However, some specifically designed malicious applications can still compromise your application wallet residing either on your personal computer or smartphone.īefore making any transactions, understand that some exchanges are more secure than others. However, this means safekeeping more than one private key, which has its own complexities.īesides cold wallets and online wallets, the other option is software crypto wallets. To disperse risk even more, you may want to hold multiple crypto wallets so that if one private key is stolen, the others are still safe. One of the dangers of storing most of your cryptocurrency with online providers is that in most cases they have access to your private key, and if they get hacked and your private key is compromised, you could lose your investment. Never share your private key with anyone, and for maximum security, store it in a physical space like a fireproof safe or safety deposit box. But if you’d rather not hire a private hacker, just make sure to store your private key well in the first place. The investors hired a hardware hacker to successfully crack into their own crypto wallet with physical access and extract $2 million in cryptocurrency. In a recent case, two investors forgot a private key for their hard wallet, yet the investment on their wallet rose to a value of several million. You can set your own private key, but losing it could mean losing access to your investment. A cold crypto wallet, which is similar in size to a USB device, holds a private key that can be used to access your funds. While you may need some of it online for transactions, only keep what you need in the short-term and store most of it offline. The first step to secure your crypto wallet is to store it in a “cold,” or hardware, wallet. Store your cryptocurrency in a “cold” wallet. And with mobile apps becoming a popular tool for managing a crypto wallet, these tips apply not just to your computer but especially to your mobile phone. You may not need all 10, but by evaluating what amount of risk you are comfortable with, you can determine how much security you want to follow. So is your crypto wallet safe? Make sure you’re following these 10 tips to protect your cryptocurrency from hackers. While it’s likely not possible to be 100% secure against every possible attack, there are a lot of things you can do to secure cryptocurrency and reduce your risk level. However, the most common attack is stealing the private keys of a crypto wallet. Hackers can steal cryptocurrency in a variety of ways, from stealing or guessing your password, to hacking an exchange platform, to luring information from you in phishing attempts, and many more. Nearly $3 billion has been stolen from crypto exchanges since 2012 and there have been about a dozen attacks since the pandemic started, with an estimated loss of over half a billion since April 2020. As more people invest in cryptocurrency, it increasingly becomes more lucrative for attackers. How often do crypto wallets get hacked?Ĭryptocurrency is growing in popularity, but meanwhile, the threats are evolving and growing as well. As experts in public key infrastructure (PKI), we at DigiCert know a thing or two about protecting private keys, so we pulled together this guide to help you secure your crypto wallet. Owning a cryptocurrency wallet means getting a private key that you must safeguard. There are, however, a few extra things you can do to keep your cryptocurrency investment safe. When securing your crypto wallet, you will need to follow similar practices to keeping your online banking secure. While it’s true that there is a risk with transacting online, a lot of the same habits that keep you safe online will keep your cryptocurrency safe. TL DR: if your cryptocurrency is lost or stolen, it’s extremely difficult to get it back, and the onus is on you to protect it. Unlike FDIC-insured bank accounts, cryptocurrency is unregulated by most governments so you may not have legal recourse. One of the reasons a lot of people have been hesitant to invest in cryptocurrency is because of the security risks, especially since currently the responsibility to protect a cryptocurrency investment lies with the investor.
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