Bitcoin Forum

One of the big problems we all face when it comes to cryptocurrency is security. So how can an average person protect themselves from some of the threats that come from the internet and represent a direct danger for our wallets?

The safety of our devices should come first, and therefore need to be protected by selecting the best security software. In what follows I will describe what I have personally used for many years and what gives me great protection so far.

Norton Security is a security package that offers one of the best protection on the market, and among others, it includes antivirus, firewall, antispam, browser protection, antiphishing, banking protection... Anyone can get a 30-day trial, and if you are satisfied you can buy a subscription (I bought my in Marketplace > Goods > Digital goods very cheap - please check user trust ratings/use escrow). https://hk-en.norton.com/downloads

Malwarebytes is a security software with a high reputation and one of the most famous tools for malware/adware prevention and removal. Can be used as a free version to scan and remove malware, but also in the Premium version that provides proactive protection against malware, ransomware, and web&exploit protection. Trial version offers 30 days of Premium protection, and you can buy a very cheap licence in Digital goods board. https://www.malwarebytes.com/products/

CCleaner is already a legendary little utility for cleaning up all the junk that piles up on your computer after surfing, and regular using of your PC. By using this tool you will free space on your disk, remove all surfing data/cookies, and there is also option for repair/clean registry. There is free and paid version, but free is quite sufficient for most users. https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner

I must emphasize that you do not need a supercomputer to use these programs, my configuration is just 4GB of RAM + i3 processor, everything works perfectly. For even more protection, regularly upgrade your computer with security/critical updates (for Windows), and use common sense.

This is one of way to be safe in crypto.

Keep devices clean and prevent threats to attack or compromise devices. It is security.

What listed in OP are support tools to increase security but the importance of being carefully on the Internet is key. Don't click on strange links (invitation, sites, whatever); don't download and install strange things; don't install wallets without verification. Tools can not protect us from all dangerous threats on the Internet. If we are careless, we will be caught by hackers someday.

Additionally, the privacy is important too. Some crypto investors carelessly do KYCs for shit bounties or unknowingly disclose their personal identities over the Internet, on third-party sites. They don't know that losing privacy potentially result in losses too.

I meant there are two big things for crypto investors: security and privacy. They have to finish required things to protect their security and privacy concurrently.

Personally, I do not welcome such a technique, when we need to install something on our mobile system in order to secure it.

However, there is no guarantee that the installed application will not be compromised in the future through an unknown vulnerability.
Therefore, if you have an android, it is better to refrain from using mobile to access your wallets.

As for the personal computer, MAC is a good choice.
For Windows users, the built-in antivirus is quite suitable, as well as the absence of hacked programs in the system.

Another protip: learn to use Linux! Not just to save your coins, but also your data and your privacy.

Though the learning curve might be quite steep depending on your knowledge on computers even though I'd say Linux Mint and Ubuntu are decently newbie friendly, your device in general will mostly be more secure with Linux(assuming you don't do super dumb stuff like randomly executing commands you see online), compared to Windows. Why? Simply due to the fact that most malware and viruses are made specifically to target Windows devices due to most people using Windows operating systems.

If you want to protect your coins, just use a hardware wallet. Way easier and waaay more secure than an antivirus :p An antivirus isn't going to protect you from proper malware anyway.
Yes, they aren't that cheap (not expensive either nowadays) but they are absolutely worth it considering you could lose your whole stack otherwise.

You're giving the impression here that people will be safe after installing some software, you'll have to do more than that if you want to be safe unfortunately  :P
As you mentioned, common sense is probably the most important. A hardware wallet won't help you either if you just send coins to a scammer.

Norton security makes my computer so slow...
I use malware bytes+windows defender only.

About cc cleaner, there are many discussions about it on the internet. It is basically a controversy software
Many people claim it does more harm than good.

For many people, this isn't an option - they use Windows because they use software that only work on this platform on a daily basis, and there's no good alternatives for Linux, or it would require too much effort to switch. You could recommend dual-booting Linux and Windows to use Linux for crypto and other important things, but I personally had a lot of problems with such setup, so it may be not for everyone.

Sure, that's understandable. But with Linux's Wine software being developed and getting better by the daily, Linux is slowly but surely getting more viable. But yea, if you need specific software on Windows, you either dual boot, or create a VM instance just to be able to run that specific software.

Hi OP,  the topic entitled also protection in smartphone? By the way, I'm rarely using my PC for securing my coins and altcoins. All of my private key and important wallet address stored only to my mobile notepad and etc.

 Is these three suggestion applicable to mobile phone also? Cause most discussion above and concerns is for PC users. Id never been hacked before or stolen some of my coins and tokens but to be safe wanted to have some protection applicable for phones. Would you or anyone here have any suggestion or recommendation? Thanks for sharing.

Yes, Norton has an app version and you can download it on google play store, here. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.symantec.mobilesecurity&hl=en.

I used antivirus even my phone and on my PC to have security in all my assets were stored. It helps to protect and increase another security layer on our device against threats such as malicious apps, or even theft and from remote hacking.

Thank OP for the heads up to others, these protips of yours is very important to avoid hacking.
In addition, you may look out this link for further information on antivirus software, Top 10 Best Free Virus Protection 2019 (https://www.antivirussoftwareguide.com/best-free-virus-protection).

My problem so far luckily hasn't been my hardware. I've been fairly cautious when it came to where I clicked and what sort of traffic I put my home network through. This was of course learned through the early years of streaming, then realizing the shit you could pick up.

I did start to invest in protection a few years ago, when I realized how much access my PC could provide someone with nefarious intentions. There was a discount version of Mcafee available at the time that allowed install on all my devices. I've stuck with it through the years, at first because I didn't end auto-renewal. I have found it to be to aggressive at times, even ignoring items that I whitelist, which was infuriating. I still don't use all it's features, but run a scan when I log onto any home PC, that I'm using for either a wallet, or other personal info. This is on top of leaving it online all the time on all personal PC's in the house. I let it scan anything I'm going to download. So far it's served me well.
I have yet to place it on my phone, but see that it is an option. I just never got around to it, and don't use my mobile wallet anymore for more than say 50$ I would be spending pretty much immediately.
I do have a mining rig that doesn't get to talk to the rest of the network. Mcafee doesn't get to run except when I tell it to, as it constantly deletes a GPU miner file, no matter how many times I tell it to leave it alone.

There is no 100% protection, but as I said before, security software is just the first line of defense. In my case any threat is stopped before it caused any damage to my computer, that's why I recommended those programs.


There is no need to refrain from using hot wallets on smartphones, but these must be newer generation devices that regularly receive patches for security vulnerabilities. With some solid antivirus and caution when installing apps from the Play Store, any device with the Android OS is pretty safe.


I totally agree and advocate such an approach, it's something I've done a long time ago, and I can say that I'm sleeping a lot more peacefully after that. But even with hardware wallet users can lose their coins, clipboard malware or phishing attempts are a daily occurrence. In most cases, good AV or MB will stop crypto users to do irreversible damage.


I post about my PC, with only 4 GB of RAM and i3 CPU everything works pretty well, it all depends on the OS you are using and your hardware configuration. There may be a conflict with another program.


That's one of the things that the program does, it removes cookies and everything that is left after surfing/using PC. In my case, it is cleaning 200-300 MB of data after a few hours of surfing. But I am not using any automatic login, this was never a problem for me.

Steamtyme, maybe its time to try something new, most security programs offer 30 or more days trial, so there are no costs and risks.

Smartphones,particularly android can be spied easily,for protecting from such things never install any apps from thridparty websites,keep the software and apps upto date,never click any links send to your mobile even links can be hidden under pictures.And one more saving your keys on notepad is not a good idea,either you have t keep it in an offline drive or a device which will never connected to internet.

You really won't need any antivirus/antimalware on your mobile device unless:

• You carelessly rooted your device(Android) without knowing the risks
• You download and install random APKs especially from random and untrusted websites
• You carelessly give app permissions to certain apps that doesn't really need that specific permission (e.g. storage and camera permission from a calculator app)
• Along with any of the 3 I've mentioned, you keep your phone's OS outdated for a while

I've had no antiviruses and antimalwares on any of my phones since the first time I've held a smartphone and I never had any problems/leaks. You just need to be not-careless.

Just as I expected. Anyway thanks for the tips it seems like I did the same process to keep safe. I always udpate my phone OS and never install any random APK.

I think I will just use phone for doing crypto business rather than using PC which is really prone to viruses that can lead to a hacking event.

What only cons of using mobile phone is the storing for some major coins which needed MACos and Linux. If I wanted to store some tokens or coins needed to install their wallet via PC or yet if the exchange have these coins supported.

I use CCleaner too. Will consider the others listed by OP when I tried to full time crypto trading since now There are only 3 crypto apps I have in my laptop, but tons in my cp. Sometimes I use my old phone when I'm going to try new applications or before when there are bounties that needs to upload the wallet to be able to submit a wallet address

Just a last tip, just so if you don't know yet, grab a hardware wallet like the Ledger Nano or a Trezor if you hold a significant amounts worth of cryptocurrencies. While I'd say that your mobile phone is harder to hack compared to your desktop computer, it's still very possible.

Hardware wallet all the way, i don't trust ccleaner software and the rest, if you used to cc cleaner very well you should know that it sometimes deletes off some files in windows and your pc won't run without giving you notice of missing window files, safe yourself the headaches and go for hardware wallet instead

Hardware wallet is one of the safest ways to hold crypto, no doubt about that, but as I have already written, there is a possibility that those who use them may lose their coins due clipboard malware or via fake sites that ask users to type their seed because their device is in danger. The programs I have listed help to maintain a secure environment, which is very important, although (for now) hardware wallets can also be used on an infected computer.

It's up to you personally to believe in something or not, but CCleaner never made me the slightest problem. The problem is that some use it inappropriately, and even neglect the option that is always offered before performing any action - backup/system restore point. Even deleted files can be easily recovered in this case.

I'm a long time Ccleaner user and I agree with @Lucius's preference for it, but so far, I haven't had any experience of instability just like what you've mentioned.

But to be sure, I think its best to activate windows system restore as a contingency plan if something bad really happens unexpectedly.

Ccleaner is the best on deep cleaning computer. Cleaning in terms of junk file but not on potential risky file. Better to combo that app with Malwarebytes premium. With that combo in your desktop, you can guarantee that your computer is prone to malware or unwanted running apps. I never used anti virus like avast and eset. I preferred Malwarebytes and ccleaner. Both light to run and never cause your computer make slow which antivirus do sometimes.

I've learned to check processes, autostart and registry since I had my first infections on windows 95. I can tell you that what system and software you're using is only responsible for a small fraction of overall security. The most important part is learning good habits.
Don't open email attachments from unknown senders. Ignore sam, don't even open it. Don't click on links and always check on your bottom bar if the link is leading to the same place it shows it's leading. The main cause of people being hacked is not the lack of antivirus software but their inability to surf safely. Back when I was a kid most of my friends would get infections from looking for game hacks and codes. Sites that provided them were usually packed with malware. Pretty much like some of the torrent and porn sites are now.

If you have a good AV you don't need to be worry if you click a  file or download a file from unknown sources AV will automatically block them I don't know if all AV works like that but with my antivirus called Kaspersky Total Security, they always block any suspicious links and websites.
So the important here is to have updated antivirus like KAS.
There are some websites that have auto-install script every time you visit them so if you don't have AV they'll install the malware in your PC without notification or message from them.

One of my child doing this "looking for game hacks and codes" but since I have AV every time he downloads that file AV will quarantine or delete the file if they detected it as malware or virus.

A combination of Malwarebytes plus Kaspersky to me is a perfect combination for PC protection based on my experienced. My laptop never format since 2013 and use Kaspersky for a long time until now my laptop still alive and clean.

Any reason in particular or just because of the frustrations that I had mentioned? Those have largely passed, and my Sub is up in 7 months I believe? I just want to make sure I'm not missing something glaringly obvious as to why I should switch maybe sooner. I will likely try out a few  trials next time around, just to get a decent idea of what is out there.

Maybe this security news - McAfee antivirus software impacted by code execution vulnerability (https://www.zdnet.com/article/mcafee-antivirus-software-impacted-by-code-execution-vulnerability/) would persuade McAfee users to reconsider their security options though I think its just normal since I assume all security products has had their own share of security vulnerabilities also.

Btw, have guys tried Zonealarm Antivirus and Firewall? I find their firewall component superb too! :)

Personally, I don't think paid services are necessary. Windows Defender is more than good enough as a primary antivirus, especially when used in conjunction with Malwarebytes and good browser add-ons (uBlock Origin, NoScript, HTTPS Everywhere, etc.) The less third party programs you have in your computer, the better; you never really know which ones spy on you these days, and they could easily end up being vulnerabilities (https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/01/antivirus-is-bad/) themselves.

One thing to note though, is that no matter how protected you might think your system is, you still shouldn't be clicking random links and downloading random files. Better yet, you should have a separate system (dual boot, live USB OS, Raspberry Pi, etc.) just for crypto and/or financial stuff, so a single misstep doesn't end up costing you thousands of dollars.

I got the impression that you are not completely satisfied with the current option, and personally I was in that situation and tried out most of the security software until I found a satisfactory solution. There is nothing wrong with sticking to a proven solution ;)


I used ZoneAlarm Security more than 5 years, and I agree that their firewall was then one of the best one could have. The whole security package was great, but at one point I wanted to try something new and found Norton as a worthy successor.


I read the article on the link you posted, and the conclusion is that only Microsoft can make a good security solution and that the Windows Defender only thing we need. But at the same time, Microsoft Windows 10 is one big spy machine that collects a huge amount of data and sends it for analysis. Malwarebytes Premium version is not free, and a free version does not have any protection, it is only for scan&remove.

Windows 10 is a privacy nightmare, though there are steps you can take to prevent that. It has a built in keylogger (https://mspoweruser.com/how-to-disable-microsofts-built-in-keylogger-with-the-windows-10-spring-creators-update/), and even amidst large improvements on Microsoft's end, users are finding that they're still collecting data (https://www.techradar.com/news/windows-10-could-still-be-snooping-on-user-data). These may all be inconsequential at the end of the day considering Microsoft's reputation, but some people are still understandably concerned. I actually only use Windows for games and Linux for everything else (not because I don't trust Microsoft, Linux is just easier to secure), but I realize that that may be too big a leap for most people.

This may also be a good opportunity to remind people to review their privacy settings (https://www.computerworld.com/article/3025709/how-to-protect-your-privacy-in-windows-10.html).


Yeah I only use the free version on my Windows machine, and come to think of it, I've never actually needed it lol. I've found that Windows Defender is good enough protection, and I only really have Malwarebytes for added insurance. To each his own though.

You can use hardware wallets to store your cryptos securely and without loss of any functionality. A hardware wallets such as Ledger nano s and Trezor which can allow the device virtually plugged into the system without the risk of your private key or any other sensitive information. So in hardware wallet enter your seed and transfer the money out of your restored wallet.
But for hardware wallet always high-level security has been provided.setting of this wallet is very easy. All you need for this internet and after doing transactions checking your balance.
The only drawback is it can't download the whole blockchain.

Hardware wallets also have vulnerabilities so it's not that 100% secure. There is a possibility that it might fall into the wrong hands before developer notices it and fixes it. However so far there is no such cases happened yet but doesn't means that it wouldn't in future.

I also have Ledger Nano S and I also don't keep my whole balance it and I suggest others should too.

You guys forgot one very important thing, the source of that anti-malware software. I got a friend that insisting on using "premium" software. Cc cleaner is free to use but he wants the pro version, instead of paying for it he tries to download the crack version of it. Next thing he knows that he downloaded a virus on his pc.
So the point is just avoid cracked software completely, always download an app directly from its source. And use an AdBlock on your browser, it's not just blocking ads but also block other dangerous scripts. There is a 97% chance you get redirected to false software when you try to download it from a shady site. You can get viruses, ransomware, or rat, etc.

I think windows defender is more than enough to protect your pc though, as long you don't go to some shady site and try to download everything you see there. And make sure that your windows defender up to date, they asking an update for a reason.

Yuppp spend a little money to save more money rather than taking risk for the sake of free stuff , completely not worth it.

One more thing ... you shouldn't connect your device into a public wi-fi or any other public connection especially the one with no authentication to get in the network! Bad guy waiting there to access everything in your device once you did connected in, love your coins! In the end everything is back to you where you have to becareful all the time.
Imagine you have all the necessary software installed in your devices and one mistake ruined it all .