How to Secure My Crypto Wallet?

The security of cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based technologies is one of its most notable promises.

However, hundreds of accounts of traders and investors losing their substantial cryptocurrency savings have surfaced in recent years, with a variety of explanations. Bad actors might target your savings and perhaps steal them in a number of methods, including phishing scams, compromised exchanges, and poor private key management.

In cryptocurrency and Bitcoin, you are your own bank. The primary drawback, in contrast to traditional banking, is that, in the majority of situations, there is no way to get your digital currency back once they are out of your wallet. Insurance does not exist.

This is why taking every precaution to ensure the security of your cryptocurrency holdings is crucial.

Cryptocurrency Security Depends on Your Wallet

Users must realize that their bitcoin is more vulnerable at their wallet or exchange than on the blockchain itself. Your private key is just one piece of information that can be monitored and saved by the supplier. Hackers can gain access to this and use it to steal your money.

With more and more individuals utilizing cryptocurrencies, the competition among digital wallets is heating up.

Because of this, consumers must exercise extreme caution when choosing a wallet. Generally speaking, you should only use bitcoin wallets created by trustworthy, well-established companies. To do this, you can look at the seven top non-custodial crypto wallets or refer to our guide on reliable crypto wallets.

Having said that, there are numerous measures you can take to ensure the security of your Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency holdings after you’ve completed that. Here are nine pieces of advice that everyone should be aware of and follow.

How to Secure Your Crypto Wallet?

Diversify Your Assets and Make Use of Cold Storage

This is sound advice for both financial and personal safety when investing. No matter if you’re storing your bitcoin in a hot or cold wallet, you shouldn’t ever keep your whole stack in one.

To spread your savings around and minimize the impact of a compromised wallet, it’s recommended to use numerous wallets for cryptocurrencies.

It is highly advised to use cold storage devices. Unless you fall for a phishing scam—discussed further below—it is very difficult, if not impossible, to hack these wallets because they are not linked to the internet. Trezor and Ledger are the two most well-known brands.

Phishing Scams: A Warning

With the proliferation of cryptocurrencies, phishing scams have become increasingly common in recent years.

Phishing domains that imitate popular and existent websites, false apps that are posted to the App Store and the Google Play Store, phony adverts on YouTube, Facebook, and Google, and many more ways exist for someone to compromise the security of your device.

In the blink of an eye, your cryptocurrency holdings will vanish when you provide your private key to a phishing scam website. Unfortunately, these tend to be quite complex, to the point where even seasoned eyes might be fooled by the deceptive intricacies. Typically, they mimic the original in every way.

That’s why it’s so important to always use your computer’s security measures and never go to untrusted websites. Make sure the apps you download are authentic and not pirated by checking their sources multiple times.

One unlucky user got their hands on a fake program that looked just like the popular Exodus cryptocurrency wallet. As a result of this episode, he swiftly lost about $80,000 worth of NEO and Ethereum (ETH) currencies.

Safety of Services

It is essential to remove your bitcoin from a device that requires service, as mentioned earlier. Things like software and hardware updates, among others, could fall into this category.

You should also never give out your device or leave it alone. No matter how trustworthy the individual you entrust the device to is, there is always the chance that they may inadvertently do anything that would compromise its security, whether they meant to or not.

Secure Your Money by Backing Up Your Wallets

The most important thing is to never keep your wallet’s private keys in an offline location. In this manner, hackers will not be able to access them. Additionally, it is critical to keep copies of these private keys in a separate, off-site location.

In addition, it is wise to keep a spare set of keys in a secure location outside of your house. This will ensure that you can still get into your house in the event of a disaster like a fire or an earthquake.

It may come as a surprise, but the safe at your bank is a good spot to keep your private key. Obviously, this is just a backup. Your private keys should always be accessible whenever you need them.

Take Care of Your Computer and Mobile Device

One weakness that hackers often target is the mobile app that comes with many cryptocurrency wallets.

In order to keep your mobile-based wallets secure, you need pay close attention to the following three details:

• Use private Wi-Fi only. It is possible for hackers to access the linked devices.
• Disable automatic software and operating system upgrades on your device. Keep yourself updated, but if a security hole is found, you should give it some time before installing the patch.
• When possible, always utilize a two-factor authentication (2FA). At the moment, Google Authenticator is the most widely used software for code change. With this extra safeguard in place, you’ll need to enter a code each time you access your wallet or account. It makes it so no one can log in to your device unless they physically have it or are able to hack it.
• Ensure that your apps, particularly the 2FA app, cannot be accessed in the event that your device is stolen by protecting it with a password.
• When prompted, do not let Google Chrome or any other password-saving application automatically save passwords that include cryptography.
• Preserve your computer and mobile device with a current antivirus program.

If you’re really into trading, another option is to get a separate computer or mobile device that you may use only for cryptocurrency. Applications on this device should not have any ill-considered permissions that could make it vulnerable to hackers.

Verify the Destination Address

One problem with cryptocurrency is that it can be impossible to retrieve lost coins if the address is entered incorrectly.

For this reason, before sending any kind of payment, be sure you have the correct address. Malicious software can even alter the “copy and paste” process such that you wind up pasting the address of the bad guy instead of your own.

To ensure the security of your transfer, it is recommended to provide a little payment before sending the full amount.

Maintain the Secrecy of Your Assets

In the world of cryptocurrencies, there’s an old adage about the $5 wrench attack. This means that someone may lure you into giving them your private keys by threatening your health or even your life with a wrench that costs $5 at most stores.

Attackers usually won’t care if you employ technology like multi-signature wallets.

Because of this, you should never, ever boast about your cryptocurrency holdings to anyone. No one should be privy to your specific bitcoin holdings or even that you own any at all. You won’t be singled out for it if you keep it to yourself.

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