<p>Yes, if you have an unencrypted wallet.dat then this is a very real possibility. Even an encrypted wallet.dat is vulnerable without a strong password and good security practices. It's simply a list of private keys encrypted with AES. AES can't be hacked, but a weak password can. FWIW, people who've lost their password for the wallet.dat have not been able to retrieve their funds, so an encrypted wallet.dat stands the test of encryption.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-25T06:16:36.917Z
2015-05-25T06:16:36.917Z
Wizard Of Ozzie
<p>If the private key(s) are/is in the wallet.dat file, then isn't it overly exposed to hackers?  Can't a hacker just read my C:[dir]\wallet.dat file and take all the bitcion?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-23T11:32:28.663Z
possible duplicate of [How to protect against wallet theft?](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/14062/how-to-protect-against-wallet-theft)
cdecker
<private-key><wallet.dat>
wallet.dat file compromise
JPAGE
# wallet.dat file compromise

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-05-23)

If the private key(s) are/is in the wallet.dat file, then isn't it overly exposed to hackers? Can't a hacker just read my C:[dir]\wallet.dat file and take all the bitcion?

**Tags:** private-key, wallet.dat

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: possible duplicate of [How to protect against wallet theft?](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/14062/how-to-protect-against-wallet-theft)  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2015-05-25. Score: 1

Yes, if you have an unencrypted wallet.dat then this is a very real possibility. Even an encrypted wallet.dat is vulnerable without a strong password and good security practices. It's simply a list of private keys encrypted with AES. AES can't be hacked, but a weak password can. FWIW, people who've lost their password for the wallet.dat have not been able to retrieve their funds, so an encrypted wallet.dat stands the test of encryption.


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