Can my Monero Wallet be accessed from computer if the Wallet file name and password is known?

Question

Sorry if this is a stupid question.

I was using mymonero.com to store the XMR that I bought, but after seeing advice that it is safer to store using the simple wallet, I downloaded the warptangent release and made a wallet there.

I do not understand the technicalities of all this properly. I was wondering whether access to my monero wallet is computer-specific i.e. is there something specifically stored on my laptop which prevents someone from accessing my account even if they knew the password?

I am not in a situation where any monero has been lost or that I am worried about a key logger for example. I just want to understand how exactly I can access my wallet. Without a key logger is there any way that someone could steal my XMR?

Answer 1

Your wallet file name is the name of a set of actual files on your PC. Your password is the key to decrypt (and thus use) said wallet files; it is not used as input for some sort of deterministically-generated account. An attacker would need both your wallet files and your password.

Thus, to access your wallet on a different PC, you'll need to copy over the wallet files (or restore the wallet using your seed).

Without a key logger is there any way that someone could steal my XMR?

Yes. Key logging is only the most obvious way a remote attacker could compromise your wallet. If your question is more like: "Is there any way an attacker could brute-force my password and steal my XMR (without compromising my PC, etc)?", then the answer is no.