How to build a secure computer for storing digital crypto assets

johnarb

johnarb

Inspired by this thread https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/storing-bitcoin.375794/

I cannot recommend a hardware wallet since I've never owned or used one

[There have been some hacks and the whole customer database with names, addresses and phone numbers resulting in extortion and threats plus the latest controversy seems to indicate an ability to reconstruct private keys via internet connection iow, not hot wallets]

We'll discuss how to to build a secure computer "from scratch"

Requirements:

1. A linux-friendly CPU dedicated computer with 8GB RAM and at least 1 TB SSD
2. A paid (good review) VPN service. Optional but highly-recommended, but no free VPN

You can recycle an old computer, desktop or laptop, or you can ask one of your relatives or friends, usually those people are ready to dispose of old computers

or just buy one on eBay, I see a Lenovo T470s core-i5 6300u 8gb ram listed for less than US $200 refurbished, just need to upgrade the SSD to 1 TB

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Perhaps you're thinking you don't need a secure computer because the current value of your investments are less than $10k... This is true now, but you have to plan for the future in case it catches on

Personal anecdote.. I've kept more than 20 btc's on a web wallet blockchain dot info (before it became dot com) and 10 btc's on a bitcoin phone wallet (not electrum but an open source version SPV wallet). Not recommended at all now, but at the time I did, the price of bitcoin was less than $500/btc

You can google it there was a hack on blockchain dot info during the 2017 bull market and people lost millions of $ worth of bitcoins. Many suspected it was an inside job, employee, but who knows. Those losses are worth more now

Some of the victims were on r/bitcoin and let's face it, toxic posters are telling them how stupid they were for storing bitcoins worth millions of $ on a web wallet and most if not all of them gave the same excuse, they've had those bitcoins there since they were only worth very little

Maybe you only think that your 0.1 btc or 0.5 btc or even 1 btc is not worth all the troubles... Perhaps today, but in 5-20 years, when 1 bitcoins is worth $1M-$10M each, they will be

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We'll divide into sections. If you run into problems, Reply to the section here I'll try to help and I'm sure others may offer help, too. There's many resources too on YouTube or simple google

1. Setting up the linux OS , and the VPN software
VPN is connected to US or whatever your local country
2. Setup a new google email account. Secure this google account with a 2FA
2a. Install google chrome or google chrome beta and login with the account above
From this time forward, you will set your VPN connection to South Korea
3. Install the Bitcoin core software full node
4. Install the Metamask web extension wallet
5 Setup passwords for the Bitcoin software and Metamask wallets
6. Encrypted backups and recovery
 
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1. Setting up the linux OS , and the VPN software

Any linux OS will be fine, but some have better support for files and software that are critical for a stable system (updates and such)

Bitcoin is "fun" without gui so if you're a dedicated linux dude, no DE is fine

a. Download the Ubuntu LTS 22.04 and burn the iso to a USB stick
b. On your "dedicated" (see requirement 1), boot up to the USB stick, may need to adjust the BIOS to boot from USB or if you know the hot key F10/F12 for boot up options, if computer has a new BIOS, may need to disable secure boot
c. As it boots up to the Ubuntu 22.04 usb, the installation is fairly straight forward, until the disk setup, wipe everything off on the 1TB SSD (see requirement 1) and allocate everything to 22.04, also choose EXT4 if you can, also install everything and extras, don't do minimal installation
d. After installation, boot up to the SSD and update via cli , sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y && sudo apt dist-upgrade -y && sudo apt autoremove -y && sudo shutdown 1 -r
e. optional, I hate the ubuntu desktop environment, after reboot on command line, sudo apt install cinnamon

https://linux.how2shout.com/install-cinnamon-desktop-environment-on-ubuntu-22-04/

Install the VPN software and connect to US or your local city. Test it by going to google and asking what is your IP
 
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mikeriley said:
I think a simple paper wallet in a home safe is more secure
than online.
More...

You might lose your bitcoins in a fire or flood or earthquake

And you won't be able to transfer or interact with the Bitcoin blockchain (network)
 
2. Setup a new google email account. Secure this google account with a 2FA
2a. Install google chrome or google chrome beta and login with the account above

The first section should have Firefox installed, fire it up, got to google.com and create a new google account email, i.e. Johnny Doehenny. Setup 2 FA on this google account

Why we need this? and why so secure?

Because your google account that you have is not secure, you probably have all kinds of apps on your phone that have access to your google account, that you have no idea is reading all your emails

that game that your kid or nephew or neighbor's kid installed, is a malware, not during installation, but on one of the updates

That shipping update you allowed access to your email, yea, you know you got prompted to give access and you said yes, yup, it's spying on you

Oh, you use google account to access some websites without creating an account, yup that one is spying on your google account

This is how the US spied on everyone through Angry Birds as disclosed by Snowden

We will use this to store some passwords later on... later sections

Install google chrome and use the new account above
 
3. Install the Bitcoin core software full node

This is a no-brainer if you followed section 1 and chose Linux Ubuntu 22.04 as your linux OS.

Use command line method (terminal)

https://linuxhint.com/https-linuxhint-com-install-bitcoin-core-ubuntu/

Reboot after installation

Fire up the bitcoin core gui software, you can create a wallet now, and set a strong password for this wallet, if you want to know how, ask, but it's on one of the menu items

Use your new fake google email to email to the fake email the strong password, maybe take out a few characters that you can remember, for example if your strong password is EASYpassword123,! remove the 123 at the end, whatever, be creative,

The bitcoin core software will update the blockchain from genesis block and may take 8 hours to finish downloading the 400GB depending on your internet connection speed

Oh, did you forget to use VPN to connect to South Korea? you just disclosed to your ISP that you have bitcoins

VPN to US is ok to protect you from ISP employees
 
4. Install the Metamask web extension wallet

This one needs South Korea VPN. Metamask infrastructure servers collect IP's and will report all your activities to the IRS and US authorities, they have disclaimers after installation, don't send to Iran or Russia

This is another reason you need the google account, you cannot install chrome extensions without a google account

you know what to do with the strong password you setup for Metamask wallet, use fake google email

JUST KIDDING, fuck no, don't store your Metamask password on google fake email

It's too close, google email, google extension, same computer... this is different than bitcoin core which does not have connectivity to the google browser

setup a weak password if you cannot remember a strong password, doesn't matter, the seed phrase is the important 12 words we will back up on the last section
 
Your steps are full of flaws:

- Any Linux OS. There are many distros that are really weak, they are not oriented to give you a secured environment. Unless you use a Red Hat distro that is really prepared to serve secure environments you gain nothing by using Linux.
- Extensions that report you to the IRS? Why would you use them?
- Vpns, really? People think that they can really hide their IP, :D. All that authorities have to do is to request your details to your VPN provider, they will give you away immediately.
- Chrome extensions, that one made me laugh
- Weak passwords, the final nail in the coffin.

It is actually a list of how not to do it.

If you want to secure your wallet you don't need any of what you have recommended. You have to secure your .dat files and for that all you need is an encrypted drive, for example an encrypted S3 bucket on Amazon. Cheap and secure.
Even banks use Amazon buckets and Dynamo DBs.

Don't follow lists that you see on the web, it is obvious that you copied the steps from somewhere else, from the way to write I can tell that security is not your forte.
 
this is hilarious.

but, in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.

none of the four steps address that.
 
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