ledger.com/start — Guardian Guide to Protecting Your Crypto 🛡️

Complete, professional guidance for individuals and organizations setting up Ledger hardware wallets. This guide covers setup, governance best practices, recovery planning, and proactive defenses so you can operate with confidence in a landscape of evolving threats.

Concise setup walk-through ⚙️

Start by powering on your device and following the on-device instructions. Choose a secure PIN, record the recovery phrase accurately, and confirm the seed words on your device. Install the official Ledger Live app from the vendor site and connect only through a trusted machine.

Recovery planning — not an afterthought 🔁

Design recovery plans that match the value and use-case of your holdings. For high-value vaults, use geographically separated backups, split backups (Shamir or multisig alternatives), and practice mock recoveries annually. Treat your recovery as the most sensitive asset in your security model.

Operational security for professionals

• Dedicated device lifecycle: Track issuance, firmware updates, and decommissioning. Maintain a tamper-log and a signed transfer form whenever custody changes hands.
• Least privilege: Only grant transaction approval capabilities to required personnel. Remove device access promptly when roles change.
• Multisig & time-locks: Combine hardware wallets into a multisig arrangement for treasury-level protection and implement time-delays for large withdrawals.

Threat models & response playbook

Anticipate phishing, endpoint compromise, and insider risk. If you detect suspicious activity, isolate affected devices, and initiate a recovery from known-good backups onto new hardware. Maintain an incident response contact list and pre-authorized steps for urgent action.

Education & audits

Train staff on secure handling, simulated phishing tests, and periodic audits. Keep an auditable chain-of-custody for hardware and document every access event — these practices aid compliance and insurance claims.