Wallet Security Dos and Don'ts

This article should not be considered as a replacement for the more in-depth articles on best practices, however key points in wallet security:

Do

• DO seek to understand what you are doing, before you do it
• DO verify understanding by testing with small low value transactions
• DO encrypt your wallet with a strong passphrase
• DO use recommended software from the list at https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet
• DO make multiple redundant backups of your wallet
• DO keep your OS up to date and run a virus scanner
• DO store significant amounts in offline wallets (cold/paper/hardware)
• DO prepare for black swan disaster scenarios when dealing with large sums (e.g., fire & water damage, theft, head injury and death)

Don't

• DO NOT trust an untrustworthy device or program to generate your wallet keys
• DO NOT generate cold storage keys on Internet-connected machines.
• DO NOT reconnect to the Internet a machine that has had access to cold storage keys.
• DO NOT reuse a wallet encryption passphrases with online services
• DO NOT store your wallet on cloud storage (Dropbox, etc.)
• DO NOT re-use addresses (including paper wallet addresses) if you care about privacy

See also

• Securing your wallet
• Hardware wallet
• Brainwallet
• Paper wallet
• How to set up a secure offline savings wallet
• Paper ECDSA private keys