell new more expensive option or it actually is?

[@themiddlejourney6286]

Fantastic information thankyou very much. Do you think nano ledger are a food option ? Thankyou again

[@stephenkamenar]

how do you import a master public key into bitcoin core? seems like this is not possible :(

[@vhs431]

Andreas, at 16:55 you state that one can initialize a „watch-only“ bitcoin core node with an xpub key so that it watches the balance of your wallet. I‘ve tried importing my xpub key into my satoshi 0.16.1 node, but get error messages „...must be hex string“. How exactly are you supposed to do that? The answers on stackexchange say it’s impossible...

[@darksoftware]

Your opinion on DPOS?

[@sys8188]

Just on the mnemonic phrase topic, say that Trezor is stolen, the race to sweep the wallet begins. as ordering a new Trezor may take some time. what do you suggest to open that 24 word phrase to re send the funds somewhere else? this is a very very important step.

[@codymiller8505]

What is the risk to having it stolen? How is someone going to steal your crypto?

[@guitartolearn]

Thank God for Andreas.

[@jobhermoso]

what about using mobile phone only.we dont have loptap or computer.what wallet is the best to use?

[@robertgrayraleigh]

What if a crypto wallet manufacturer is corrupt? They have your wallet's "seed words." Right? So, they can use your seed words to take your Bitcoin?

[@hitwill]

Very informative . A.A. - What is the best way to store the BIP 39 phrase? Perhaps encode it in some way and keep it online, to protect from the sock drawer attack? Or bury it in the ground, or a bank safe?

[@codymiller8505]

hitwill your 12,18,24 word seed should never, ever, EVER be put on an electronic device of any sort. Period. If it is on a device, it is compromised. It should be written on a piece of paper by you and only you. It should not be photographed. You should physically secure it. This is the best way to ensure that your seed is both secure and unknown to anyone.

[@tc2948]

¿What hardware wallet would be more secure to sweep a paper wallet?

[@JonathanCr0ss]

16:54 - Bitcoin Core supports BIP-39? I think this is an error.

[@dajosova]

Andreas, thanks once again. I've bought a BitFi "unhackable" wallet... but I'm not sure if it is safe or not since BitFi company did not release their algorithm to the public yet and I don't know what device hardware really does. Would you have any advice on this, please. Cheers!

[@don.mccracken]

I would also like to hear Andreas’ view on the new Bitfi hardware wallet. To me, it look extremely promising, since the keys are generated on the fly by the device, after entering your passphrase, and only the signed transaction is transmitted over Wi-Fi, not the private key itself. And if I understand it correctly, it seems like we should be able to use any Bitfi wallet to send coins from the Bitfi dashboard website, since nothing is stored on the device itself. And if so, that’s a huge bonus.

[@dajosova]

Yep, precisely... it's open source too but I would like an expert/tech opinion. It also supports many coins such as Monero which is great. I bought it, received it but hadn't use it yet. I will with some amount and wait further for more technical reviews since it's something really new but a nice concept (quad-core processor, touch screen, WiFi and a leather wallet). It cost 120$, paid with Bitcoin... unfortunately the customs of my country (Portugal) and also UPS ate a lot of money. Final cost: almost 190€ (222$).

[@mencheswest8993]

Please guys tell me how much time will take to find the keys for satoshi's wallet, for any "lost forever" wallet. if the key is just a number-letter line in the right order then find it by simple guessing is just a matter of time and energy, right?

[@freedomforall2924]

MAX WEST ..haha do you think you can guess 24 english words in order? Good luck

[@mencheswest8993]

Freedom ForAll its not about mnemonic frase, the actual private key like ey37eyw8383gw8w8e7wy3g3ue88eu3h3heie8833 etc. Isn't it possible to find it with enough attempts? The question is how much time it takes with enough hardware. . Prove me if I am wrong

[@codymiller8505]

MAX WEST youre right, but you would need BILLIONS of attempts per second for TRILLIONS of years in order to break the private keys. There are more combinations of words for your key than atoms in a billion galaxies. It is an unfathomably large number. Theres a reason that Ledgers slogan is "safety in numbers".

[@nion456789]

Smashed the like......

[@1str1ker]

How is this guy everywhere?

[@decentralizejustice3790]

Id love to see where he is finding 35 dollar hardware wallets with screens.

[@robertklaassen2628]

How is this concept ever going to be adopted cheaply, securely and to be easy to use worldwide? In the way this sounds, this will never reach all the poor people in the world in which this was initially intended and promoted along that lines in the beginning. And my first and foremost concern is having my personal information (ID) online in order to have a variety of transactional wallets.

[@b.griffin317]

in what way is your ID online to have wallets? IP? coinbase or similar account?

[@Xgrosz]

what if trezor company is not there is 10 years how would that work?

[@aantonop]

It would still be possible to use the hardware wallet with a different software wallet (ex. Electrum). As long as you have the mnemonic backup, you can import the private keys to any compatible wallet.

[@Xgrosz]

aantonop thank you can you also confirm that there is no way SatoshiLabs have our private keys I would like my viewers to hear it from you directly

[@eli-vp4jp]

naaaaa you didnt just bring the rock meme!!!! whaaaaaaaaaaaaa... bull run confirmed...

[@watchthesuit1683]

poor guy has some serious trust issues