Cryptocurrency is gaining wide acceptance and adoption across the world, and with this, security concerns have come up concerning the safety of crypto assets. Some of the security threats against cryptocurrencies include Ponzi schemes, phishing attacks—not so common but still a risk—and phone-porting attacks, among others.
Due to the very nature of cryptocurrencies, the primary responsibility of keeping your digital assets safe is on you as the owner, and you can best achieve this by consolidating many skills, relying on experience, and being extra cautious.
Here are some proven tactics you can employ to safeguard your crypto:
Cold storage
Cold storage in crypto refers to the concept of having a reserve of your cryptocurrency air gapped and offline. When dealing with vast reserves of cryptocurrencies, cold storage becomes a vital measure. You only keep amounts that you can afford to lose, so to speak, in exchanges and online wallets. You can do cold storage by employing methods such as buying a hardware wallet or air gapping your computer by removing the network card from your PC (and use an OS that you can run offline, such as Tails). If you choose to go the route of the hardware wallet, you only need to plug in your hardware wallet into a wall outlet to ensure you keep it as cold as possible when generating the seed phrase.
Generate strong passwords
It should be quite apparent to you by now that using birthdays, location addresses, and any other easy-to-guess passwords is a big no when it comes to securing your digital assets. The best idea is to use a random mnemonic generator to come up with almost impossible-to-crack passcodes. You may as well consider buying a hardware wallet to generate powerful access keys or signatures for you. It is also better to have multiple-signature wallets that require multiple keys to authorize transactions.
Also, it is advisable to employ a two-factor authentication for almost all your online accounts—emails, exchanges, and so on.
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Get to know attack vectors (enemies)
You must be extra cautious and vigilant to detect anyone trying to intercept the path between you and your destination. Malicious sites and spoof websites that pose as other sites have perfected their art of hoodwinking. As a precaution, always double-check site’s URLs, or bookmark your crypto sites and strictly use your bookmarks. Also, be cautious with software downloads, and make sure to verify software sources before downloading them.
Conceal your personal information
It is in your best interest to keep all your personal information discreet. Avoid revealing any information that can be used to obtain your personal information, such as emails, pins, passwords, and more. Also, keep to yourself how much cryptocurrency you have in your wallet as well as the highly sensitive details about your wallet. Never make it easier for hackers to phish your account by exposing your information.
Only use secure networks
At all costs, avoid using public Wi-Fi and multiple networks to surf; otherwise, you will be making the work of intelligent hackers pretty easy.
Final words
It is your responsibility to safeguard your crypto, so use all the above tips and any others recommended by experts and those who have been in the crypto world for a long time. Also, do not fall for get-rich-quick schemes and always have your guard up.