The world of cryptocurrency is filled with opportunities for both profits and losses. It is a volatile landscape where one can make or lose fortunes in a matter of minutes. As the adoption of crypto increases, the potential for hacks also grows. Any digital system is vulnerable to hacks if there are loopholes. The crypto market is no different, as hackers have made away with billions of dollars worth of user tokens and private keys.
If you’re thinking about investing in crypto or perhaps already own some, it is important to understand how to secure your crypto wallet against hacks. If you don’t take proper measures your digital wallet could be at risk from hackers who have made millions by stealing other people’s digital assets.
In the world of cryptocurrencies, it’s important to know how to secure your crypto wallet against hacks. The Blockchain is a continuously-growing list of records referred to as “blocks”. Every block stores information about the previous block, including its timestamp and an explanation of why that block was added. Private keys are special passwords or phrases used to access an account, such as a digital wallet. If you own cryptocurrency, you need a crypto wallet to store it.
There are different types of crypto wallets available in the market today, each with its pros and cons. But here we will discuss some easy steps which would keep your wallet safe against any sort of malicious attack. Let’s get started with exploring how you can secure your crypto wallet against hacks:
How Often do Crypto Wallets Get Hacked?
The first and most important thing, which determines how secure your wallet is, is the rate of security breaches. The worst part is that this rate is increasing with each passing day. According to a report published by Symantec, the number of cybersecurity breaches increased by 36% in just one year. The report analyzed over 1,100 cybersecurity breaches and incidents, which occurred during the course of 2018.
The purpose of this report was to highlight the importance of taking necessary precautions to avoid such breaches in the future. The report mentions the most common breaches and how they occur. The most common type of breach that is observed is hacking. In this, an attacker gains access to your account without any authorization from you. The second most common type of attack is a social engineering breach. This occurs when someone deceives you into giving them access to your account.
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How to Secure Cryptocurrency
The first and foremost thing which you should keep in mind is that crypto wallets are not bulletproof. You can never be 100% sure that your crypto is 100% secure. But you can take some basic precautions to make your crypto wallet more secure against breaches.
The first and foremost step is to have a strong and unique password. Make sure that you don’t use a password that you have used before in any other account. It is better if you use a combination of letters and numbers rather than only letters because hackers are more likely to brute force a numeric password as compared to a letter-based one.
Make sure that your password is of at least 14 characters and has a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. And, if possible, don’t write it down, instead use a password manager to store your passwords.
1. Change Your Password
If you have been using the same password since the beginning of your crypto journey, it is time to change it. It is not a good idea to use the same passwords for your different crypto wallets as well as other online accounts. If someone hacks into one account, they might try to hack others using the same password. This can lead to a really disastrous situation.
The best way to protect your crypto assets is to use unique passwords for every wallet you own. It is highly recommended to use a password manager to store all your passwords. And, you must change your passwords at regular intervals, especially if they are used for important accounts like your crypto wallets.
2. Always Use Strong Passwords
The next most important thing is to make sure that you always use strong passwords. Strong passwords are passwords that consist of at least 10 characters that include a combination of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Strong passwords can be a bit complicated, but that’s the only way to keep your crypto wallet secure against hackers. If you are using a password manager, you don’t have to worry about how to create strong passwords.
Password managers can generate random passwords for you and store them for you in an encrypted format. So, even if someone hacks into your computer and gains access to your password manager, they won’t be able to use those passwords as they are encrypted.
3. Enable 2-Factor Authentication
Most crypto wallets these days support 2-factor authentication. This is a security feature that can be enabled in your crypto wallet account to add an additional layer of security. With 2-factor authentication enabled, anyone who tries to log into your account from a new device will have to provide a code that is sent to your mobile number or your email account.
This way, even if someone manages to steal your password or login credentials, they won’t be able to log into your account as they don’t have your 2-factor code. You can also use a third-party authenticator app to generate the 2-factor code for your wallet. These apps are highly secure and reliable, and they are available for both Android and iOS devices.
4. Keep Your Software Updated
The next important thing is to make sure that you are using the latest version of your crypto wallet software. Hackers are always finding new ways to breach security systems, so you have to make sure that your wallet software is updated with the latest security patches and updates. If you are using a public crypto wallet like Coinbase or Binance, you should go to their website and see if there is any update available. If there is an update available, then you should make sure to update your wallet software immediately.
5. Stay Vigilant With a VPN
A VPN or Virtual Private Network is one of the best ways to keep your crypto wallet secure. A VPN encrypts your data and keeps your online activity hidden from people who are trying to breach your system. So, VPN is what most crypto exchanges recommend their users use for added security.
So, if you are using a crypto wallet that is not related to an exchange, you should go for a VPN. You should also use a VPN when you are visiting crypto-related websites and forums. The best thing about VPNs is that they are available for both Android and iOS devices. You can download the VPN app from the app store and connect to the VPN. You can also use VPN software on your computer.
6. Store Your Cryptocurrency in a “Cold” Wallet
Crypto wallets are either “hot” or “cold”. A “hot” wallet is a web-based wallet, which is accessible through your computer or mobile device. “Cold” wallets, on the other hand, are not connected to the Internet. A cold wallet can be an offline computer or a paper wallet. There are certain types of crypto wallets that are more secure than others. Hardware wallets like Ledger Blue and Trezor are some of the most secure and reliable options for storing your crypto assets. Paper wallets are another secure way of storing your crypto.
7. Only Store Small Amounts of Crypto in Wallets
The final, but most important, thing that you can do to secure your crypto wallet is to only store small amounts of crypto in your wallet. The bulk of your crypto assets should be stored in your offline hardware or paper wallet. You can keep a small percentage of your crypto assets in your web or mobile wallet for daily transactions. It is not recommended that you store your entire crypto assets in your wallet for two reasons.
Firstly, you are at risk if someone hacks into your wallet. Secondly, you won’t be able to trade freely in your crypto assets if you store them in a wallet. Even if someone manages to hack into your wallet and steal your tokens, they won’t be able to withdraw them if they are stored in an offline wallet.
8. Don’t Disclose any information on your wallet
To access your wallet. As a general rule, be careful about disclosing any personal information on your wallet.
- Don’t Store Passwords in Your Wallet
The password you use to log in to the wallet may be stored with the Coin base wallet. This is not always a bad thing and you can find out more about it here (my personal opinion). If you forget your password or lose it, the attacker can easily access your wallet and reset it. You should also consider whether storing passwords in multiple wallets is an option for you.
- Don’t Store Private Keys in Your Wallet
Private keys are used to sign transactions on the network, so they are important if you want to send money back and forth between other users on this network. However, most people don’t use their private keys as much as they should. It is very common for people to hold more than one private key and use them on different exchanges or wallets.
The reason why we recommend keeping them separate is that they are used by the majority of users (or even all users), so if someone uses one private key on one exchange, that person has control over all of the other private keys used by others (or most).
This can lead to privacy breaches because an attacker can know everything that has been sent through a particular address (and potentially all of its associated coins).
Don’t rely on third-party services that ask for a bitcoin address from you when transferring bitcoins between exchanges.
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Conclusion
The world of cryptocurrency can be a very profitable and exciting place to be, but it can also be a very dangerous place. And, unfortunately, it’s the latter that usually makes headlines. Stories of people losing thousands of dollars or even millions due to fraudulent schemes and hacks are all too common. If you don’t take proper measures your digital wallet could be at risk from hackers who have made millions by stealing other people’s digital assets. But here we will discuss some easy steps which would keep your crypto wallet safe against any sort of malicious attack.