Would a hardware wallet be hacked in this case

Question

Bought a hardware wallet (Ledger nano s) recently, they claim that they are safe since it is a cold wallet. Online wallets (such as Crypto.com) are not safe as they are constantly online and hackers can hack through internet, which is fair enough.

However, in the following 2 cases, would hardware wallet still be safe?

1. Ledger has their app: Ledger live, which is connected to internet, and connects to Ledge Nano s when it is plugged in. Say hacker has hacked Ledger live and my nano s is plugged in, would he/she be able to steal my assets through Ledger live?

2. My nano s is not plugged, which is safe as it is cold. A hacker has hacked Ledger live, but he/she's not able to steal my assets since I'm offline. Will he/she be able to steal when I plug my nano s in the next time?

Answer 1

Your hardware wallet is only used to sign (approve) a transaction.

Therefore, unless someone gets direct access to your seed phrase(which will allow him to confirm transactions on your behalf) nobody can do anything with your funds.

The thing to remember is to always keep your seed phrase somewhere safe and OFFLINE.

The reason I like Trezor One is that it has a touchscreen feature. Meaning that even if your computer or phone is keylogged hacker still can't find out what your seed phrase is.

If you're interested, I have written an ultra descriptive guide about hardware wallets and Trezor vs Ledger comparison you can check out.