The Bitcoin world has seen some serious failures related to theft and hacks, but it’s also improving. There are several options in the world of Bitcoin security and wallet management. This article will discuss how to store your Bitcoin securely, what to look for when choosing a service, and where to go for help when something goes wrong.
Keep Your Bitcoins in Your Own Wallet
Bitcoin is a digital currency, which means you can store your bitcoins in a digital wallet. A digital wallet is a piece of software that allows you to keep track of your bitcoins and make transactions with them.
There are several wallets, but the best one for beginners is probably Electrum. It’s available for free on most platforms, and it’s easy to use. You can use it for ECommerce funding or any other transactions that you make online. Just download it and follow the instructions.
Electrum uses two keys to encrypt your wallet: one public key and one private key. The public key is what other people will see when they look at your wallet address – it lets them send you bitcoins. The private key is what enables you to spend bitcoins. If someone wants to transact with you, you’ll need to access this private key and send it out.
If someone finds out about your private key, they’ll be able to spend all the bitcoins in your wallet! So make sure only trusted people know about this private key!
Make Sure To Have a Strong Password on Each of Your Wallets
Your passwords must be unique and hard to guess, so make sure you come up with something unique and not something that’s easy for anyone to remember. If someone knows what you use as a password, they can get access to all your funds by gaining access to one of your wallets.
Also, as mentioned above, you must keep track of all your private keys associated with each wallet that you may have. You don’t want someone to get those keys and take over all the funds in your wallet.
Secure Your Computers and Smartphones Against Viruses
A virus scanner is one of the best ways to keep your computers and smartphones secure. There are many different types of scanners available. Still, if you want to make sure your computer is protected against viruses properly, then you should use a scanner that checks for viruses every time your computer boots up. This ensures that whenever your computer starts up, it’ll check for any existing viruses and remove them.
You can also purchase antivirus software for your smartphone. The same rules apply here: keep the scanner on at all times so it can always run an antivirus scan before going online.
Add an Extra Layer of Security With a Two-factor Authentication App
If you’re storing your bitcoins, it’s essential to take steps to increase the security of your account. While there are many ways to increase the security of your wallet, one of the best methods is to add an extra layer of security with a two-factor authentication app.
Two-factor authentication apps are designed to increase the security of your Bitcoin wallet by requiring a second form of identification in addition to your usual private key. Two-factor authentication can be obtained through text messages or phone calls, making it difficult for hackers or identity thieves to gain access to your account without knowing both parts of their password (the first being easy to guess but the second being much harder to access).
If you’re unsure what kind of two-factor authentication app would be best for you, consider using something like Google Authenticator or Authy. These apps use time-based one-time passwords that can be entered into your device via a text message or phone call. They’re similar in many ways but have different strengths and weaknesses depending on what type of service they provide.
Download Your Wallet From the Official Sources Only
To store your bitcoins securely, you need a wallet. You should download your wallet from official sources only. This ensures you don’t have a cloned wallet version on your device. This will also ensure no malware or virus enters your devices.
Get an Encrypted USB Stick Where You Can Backup Your Wallet
To keep your bitcoins safe and secure, you need to get an encrypted USB stick. This is a small flash drive that can be plugged into your computer’s USB port, allowing you to easily move files between computers and making it easy to back up your private keys.
The best part about this is that you can keep the USB stick on hand at all times, so if you lose access to your computer or phone – or even if it gets stolen – you’ll still have access to your bitcoins.
You can also use an encrypted hard drive. However, be careful about this. Some people recommend against storing large amounts of Bitcoin on hard drives because they’re more susceptible to being hacked or damaged by natural disasters like floods or earthquakes.
Move the Bitcoins You Want To Keep Into a New Bitcoin Address
To keep your bitcoins secure, you should keep moving them to a new Bitcoin address. You can do this by generating a new private/public key pair and moving the bitcoins from your old address into the new one.
You can also move them into a new wallet by importing your private key into a new wallet software on your computer or mobile device.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, nobody can help you if your private key is stolen or lost. You must take the proper steps to secure them yourself, especially considering they’re worth thousands (if not millions) of dollars. To do that, you’ll need to use precautions and be innovative.
No matter which method you choose, make sure to follow the instructions and warnings provided by storage sites or wallets. As long as you do that, your bitcoins should be safe from harm’s way.
