If you want to use a @Ledger to manage your #blockchain assets, I'd like to tell you a little bit about the #security discussion that we had internally at @ultra_io. Thread below.

We are securing much of our @ultra_io Mainnet network with hardware wallets. For those that do not know, these are small USB dongles that generate a cryptographic keypair that is used to sign transactions on a #blockchain. You press ok on the device and it says OK to the network.

Recently, @Ledger, who make hardware wallets, had their marketing and @Shopify databases exposed to #hackers.

I'd like to quickly talk about why these kinds of things happen, and then talk about why I think it is important to have awareness of the data we let loose on the internet. I'll end with a security recommendation for #hardwarewallets

When a company sells you something through an online store, you generally go through some mundane registration process, with sensitive details like your name, address, phone number, address, etc. is handed over willingly. **Let's stop and think about how crazy that is.**

Would you give away your name, address, phone number, address, etc. to a stranger in a bar? I bet you have done it in the last month if you registered with a website. You gave it all away.

Now, imagine if that information indicated that you own a significant amount of digital assets like #Bitcoin , #ethereum, #Ripple, or $uos. Those unknown people now know that you are potentially very rich and with sufficient coercion could make you give it to them.

Way worse, of course is that if you have a family, they are now also in harm's way. Fuck that makes me so mad. You should be, too.

That is the situation @Ledger has put us in. It is an egregious wrong that I am personally infuriated by. No amount of "sorry" makes that ok. WANT TO KNOW WHY THIS HAPPENS??

#marketing and it's awful sister #advertising are why. At some point they made a calculated, internal decision that the risk to YOUR and MY family and assets is worth LESS than the possibility of sending me SPAM.

I don't want some bullshit, automated form letter sent to me. I want governments like the #EuropeanUnion #Israel, where I live, to do something about this. My privacy still means something to me.

If you still want to use a hardware wallet to store your assets, AND YOU SHOULD, you should make an informed decision to purchase one from a physical location that does not associate it with your home address. Pay cash.

So that's what I talk about at work. @ultra_io