Loveland, Windsor, Fort Collins, Northern Colorado, USA

A Beginner’s Guide to Crypto Security

Part 1: Securing your Anonymity

  • 1. Download the Brave browser and open it.
  • 2. Create a Gmail account just for crypto.
  • 3. Create a Protonmail account just for crypto and verify it with your Gmail email.
  • 4. Download the ProtonVPN and log in with your Protonmail account. Turn it on and turn on the Kill Switch.

Keep in mind that none of this fully protects you against hacking, rather it is only basic protection.

.

Part 2: How to get some Crypto into your Incognito Wallet using a Bitcoin ATM

WARNING: Purchasing cryptocurrency from a Cypto ATM is not the most economical. Some Crypto ATMs charge up to 30% in fees ?. You are paying for the anonymity ?

  • 1. Download the Incogneto Wallet on your smart phone and open it.
  • 2. Go to “More” (at the bottom), then “Keychain”, and Create a Master Key. Name it and then check the box for “I accept …” and click “I’m ready”. Next right down the 12 words that you are given and save them in a secure offline location and then click “I’ve saved my phrase”.
  • 3. Go back to “Wallet” (at the bottom), then click “Shield a coin”, then choose BTC and a QR Code will come up. This is the QR Code that you will send your Bitcoin funds to.

.

Part 3: Creating a Mobile Cold Storage Brain Wallet out of an old cell phone.

  • 1. First Reset the phone to Factory Settings and set up a new anonymous Google Account to use the Google Play Store.
  • 2. Downloaded the Opera Mini browser (that can save webpages) and save bitaddress.org offline.
  • 3. Downloaded a “Hash Generator” app that can make SHA 256 algorithms offline from a sentence or verse.
  • 4. Download Simple Text Editor app for saving .txt files.
  • 5. Turn OFF the WiFi and Data Transfer.
  • 6. Turned ON Airplane Mode.
  • 7. Delete the Google Account that you created for the phone when you Reset it. Force Stop all the other apps (in App Info) that you won’t use, (especially Google related apps as they can turn OFF Airplane Mode).
  • 8. Set a secure password (that you will remember) for the phone and power it Off.

At this point the phone is a secure EMPTY Offline/Cold Storage device that can be used to generate Bitcoin Addresses and Private Keys. You can even set them up as a Brain Wallet from a sentence, phrase or verse that you will always remember.

[This might give you some great ideas: https://ebible.org/pdf/pcm/
You can keep a reference in your head and hash the verse. WARNING: don’t use common verses like John 3:16. They are too easy to guess.]

You can also save your Addresses and Prass Keys in .txt files (with the Simple Text Editor app) to an encrypted microSDcard and have it stored separately.

More ideas: