Hey everyone,
Got Bitcoin Core 29.0 up and running on Ubuntu 24.04.
Quick question: Can someone figure out where my node is located? Like, could I be targeted for a burglary or something?
What basic security stuff should I do to stay anonymous? Also, should I worry about online attacks?
I don’t have any BTC on this node, just trying to help out the network. Thanks!
Honestly, it really depends on how you have it set up. If you’re just a listening node without any port forwarding, you’re pretty much invisible, just another client among thousands. Worst case, someone logs your IP but that's not a big deal. You do know your IP is out there every time you browse the web, right?
If privacy is a big worry, run your node behind a proxy or use Tor or I2P. You could even rent a server to run it. But honestly, you probably don’t need to stress too much. I’ve never heard of anyone getting hacked like this.
Pretty unlikely, man. There’s like 21K nodes that take incoming connections and around 87K full nodes overall.
Ubuntu is pretty secure out of the box, unless someone is specifically gunning for you with a ton of resources. The Ubuntu help page has some basic tips, but if you're worried about your IP being visible, just get a VPN. Just be careful though, some VPNs don’t really care about privacy.
Yeah, but honestly for this situation, it doesn’t matter if the VPN is solid on privacy or keeps logs. Your real IP will still be hidden behind the VPN. Just pick a well-known VPN provider, it’ll do the job just fine.
If you really want to amp up your security, enable Tor in your Bitcoin Core settings.
I’m not sure how it is on Windows, but on Linux, it’s pretty straightforward. Here’s a guide for setting up a Tor hidden service for Bitcoin Core.
No need for a VPN if you’re using Tor.
I get that, privacy is key here. People into Bitcoin and using Linux usually care about that stuff.
If OP is cool with setting Bitcoin Core up to use Tor and their area isn’t blocking Tor, it’s a good option.