The need for usage of Airgapped devices

[CryptoLaila]

Over the months, I've  been inactive a little  as I was busy with some other stuffs but I had the time to learn some new things about btc.
Security
I learned something  new about the most secure way of storing your btc which is Usage of Airgapped  devices and I felt I should also share this here too
What are Airgapped devices:
Airgapped  devices are devices that are completely  free of any access  to Internet I.e they donot use or get connected to the Internet at all.
what are the benefits:
Using of an airgapped  device gives the ultimate  security  level  for your datas and using it as your  means of cold storage  gives your wallet the tight security  it needed as issues like (malwares and attacks) will be completely  eliminated since there're  no relationship  with the Internet

How can we use Airgapped as a means of cold storage:
We can use Airgapped  devices as a means of cold storage  by taking our wallet offline completely , here we will have two wallets, the one that connects to  the Internet [view only wallet](this can be used on other devices  that connects to Internet  as it only view and make transaction  that need to be signed]
The other wallet is used on the Airgapped device as cold storage and is capable of signing  transaction  for broadcast on the other view-only wallet.
For now, I can only speak of Electrum  as a way to do this (by connecting the two wallet using a public key) because  I've  only  read about Electrum but I know others will know more wallet that does it , a little share of knowledge  will do here .


##CryptoLaila

[Fivestar4everMVP]

Storing bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies by means of using airgapped devices is an agelong tradition, it's not something new at all, but still, I am glad that op is sharing this here for us to discuss about it, so that newbies who don't know a thing about airgapped devices can learn.

The truth is, when we talk about airgapped devices, some usually think or believe that only hardware wallets can be used as airgapped device for cryptocurrency storage, the fact actually is, even our mobile phones can be turned into an airgapped device for our cryptocurrency storage.

How?

Just get an old mobile phone that you intend not using any more, connect to the internet and install electrum, or any other open source non custodial wallet, create a new wallet, write down your seed phrase and keep it somewhere really safe, move as much of your crypto you intend holding for a very long time into the new wallet, after confirming receipt of the crypto, now disconnect the old device from the internet, delete all network access settings, remove the Sim card from the device, turn the device off and remove the battery, congratulations, you just moved your funds to a new airgapped device, now, all you have to do is, keep the mobile device somewhere safe, as well as your seed phrase, also copy/paste and save the wallet address to the airgapped wallet somewhere you can easily access it, so that in the future when you need to move some funds into that wallet, you just get the address where it is saved and move funds there, you can import the airgapped wallet into another device  in view-only mode using the public key/wallet address, a lot of non custodial wallets supports importing wallets in view only mode, wallet like electrum, trust wallet, mycelium and a host of others.

[Charles-Tim]

For easy understanding about wallet on airgapped device, here is one example https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/coldstorage.html

For now, I can only speak of Electrum  as a way to do this (by connecting the two wallet using a public key) because  I've  only  read about Electrum but I know others will know more wallet that does it , a little share of knowledge  will do here .

Sparrow is also a good wallet which can be used for it

The truth is, when we talk about airgapped devices, some usually think or believe that only hardware wallets can be used as airgapped device for cryptocurrency storage, the fact actually is, even our mobile phones can be turned into an airgapped device for our cryptocurrency storage.

Some hardware wallets are not airgapped devices, only few are.

To remove mobile phone Bluetooth and WiFi card is not easy. I prefer laptops instead which these modules can easily be removed.

[bitmover]

the fact actually is, even our mobile phones can be turned into an airgapped device for our cryptocurrency storage.

I think this is dangerous and you will be facing unnecessary risk.

Just buy a good hardware wallet such as trezor and be happy and safe. Unless you are a cyber security specialist, you shouldn't try to create your own system... it is like reinventing the wheel imo.

[CryptoLaila]

Some hardware wallets are not airgapped devices, only few are.

To remove mobile phone Bluetooth and WiFi card is not easy. I prefer laptops instead which these modules can easily be removed.

Yes, I think laptops should be a good one, drivers can be removed with ease  but windows itself is a bad idea  although I'm  not used to Linux but I think it should be better with Kernel , I'm  even thinking of migrating to Linux .

[Charles-Tim]

Yes, I think laptops should be a good one, drivers can be removed with ease  but windows itself is a bad idea  although I'm  not used to Linux but I think it should be better with Kernel , I'm  even thinking of migrating to Linux .

Linux is open source and better. But this is an airgapped device and there is nothing about it that is going to the device external environment than signed transactions. These makes any of the operating systems to be good. But Tails OS is also open source and come with Electrum installed in which no wallet download and no installation needed.

[Lucius]

Just get an old mobile phone that you intend not using any more, connect to the internet and install electrum, or any other open source non custodial wallet, create a new wallet, write down your seed phrase and keep it somewhere really safe, move as much of your crypto you intend holding for a very long time into the new wallet, after confirming receipt of the crypto, now disconnect the old device from the internet, delete all network access settings, remove the Sim card from the device, turn the device off and remove the battery, congratulations, you just moved your funds to a new airgapped device...

This is not the way to make an airgapped wallet - because the whole point is to create a seed on a device that is not online, and the way you would do it could very easily expose the seed if the smartphone is infected with any malware/keylogger that could collect information and send it to a remote server.

The correct way would be to disconnect the device from the internet and bluetooth and all possible data connections, and to download the APK file for the wallet on another device and verify it, and then install it on the airgapped smartphone through the SD card. Although some experts say that regardless of the fact that everything is turned off, there is still a possibility that the smartphone can communicate with other devices.

From what is offered on the market today, Foundation Passport has the best reputation, which is truly an airgapped hardware wallet. An excellent review for those who want to know more -> Foundation Passport Review

[SamReomo]

I believe the best way to make and use an air gapped device is with the use of Electrum which OP has shown in this thread. For proper air gapping, I suggest OP to go with a old desktop pc and remove all hardware from that pc which allow internet connections. After that the OP should download electrum from internet using another device that's not air gapped and copy the Electrum on his/her air gapped device and create a wallet with Electrum. Make sure to write the seed phrase on paper and do multi copies of it.

Once you have created that wallet, now you may need to go to Wallet -> Information and copy the master public key of the wallet present on air gapped device. Once all that is done, now you may go to your online device and select File -> New/Restore, and give it a name, and then select Standard wallet, after that click on next button. Once that's done, now you should select "Use public or private keys" and click on next button. Now, you need to paste that copied master public key on the empty space, and after pasting you should click on next button once again.

Once it's complete you'll see a pop-up that will show that your wallet is in watch only mode. Now you have set your offline air gapped wallet and a watch only version of it on your online device.

You may give this article a reading to understand in depth about signing of transactions, and about the whole process. Cold Storage — Electrum 3.3 documentation

[joniboini]

Yes, I think laptops should be a good one, drivers can be removed with ease  but windows itself is a bad idea  although I'm  not used to Linux but I think it should be better with Kernel , I'm  even thinking of migrating to Linux .

What do you mean by better with the kernel? Are you referring to the kernel which is required for Linux OS to run or a Linux OS called Kernel? What makes you think it is better? I'm a Linux user myself but I never touch kernel for my daily usage.

But Tails OS is also open source and come with Electrum installed in which no wallet download and no installation needed.

I remember reading that the pre-installed Electrum is not always up-to-date so you'll likely need to either manually update it or install Electrum on your own. It might cause trouble especially if there's a recent update that disables support for older versions for security reasons. So make sure to double-check it before you install a live OS. CMIIW.

[_act_]

I believe the best way to make and use an air gapped device is with the use of Electrum which OP has shown in this thread.

You post a good and well explained way to setup a wallet on an airgapped device but I just want you to know that there are other wallets that you can use for it. The wallet for signing transaction is a cold wallet and if it has QR for the transfer of the PSBT and the signed transaction, it is good. All wallets that support that are perfect for a airgapped wallet.

A good wallet on airgapped device needs QR code for making transaction and no more than that. The other important feature like having double spend characteristic and others should be on the watch only wallet.

For import of the master public key, you can use Electrum, Sparrow, Bluewallet or Sentinel.

[Tribalchief]

Interesting discussion from the OP, I must say. But after reading through all the replies in the comment section, I could only come to one conclusion from my observation. My conclusion is: even if we try to download the software on a particular mobile and then install it on the supposed offline mobile device, we would still have to connect to the internet in order to create a new wallet address. If I'm not mistaken, most of the replies here suggest that a device with zero connection should act as the airgapped device. So I have been curious, unless we now have non-custodial wallets that could perform the first setup offline.

I believe the best way to make and use an air gapped device is with the use of Electrum which OP has shown in this thread. For proper air gapping, I suggest OP to go with a old desktop pc and remove all hardware from that pc which allow internet connections. After that the OP should download electrum from internet using another device that's not air gapped and copy the Electrum on his/her air gapped device and create a wallet with Electrum. Make sure to write the seed phrase on paper and do multi copies of it.

I'm a little confused here because it seems the air-gapped device still needs an internet connection. From what you explained, it appears the main aim here is to avoid getting malware while downloading the software package, rather than actually connecting to the internet. Because even after installing the software on the air-gapped device, there should be a need for wallet setup using an internet connection, isn't there?.

[_act_]

Interesting discussion from the OP, I must say. But after reading through all the replies in the comment section, I could only come to one conclusion from my observation. My conclusion is: even if we try to download the software on a particular mobile and then install it on the supposed offline mobile device, we would still have to connect to the internet in order to create a new wallet address. If I'm not mistaken, most of the replies here suggest that a device with zero connection should act as the airgapped device. So I have been curious, unless we now have non-custodial wallets that could perform the first setup offline.

I believe the best way to make and use an air gapped device is with the use of Electrum which OP has shown in this thread. For proper air gapping, I suggest OP to go with a old desktop pc and remove all hardware from that pc which allow internet connections. After that the OP should download electrum from internet using another device that's not air gapped and copy the Electrum on his/her air gapped device and create a wallet with Electrum. Make sure to write the seed phrase on paper and do multi copies of it.

I'm a little confused here because it seems the air-gapped device still needs an internet connection. From what you explained, it appears the main aim here is to avoid getting malware while downloading the software package, rather than actually connecting to the internet. Because even after installing the software on the air-gapped device, there should be a need for wallet setup using an internet connection, isn't there?.

You will use a wallet that does not need internet connection to generate seed phrase, master private key, master public key and addresses. Electrum can also generate private keys and public keys without the internet connection. You do not need an internet for it. Only what you need internet for is the watch only wallet and not the wallet on airgapped device.

[CryptoLaila]

I'm a little confused here because it seems the air-gapped device still needs an internet connection. From what you explained, it appears the main aim here is to avoid getting malware while downloading the software package, rather than actually connecting to the internet. Because even after installing the software on the air-gapped device, there should be a need for wallet setup using an internet connection, isn't there?.

This is how it works,
Have you ever heard of view only wallet ?? If yes,  anyone can access a view wallet of you have the public key ... you would  probably  have seen a thousand  worth account  wallet but you will have no way to withdraw  it .
Here, only the owner of the cold wallet have the access to make the transaction  possible  .
For example,
I will be using electrum as it has this feature,  I have an airgapped  device and I created a wallet in the form of cold storage,  now that wallet will  have it phrases  that can be stored just like a standard  wallet(and indeed  its  a standard  wallet) , you would be given a public  key too which can be used on your hot wallet .
The hot wallet can be created on your device that connects  to the Internet now instead  of a standard  wallet  you will be creating  a View-Only wallet  which require that your public key( see this as just a mirror  reflection  of your wallet), most wallet do specify View-Only  wallet while creating  but Electrum  is  done in another way  and I think it has been explained  from one of the comments  no need to dive  into it again
You can use this  public key on different  devices  as much as you want  here you can view your balance and make transactions, but this transaction  needs to go through  the cold wallet for signing , so anyone  who literally  have access to the view wallet needed to have access  to the airgapped  wallet to .ake the transaction  works , after the signing  then you can now come back to your view-only wallet to broadcast  the transaction

What do you mean by better with the kernel? Are you referring to the kernel which is required for Linux OS to run or a Linux OS called Kernel? What makes you think it is better? I'm a Linux user myself but I never touch kernel for my daily usage.

I do call Linux as an OS running on Kernel  so I pretty  much love to call it Kernel .
Although  I haven't tried it  but I believe  it a much more better OS than Windows  IMO

[electronicash]

why do they have to call it airgapped? what does air have to do with it? 
but i would assume this is for long term like you having an airgapped wallet will not sell the coins even in the bear market?

majority of the people today are for profit not really for the technology and although they may be up for the decentralization and that for safe keeping of their wealth but during the bear market they will still hurry to put back the batteries and connect to an exchange to sell.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

Learning never ends, it's a continuous process of life and this very aspect of Bitcoin that you have learned is most important because so many people have been very nonchalant about their Bitcoin investment and they therefore have lost their asset due to their careless mistakes and also lack of adequate knowledge about Bitcoin security and investment.

When I started off as a crypto lover and investor far back in 2019, I was never aware about anything as airgap device, not until I joined Bitcointalk forum in 2022, that was when I learned about airgap device and it's importance. It could save as a hardware wallet for those people who can not afford to buy hardware wallet.