Best practices
work in progress
Wallet
A common practice is to use one wallet for hot storage, and another for cold storage. Read the private key and the wallet on our forum for an understanding of the difference of what a wallet is compared to a private key.
Hot storage
Hot storage is a storage we usually mine to, and keep on a networked computer, a wallet we commonly access and use. It is preferable to have the computer the hot wallet is on as clean as possible, no unneeded software installed. Keep it updated. Have at least two copies(backups) of wallet.dat in two different locations, use dedicated USB sticks, that are marked clearly.
Cold storage
Cold storage is a wallet we create and have on a non-networked computer. This should be a dedicated disk, with a fresh and clean OS installed. To use this wallet we create the transaction, sign it and save it on a dedicated USB stick, then import this signed transaction into our hot wallet and broadcast it. Have at least two copies(backups) of wallet.dat in two different locations, use dedicated USB sticks, that are marked clearly.
Paper wallet
We create a linux liveCD USB-stick on a non-networked computer to make our paper wallets.
- Download Ubuntu Latest LTS version is fine
- Follow the Guide for our OS to make a bootable USB Ubuntu guide
- Download paper wallet generator Paperwallet and put on our USB or a separate USB stick.
- Unplug ethernet cable, insert LiveUSB and reboot into Ubuntu Live. Do NOT connect with Wifi or any other means to any network.
- Open index.html to start paper wallet generator, and then select Ravencoin. Make our wallet(s)
- Connect a Printer that does not have network or reprint capabilities, older cheap inkjets are usually fine, DYOR (Do Your Own Research). Print Wallets in at least two copies.
- Laminate the paper wallets to keep them safe from water damage.
- Store wallets at two different locations, and keep them safe and secure.
We can make paper wallets from our exported private keys. A good way to achieve this can be to have a copy of our wallet.dat and linux wallet binaries on a USB stick, move the wallet.dat to the ~/.raven location and dump our keys from withing the non-networked LiveCD Linux. Once the paper wallet generator is open copy and paste the private key in, check that it generates the corresponding public key, if not try and copy and paste our public key as well.
Backups
Have at least two copies(backups) of wallet.dat in two different locations, use dedicated USB sticks, that are marked clearly. Do not use these USB stick for anything else, and keep them safe. Use different USB sticks for Hot wallet and Cold wallet backups. Especially cold wallet backup should not be plugged into a networked computer.
Some prefer to encrypt the disks or folder, this can be advantageous if you do not have a trusted place to store your USB sticks. Just keep the passphrase to the same standards as the USB sticks, minimum two copies in two different locations.
Consider how relatives and or our children can get access in the future should the worst thing happen.
Private keys
A private key is what control the funds, and make them spendable on its correlating public key. We do not reuse a key pair (public and private key) after the private key has been swiped/imported on a networked computer, ie do not reuse a paper wallet after the private key has been used.
Miners and other apps
- Only run software from known reputable developers, preferably peer revived and audited code.
- Download only from the links provided by the developer, preferably from the developers own site.
- The inherent danger of a malicious miner app is that by design it has already all the tools needed to be very harmful, these include upload and download capabilities, there will not necessarily be anything we can detect immediately, as a malicious miner app can be triggered by something as simple as a specific network block number being reached or other delayed mechanisms.
- Any computer on our network(subnet) could be a potential treat towards our hot wallet.
- There is no way to know if our wallet.dat/private keys are compromised, unless we always keep them safe guarded.
- The above holds true for any software we download and use.
