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My ETH funds were stolen and I am sure I didn't give out or handled carelessly the Mnemonic phrase, JSON file, private key nor the key store. Please I want to know ways by which a cryptocurrency wallet could be hacked.

Cryptocurrency wallets can only be hacked when the private keys are compromised, so the best thing to do to make sure you keep your private key information well secured.

Phishing. Perhaps you click something around the web or on your email (malicious links). Or a MEW phishing link. Or you download some malware on your pc. Do a full scan of your pc and remove that trojan/malware that stole your password. Just be careful next time and think before you click. Hard and very expensive lessons to learn.

There are many ways to lose your money.

1. You could have downloaded your wallet from the wrong site.
2. You downloaded the wallet from the correct site but during that time the site was hacked and you did not verified the wallet.
3. You clicked in a phishing link or entered your sensitive data in a phishing website.
4. Your computer was compromised and a keylogger was installed.
5. Someone close to you stole your coins.

And that is only out of the top of my head.

Among is that signing in into phishing site is common which  why  its advised not to sign indirectly  when a link is received from an email. You should just visit the bookmarked pages which I  believe we always do when we keep visiting the site. If you keep  visiting  bitcointalk.org then bookmark this  forum , its easier to access and you won't commit mistake by using your login details when login into a phishing site. If you are using myetherwallet then bookmark  it.

Other than all above, there are many scam airdrops are going on and they ask you to sign your wallet before you can claim your coins but the link they provide is not of myetherwallet. There is just small change in spelling or any special character is there. If you did do any airdrop like that and signed your wallet, that can also be the reason for which your private key was compromied.

A lot many answers are given up already, I have earlier written a well guide for newbies in an another topic, this may help
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4407228.msg43746101#msg43746101

if you used a phishing link to access mew or anyother ETH related site then it can be the reason. also dont install unknown extensions for chrome and even for mobile use avast antivirus

Getting hacked can only happen when you login to a phishing websites, some don't verify the sites can they login to and the way to prevent login to phishing sites is by not clicking directly, better bookmark all the sites you're using and secondly never ever share your private keys with anyone and crosscheck before imputing your private keys to see if the site is certified when you're using myetherwallet or better bookmark it too to prevent getting hacked

What are the websites that you visited recently? My suspect is you just became careless and you logged in to a phishing link though you said that you are careful of not giving out your keys, you are still vulnerable to log in to a fake site / phishing site that you aren't aware if you are in a hurry or you just really don't care of that site you are logging in. Like what has been said, you probably downloaded something that contains malware that affected your computer that allowed the intruders to touch your files on your pc.

Do not click on any sort of fishing links in email. It is the most spread way of hacking crypto wallets. Also be super attentive while doing with crypto.

The most probable caused is you visit a phishing site. Without your private key its not possible for anyone to hack your wallet, its either someone knew your private key or you visited a phishing site.

You probably went to a phishing MEW site.
Or maybe you participated in those scam airdrops that promises to give something if you enter your private keys.

Try to get a Legit Ledger Nano for long term strorage.

Eeyah! Sorry about your loss buddy. You need to be more careful next time. There are actually many ways one can get hacked. It maybe that your cloud storage, where you store your passwords, private key, mnemonics phrases, email, Evernote etc was hacked. That's why it's important you use a 2FA to secure those accounts. Stop clicking links you didn't solicit for too. If you are a bounty hunter or airdrop lover, get a separate email for those, don't mix it with emails with sensitive informations.  Make sure your Antivirus is up to date too. Stay safe Bro

First of all, I'm really sorry for your lost. secondly, you have to tell us what kind of wallet you use for storing your amount? If you use MEW or any web wallet then it must be a phishing site that you've entered. Without the private key, someone can't get access to your balance, in order to protect your amount if you are using a web wallet service such a MEW or even blockchain.info you have to check the address or it's certificate before giving your personal detail to the web moreover if you want to get extra protection then you better go with hardware wallet.

so what wallet are you using? if it is mew then maybe you click a phishing link. you should use metamask to access your wallet to avoid hack. if it is an exchange sites then better stop and avoid them. you can't trust an exchange sites for storing your funds.

It is moat likely that either of the two happened to you first is that you have entered the wrong site the accessed your wallet through there or the website where you have accessed your wallet has been hacked but I believe it is the former as if the site was hacked then there should already been a news that a wallet site has been hacked but as of now there isn't such news.

usually weak security. main reasons are...

....obv a trogan virus or similar
.....a keylogger exploit  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystroke_logging
......your friend/work colleague pinched your passes (yes it happens)
.....fake ETH phishing site stealing your data (etherwallet does provide a warning on this regarding their site)
...the new c&p virus circulating the crypto world. (its unlikely this as your situations is different, however since you asked above i added this one. https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/03/new-malware-highjacks-your-windows-clipboard-to-change-crypto-addresses/

There are many reasons for hacking:
  You exposing your wallet information (Mnemonic phrase, JSON file, private key or key store and other)
  + Using 3rd party software is not secure
  + A mistake when using your wallet.

Well, I also experienced something like that in the past. All of my funds were stolen and I was like "there's no way!" "I never entered any phishing sites and gave out my private key" and yet, I should just accept that it was compromised and start again from the scratch.

I react to it calmly, since I invest in a confident Crypto currency, before that I study it on schedule. She sank, and after a while she got up.I love the long-term investment, I always have enough patience, you just look at the schedule and forget that you invested that's all, I always do so.  ;) You need a strong endurance and patience, train it and you will have good money, if you do not investigate it, then you will have many failures. ;D :D

then got to your secret key, save your key information. Of course it's a shame, but nothing to do with it, do not return the lost.

it a mew wallet. I guess your thoughts are right. But the person seems to have my private key and controls the wallet at will
 I already forgot about the wallet, not gonna use it again
Thanks.

Most likely you have opened some kind of fishing site that has stolen your data. You may not even remember this. Or your computer was simply hacked by a virus for example. Now there are many specialists who are capable of this.

Crypto is very anonymous platform and making money is the main doing here, but this deal needs in time and not so many people are ready to spend it or just to work hard, so there are a lot of crimes here connecting with money and other projects in the real time.

Typically wallets are hacked by a trojan virus, you probably downloaded something that was suspicious, infecting your PC with a backdoor that then retrieved your wallet details and sent them to the hacker. Alternatively, it's quite possible you downloaded a malicious wallet to begin with, there's a bunch of infected and fake versions of wallets such as Electrum, so check that first and check its PGP signature to make sure it's authentic.

Cryptocurrency theft is usually as a result of having other non-trusted people have access to your account. This is why it is often advised that you resist from sharing certain information with people, most especially if they are not trusted. If it happens that you didn't share any information with anyone, but still got your account hacked, then maybe you should be more careful with the sites and ads you permit on your phone/browser.

in the case of hacking cases that occur specifically in the MEW wallet, I think due to negligence or the second option because you use google dns as a network network. because that is what is currently happening.

yes, you don't have give out private key or json file to everyone, but your computer already infected virus and wallet already compromised, online wallet not secure unless you make sure computer is 100% clean, remember cryptocurrency can’t hack and mew online wallet just a gui let you easy to manage your assets, but don’t store any personal information

Very unfortunate, if you have thousands of dollars on it, its definitely something to get mad.
Virus is mostly acquired from porn sites so OP should just avoid jacking off for now so your wallet won't be compromised.  :D My guess though is that OP must have register to somewhere which he uses the same password or probably phishing site that require him to input the privatekey like that of etherdelta.

You no need to tell your private keys to someone to hack your wallet,if someone want to hack it they can take your information through phishing links so you need to be careful next time about clicking an phishing link.

I have heard some horrible stories about the crypto currency theft but to my mind, this is not likely to happen to those people who think how to protect their coins and don't do anything without the previous analysis

This is the most likely option, there are many people that have seen movies and have distorted ideas about hackers, without a doubt they know a lot about computers but most of the time they prefer to deceive people than to deceive computers since it is way easier to deceive people, so most likely the OP was sent a phishing link and he accessed it thinking it was a link to the original site.

I don't someone was able to get a hold of your private key. Maybe someone logged into your computer without you knowing it. A phishing site can be one of the reasons. I am not sure but what you have lost will never be recovered. I suggest formatting all of your devices for safety purposes. Make sure its clean before creating any backup files of your wallet.

You may have a keylog which leads to the loss of the private key. Now hackers are quite sophisticated, they can steal data in so many ways. More security is needed

WTH is porn sites? LOL! Yes it can be also the reason because many unsecured sites are in porn sites and because you're too excited you somehow went to a click bait.

OP should move on to this even we know it's hard for us to loss our hard earned money. But mocking can't help you either way.

for sure if you don't want your wallet to be hacked, you must be careful in giving your keys for any situation, you should be able to maintain the confidentiality of personal data, because there have been many events like yours, to be able to know who and how they hacked it is very difficult thing, the important thing now is you have to be extra careful in providing personal data.

Well what coins do you hold? , what wallet do you use? I'm pretty sure the only way to hack your coins is to get access into your wallet by using private key. Yes it could be, Porn site that let a virus into your computer and also phising site that might make you lost your private key could be the reasons your wallet got hacked.

this is the saddest part where someone is being pished you need to get very careful of what site you are trying to click because virtual theft, scammers, fishing site and any click bait will steal everything especially your coins and funds in your wallet and maybe you identity too. i hope you will recover from this experience and become more careful from now on

Someone on the inside had to have gotten your keys.  The algorithms protecting Ethereum cannot be hacked that we know of.  You got a rat inside.  Figure out who it is and lock down all your electronics. 

We all know that all the crypto currencies available in the market are decentralised one and there is no such proper authentic regulating body over these crypto currencies who could keep eye over all the activities of these crypto and thus leading to the illegal use of crypto like in selling drugs, explosives, money laundering etc and moreover the crypto transactions does not involve any third party seizure thus no third person is able to track the transaction between the two and this leading to illegal activities with crypto currencies.

Cryptocurrency theft does have various risks, ranging from high levels of volatility, fears of a bubble or bubble, fraud in the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) or initial coin offerings, and theft of tokens stored in a digital wallet. :D

It's all in my opinion simply. Your entire tokens have been stolen by your conscientious participant in the company. Now wait for your tokens to soon pop up somewhere on the stock exchange. He does not need to choose a good stock exchange, medium enough.

Many things allow your wallet to be hacked, including being careful of phishing sites that allow your wallet's private key to be known by others and you lose everything. Be careful when giving identity, because various ways are done by fraudsters to make a profit.

Maybe your computer virus infected. Try to scan your computer with a good antivirus software to find out.

Install metacert chrome extension and bookmark myetherwallet, if it is possible to install a desktop wallet like mycrypto desktop application, it's really depressing if your funds are stolen without knowing why it was stolen better check your browsing history to track what have gone wrong.

Well, even those phishing site sometimes can get into google adwords overtaking the position of the real official website to #1 in the google search engine mainpage. I don't really recommend using any kind of web wallet unless you are really aware of what risks you may get exposed to.
Just stick with desktop wallet that has 2fa and everything will be fine, just imagine if you tighten the security earlier you won't lose that money.

according to your story, your account is safe, but the problem is you might have to click something, or you have a virus in your computer which records all information about your account and sends the data to the theft. this can happen if we are not careful and we are click something that we don't know, and I heard that some of my friends lost their tokens too and they tell me that they save their private key and everything without telling anybody. maybe need to reinstall your computer and scan all of your data and make sure that your computer doesn't contain the virus.

Thefts are usual event here, crypto is anonymous and theft is easier to be done here, I hope that there will be any insurance for crypto in future.

I have heard cases like this, and I'm sorry to hear what happened to you. As far as I know, if you don't give your wallet private key to someone else, but it's hacked because you have clicked on a particular link. Try to remember, on which site you have visited. It could be that one of the consequences of your wallet being hacked.

You need to look yourself and explore the entire structure to choose the right wallet. Always rely on yourself and work your way up. ::) Interesting idea. I think you will succeed if you know the market well and move forward. Do it in a way that makes sense. Everything's going to be OK. ::) ::)

I heared this case already, and it is  scary that eventhough you keep all the necessary things to be private but still you are hacked. Maybe there are sites in which you visited and there the hackers hacked your private informations. It is just my guess.

Most often your wallets are hacked because of very high activity of the wallet, that is, a lot of authorizations!

I think hackers are the most painful person for investors.they apply very different types of methods to stolen the coins of investors. so we should be very careful from the hackers & try to make a very tippical password of our private wallet for security.

Since cryptocurrency is more or less regulated by ourselves and we need to protect our coins ourselves (compared to fiat being protected by governments and their police officers when your money gets stolen, which mostly doesn't bring it back anyway) we need to be really careful because when once its gone, its fully gone.

Nevertheless, the good part of it comes from the multiple layers of protection you could have. You can literally have in stored on a USB like ledger and store it so carefully that even if a person steals your ledger plus your laptop or pc and that person can still not reach your wallet.

Hence, if you are getting a big number of your coins stolen, that kinda means you are not protecting it well enough.

Never say never, you may have compromise your security details or give away unknowingly your private key or get attacked by key loggers etc. There are countless way for you to be at risk of losing your funds. Take measures to limit yiur exposure in the future!

Theft will be determined by how we were able to protect our keys, it's not like the physical theft that we can see, we will be alone the responsible on our keys so we better keep it and secure the sites we visiting always.

Could be 2 reason though, he's not protecting it well enough or it's just the hacker outsmarted him. Sometimes you are doing your best protecting your crypto and then it dissapear like magic.
sometimes someone got phished without knowing what's even going on

There are a few common possibilities which are phishing websites, airdrop forms and malwares. Even you can’t recall visiting suspicious websites, you might want to check your computer for malwares.

Sorry that you lost your funds. The truth is it can happen to ANYONE. Wallets are not as secure as people think. Don't believe me...

https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/30/john-mcafees-unhackable-bitfi-wallet-got-hacked-again/

This problem is more and more often encountered. You have to be very careful here. About safety you start to think only when all this has already happened.

Hacking a cryptocurancy wallet can only be done if the private key is compromised. or Phishing. Maybe you clicked something on the web or in your email. Or the MEW phishing link. Or you download some malware on your computer. Perform a full scan on your PC and remove trojans / malware that steal your password. so the best thing to do is to ensure the security of your private key and think before you click on the web.

One mistake, a random mistake and you can lose money from your wallet. Just buy yourself a hardware wallet and forget about the torment.

Nobody can hack your wallet address without having your private key, one way or the other you might have given your password out not knowing maybe through web, phishing site or through fake metamask. You are responsible for your own lost you need to be careful.

You've been phished or you have been a victim of copy paste malware.

It's one of the two or its not there. There must be a problem on your computer if you know that you did nothing but your funds were gone.

I really agree with what you conveyed, because some time ago when the ramped up wallet was being hacked it was because the account holder was wrong when opening a wallet website that was indeed fake, so that the existing assets could be stolen.
like for example the fake MEW that was troubling at the beginning of the year which was similar to the real one.

I think you opened a phishing site. When signing in it then the whole system we have will be taken by others. and it could be a private key which you have successfully obtained so the wallet you have that taken by it. possible use as a lesson to not open suspicious sites.

$1.1 billion worth of cryptocurrency was stolen in the first half of 2018, and it's relatively easy to do, according to cybersecurity company Carbon Black.
"It's surprising just how easy it is without any tech skill to commit cybercrimes like ransomware," Carbon Black Security strategist Rick McElroy says
The necessary malware, which even occasionally comes with customer service, costs an average of $224 and can be as cheap as $1.04 on the "dark web."

Cryptocurrency wallets are only hacked when an individual's private keys are exposed and are not well secured and when you click phishing links.

Maybe you had been phished through email? or you access any phishing website it is really hard for that thing to track especially we all know what is the purporse of cryptocurrency be careful next time hope this thing will be lesson learned for you.

You may have been a victim of a phishing site. Or may have downloaded some wallet app pr wallet. Sorry for your loss. Be more careful next time.

This maybe because you are wrong entered a private key on a phishing website, Go clear your cookies and bookmark the real one (myetherwallet.com - remember it's with "com", other than this is obviously phising)