Do not fall victim to phishing attacks A cyber security study done by MIT revealed that the vast majority of cases when someone gives up their personal information and credentials to a hacker, happen due to phishing attacks. These are the easiest to identify and avoid, yet they are also so frequent that many people still get robbed of valuable data!
Here are some tricks to remember to avoid phishing:
Carefully read the contents of e-mail messages that contain applications or links. Do not open e-mails from unknown sources. Whenever you are using a link that you received from anywhere, including your most trusted WhatsApp or Messenger accounts, check the validity of the domain multiple times. Don’t use USB sticks and other unfamiliar devices on your main PC or laptop. They may contain viruses and malware. 6. Stay far away from social media One of the biggest issues with the “influence” of social media on the crypto community is the number of people who are trying to lure you into a scam. A joint report from multiple US government agencies revealed that over 85% of all scams happen on social media with Facebook and Instagram leading the rest of the pack.
You should never trust any investment advice from an influencer. However, another important issue that many people forget is that you also shouldn’t contact anyone on social media if you do not know them personally.
Social media platforms are excellent hunting grounds for scammers who will do everything to gain access to your finances. Phishing attacks also occur frequently. It is a good idea to use Facebook or Instagram in moderation, never disclose your financial endeavors publicly, and keep an eye out for weird online interactions.
Avoid CEX platforms The safest wallet for Bitcoin is a community-tested application and cold storage where you should store all your crypto investments. People who engage in trading should also diversify their holdings. Many centralized crypto exchanges take your assets into custody which is good if your main priority is the speed of transactions on the market.
However, storing your money in an exchange is a good way to lose everything. Look at the FTX debacle. While it was a horrendous crime committed by a fraudster, many people lost their savings because they trusted an unregulated entity with their money. Some people used FTX accounts to store cryptocurrency and never took their holdings out to cold storage.
CEX platforms are places where you make money and engage with the crypto market. It is not a good destination to save all your assets. Even the most popular exchanges may be untrustworthy or change their agenda. You should not depend on a whim of a single CEO who runs a multibillion corporation. They will always act in their interests.
Keep all your financial endeavors private Bragging is the surest way to lose your cryptocurrency investments. While it is fine to share with some of your close friends and relatives about your tokens, making this information available to the public is not wise.
Blockchain loves privacy and anonymity. Allow your tokens to stay undisturbed in a location that only you know about. If you make your financial investments known to other people, someone will try to pry your wallet open and take your coins away.
Check every single crypto address multiple times It is not safe to send tokens, period. Every transaction is a risk. However, some of them are highly important and must be made. When you need to send your coins to any destination, verify the validity of the wallet many times before making a transaction. A single mistake may expose your wallet to a variety of external risks.
Several nuances should be mentioned:
When you make a transaction to a crypto wallet, you leave yourself vulnerable to cyber-attacks and other fraudulent activities. It is a good idea to have your main wallet completely off the grid and connect it only to another address that will be used to deal with the outside world. Copy-pasting wallet addresses are fine, but you should still check the validity of any address manually to avoid any mistakes. Some malware can overtake control over the data buffer and swap one dataset for another. It is a very unlikely scenario that should still be taken seriously. The best security tip to use when using a crypto wallet is to never interact with unverified traders on peer-to-peer exchanges or with retailers using your main wallet. The cryptocurrency world is still developing and we don’t have any industry standards that the whole community agrees to be good. Transactions with retailers and P2P exchanges are still vulnerable points. 10. Diversify your investments across multiple wallets You may use hot wallets like Metamask to work with various DeFi platforms and services. Hardware devices like Ledger Nano or Trezor are good for using crypto on a day-to-day basis. Cold storage is for your long-term investments and tokens that you are planning to “hodl”. Use all three of these options and try to store your tokens in separate locations to ensure that you don’t have all your eggs in a single basket.
Such diversification increases the utility of your tokens and prevents any hacker from accessing all your finances in case you forfeit your data. Remember that Bitcoin wallet security depends on a variety of factors and you may not be able to keep track of everything. Do not think that you can keep everything neatly in one place and never make a misstep.