I’m actually running a full node on a windows 2008 server VPS, but i’m very concerned about security of my PPC since i have the wallet unlocked to mint so, i’m considering switching to Raspberry Pi full node.
My question is how safe is this kind of node from hackers?
I wouldn’t recommend minting with a Full Active Node in general.
Use your Peerbox Full Active Node with your Raspberry Pi to help securing the network. Use the Peerunity client in non-Full Active Mode to mint.
Hopefully PPC 0.5.0 will be released soon that will bring the cold minting feature. And Peerbox is on its way to v0.3 (which doesn’t mean the current version is not secure, it is already very secure) :). So normally in a near future you’ll be able to mint safely, but for now I’d recommend to stick with Peerunity for this purpose.
Minting on Peerbox is safer than minting on Peerunity. Even if Peerbox is full node.
Users will more likely leave their Peerbox wallet unlocked/unencrypted forever. Which has less chances to happen with Peerunity because the GUI interface makes it easy to enable wallet encryption.
On top of that Peerbox does not force users to change sunny’s default password after the first boot. And for those who are not very familiar with Linux they will likely leave it unchanged.
I would rather say, novice Linux users shouldn’t mint on Peerbox. Advanced users and users who are aware about security will probably find Peerbox more secure than their daily OS running Peerunity.
In my opinion, an open port is an open port, which means minting while being a Full Active Node increases the attack surface (by one open port) of your device.
[size=8pt]I have split this topic to move this debate in appropriate topic.[/size]
My question is how safe is this kind of node from hackers?
To be direct, it is very safe. By order of magnitude safer than your Windows based VPS.
You should stop minting on that VPS as soon as possible.
Now, to explain Thireus why.
Users will more likely leave their Peerbox wallet unlocked/unencrypted forever. Which has less chances to happen with Peerunity because the GUI interface makes it easy to enable wallet encryption.
User is expected to use same wallet.dat he uses with Peerunity so I do not see this as a problem.
On top of that Peerbox does not force users to change sunny's default password after the first boot. And for those who are not very familiar with Linux they will likely leave it unchanged.
This is not an issue also. While I do agree with you that most users will not bother with this and never change default password it is mostly not an issue as Peerbox can be accessed only on local area network.
There is no chance someone to hack Peerbox remotely using SSH as access point if Peerbox is setup behind NAT, which is what 99.9% users will do.
I would rather say, novice Linux users shouldn't mint on Peerbox. Advanced users and users who are aware about security will probably find Peerbox more secure than their daily OS running Peerunity.
True. Novice users will definitely find configuring Peerbox a daunting task, and probably cut some corners to get over with it as soon as possible.
In my opinion, an open port is an open port, which means minting while being a Full Active Node increases the attack surface (by one open port) of your device.
Yes, open port is open port. We must await for test of time to see is ppcoin safe enough for this. However, unlike any other OS/wallet Peerbox will do something to prevent attacks.