Quote from: Dailyscript on Today at 01:26:26 AM

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Quick one though, in practice, do you think changing the passphrase is more secure than just relying on deep path branching? For example if someone brute-forces a seed, is a strong passphrase still a decent second line of security?

I feel if somene steals your seed phrase they cant access your wallets without the correct passphrase. It is like a second layer of protection.

Changing your passphrase is more secure, because a passphrase is like a custom additional word for your seed phrase.

A strong passphrase (e.g. 6-8 random words or a complex combination of letters, numbers and characters) is resistant to brute force attacks.

Protecting your funds in a seed with a custom derivation path will only slow down the attacker, but it will take less time to be discovered, so I wouldn't use a derivation path to hide my funds. Derivation paths serve another purpose, while a passphrase is designed to protect your funds in a hidden wallet, where the passphrase acts as a second authentication factor in combination with your seed phrase.

Without the passphrase, no one would get to your funds (or even be detected, since there is no "wrong"passphrase). Therefore, it's extremely important to know that you cannot lose your seed phrase or passphrase, otherwise your funds would be lost in limbo permanently.

Use it wisely and everything will be fine.

For more details about BIP39 seed phrase and passphrase, please visit the articles below:

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Seed_phrase

https://learnmeabitcoin.com/technical/keys/hd-wallets/mnemonic-seed/

https://blog.trezor.io/10-common-faqs-around-passphrases-in-trezor-wallets-07f30c7e6a91