How to Stay Safe in The Crypto World?

There is no censorship in the digital assets according to design, and the people that have the private keys to the cryptocurrencies have complete control over their coins. The main factor in this decentralized currency exchange is that investors are completely responsible for the safe storage and protection of their own funds.

The growth of the crypto community is exponential, and there are more than 100 million users in this industry. Out of these, 14 million users are new to the market and have entered this industry in 2021. Their entry is because of the excitement created because of the latest bull cycle, and they are eager to invest in the currency of the future.

These users are easy targets for scammers and cybercriminals. To stay protected from these attacks, it is important to make use of best practices of crypto trade and follow online security protocols too at BitQT.

In the year 2020, there was a report of more than $1.9 billion crypto assets crime and a report of anti-money laundering that was stolen via fraud, scams, and hacks. In the year 2019, this figure was around $4.5 billion. The main causes of crypto theft are considered to be exit scams and decentralized finance hacks.

There was a rise in phishing attacks too in last year where fake emails were used to dupe victims or deliver malware into giving their passwords, crypto, and personal information.

How to stay protected from these cyberattacks?

1. Know about the common types of crypto scams: crypto scams can be classified into three main types. You should know about these to prevent becoming a victim and losing your crypto assets.

a. Fake crypto giveaways and deals – the promise of giving back double or more crypto assets is made to target users, and they are asked to make a deposit on a website or social media profile.

b. Scams of trading bots – these trading bot websites are fraudulent. They promise high returns every month and operate using a Ponzi scheme. These websites do not disclose details about the people who are behind the website.

c. Phishing emails and links – the emails are seemingly real and might be sent from addresses that seem to be legitimate. It would include links that would infect the device with viruses or malware. Others might redirect to fraud websites to reset their passwords etc., kindly verify email address properly and do not open links or emails from an unknown sender.

2. Do not create a digital copy of your crypto details: never create any digital copies of your seed words, wallet passwords, or backup codes. Digital copies include screenshots, photographs on mobile, or copy-pasting the details in emails or desktop files. By creating this copy, you increase the chances of giving the hacker access to your sensitive information using malware or brute force attacks. Either write it down and store it in a safe place.

3. Make use of 2-factor authentication at all places: while making a new account for crypto exchange or wallet, use the option of two-factor authentication or 2FA. This verification process is more secure and needs two pieces of information from different devices to login into an account or confirm a transaction. Usually, crypto websites use 2FA apps such as authy and Google authenticator.

4. Do not use the same password across multiple crypto platforms: in some cases, some websites might leak their customer’s information, such as passwords and email, accidentally. If you are using the same password and email combination for all your crypto accounts, then all become vulnerable.

In some cases, you might not have activated the feature of 2FA. This can create a problem. You should use different passwords for different applications. There are password manager apps that can allow you to set a master password for this app, and then you can save all your password data into it. It will also give you the feature of autosave the passwords and auto-fill them during login.

There are endless opportunities in the crypto world, but there are equivalent scammers and frauds too. So it is important to take the required precautions and steps to avoid falling prey to these scams.