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RE: PSA Freewallet and Jaxx Getting Robbed - Over 10 Million USD Stolen

in #bitcoin8 years ago

@kingscrown, while I've enjoyed a number of your posts, I am concerned that this one crosses the line into irresponsible reporting. For those of us who are sufficiently fluent in the technical underpinnings of this Jaxx "bug", the truth is that this is a far cry from "the sky is falling". Seeing the nature of responses below from folk new to crypto confirms that your directive to "move coins out ASAP" makes this sounds like everyone is screwed. Period. Which is unfortunately far from the truth. I really am sorry that I cannot Upvote this one.

As far as the "bug",

  1. Is this an undesirable feature of Jaxx, YES.
  2. Will everyone, everywhere lose all their coins, NO.
  3. Will Jaxx "fix it"? They have indicated they won't, but before you crucify them, speaking from experience as a developer the solution may be more complex than you imagine and could break more things than it fixes.

The best thing we can offer to all the newbies out there is accurate, understandable information on both the capabilities and the responsibilities of this technology. Some simple, basic steps when choosing a wallet and how we secure it can go a long way toward preventing all these supposed terrible things happening.

For those who have read this far, the effect this Jaxx function has on the safety of your coins can be compared to your physical wallet or purse(for those who carry one). Would you really want to walk down the street just hanging it out there for anyone to easily see or grab? Would you leave it unattended on a bench at the city park?

So, what should you do?

  1. If you are super paranoid, switch to a paper wallet. A good tutorial can be found here and some warnings here.
  2. If you want to keep your wallet on your computer or phone, then keep the device secure. That means:
    a. Keep it patched and updated.
    b. Make sure you have a "not easy to guess" password or passcode.
    c. As exciting as it might be to jailbreak your iPhone or Android, please don't keep your wallet on there. You are just asking for trouble.
  3. You know the whole "don't click on a link or open an e-mail you weren't expecting"? Seriously, that's how the bad guys get you almost every time. Stop it. You might have all the other precautions in place, but by clicking, you just opened the front door of the house and invited them in.
  4. Don't connect to the Internet without protection.
    a. Please put some kind of router/firewall between your computer and your internet connection at home (cable, DSL, fiber, whatever).
    b. Think twice (or thrice) before connecting to that "Free WiFi" when you are out and about. It always comes at a cost.

So, maybe I am just a minnow swimming upstream, but for me, I am keeping my Jaxx wallet and already had protections in place to ensure no one can get access to it for the ten minutes they need to crack my backup phrase.

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Thanks, i did not say anywhere everyone on Jaxx will loose money, i said if you have money there - move them for safety ;) The post was done as PSA, nothing wrong moving your coins out till this bug is fixed!

anyone with 10 second access to you network

Also please notice this post is about TWO wallets of whom users reported lost coins.

All i say - move out and be safe.
Possibly most people dont get what PSA means.

PS. I do love Jaxx and my network is secure, but many people could have their networks hit.
Better be safe than sorry. If you know what your doing - good, if you are not sure - move for now.

Exodus wallet is good to use and pretty secure thanks for info 👍 Paper wallets all the way don't keep your wealth in a exchange get them off line soon as you can😀

In case if any of you are curious whether the Exodus Wallet shares similar vulnerability, I've emailed the exodus support and received the following reply:

http://prntscr.com/fk7lib

Thank you for the information. I have Exodus and was curious if the same could happen. Regardless, just reinforcement that larger amounts of coins should be kept in paperwallets.

I hear you. For small players, though, the mining fees to keep moving your coin around adds up.

Gauge the reaction of your readers and adjust as you go.

Cheers!

All good man :)

This is superbly put. Thank you!

Thank you for your kind words and vote!