Re:Coinbase says buying and selling temporarily disabled ami...
by Fnoord on Friday December 22, 2017 @01:34PM
(#15989741)
You can, but you shouldn't. What if you lose your mobile phone...?
> Our mobile operating sysmtems are pretty secure (in the grand scheme of things)
Not yet. Maybe after Android One / Project Treble runs on the majority of smartphones in the world. Which won't happen since Google made Android Go for low-end devices.
That's three problems. Security of the device(s), the lack of redundancy, and the physical security of the device.
A hardware wallet (such as Trezor or Ledger Nano S) together with a smartphone (or PC) yields you 2FA. "(Or PC)" could mean an offline Linux distribution on a USB key which is used as backup. The hardware key suggests a paper backup which should be safely stored at a notary or safety deposit box. Same for the USB key with the backup Linux distribution. Though it can also just contain some config files (stored encrypted).
Such a hardware key costs <= 100 USD/EUR (plus the costs of the notary or safety deposit box) so for any amount of cryptocurrency _above_ the cost of that it is worth it.
These costs are peanuts for the average BTC user, but for people in poorer countries its sadly quite an investment. Worth it though.
> Our mobile operating sysmtems are pretty secure (in the grand scheme of things)
Not yet. Maybe after Android One / Project Treble runs on the majority of smartphones in the world. Which won't happen since Google made Android Go for low-end devices.
That's three problems. Security of the device(s), the lack of redundancy, and the physical security of the device.
A hardware wallet (such as Trezor or Ledger Nano S) together with a smartphone (or PC) yields you 2FA. "(Or PC)" could mean an offline Linux distribution on a USB key which is used as backup. The hardware key suggests a paper backup which should be safely stored at a notary or safety deposit box. Same for the USB key with the backup Linux distribution. Though it can also just contain some config files (stored encrypted).
Such a hardware key costs <= 100 USD/EUR (plus the costs of the notary or safety deposit box) so for any amount of cryptocurrency _above_ the cost of that it is worth it.
These costs are peanuts for the average BTC user, but for people in poorer countries its sadly quite an investment. Worth it though.