With Hackers everywhere, How safe is Cryptocurrency?

[Remaka]

Its no longer news that an ICO in Japan has lost over $400 million to hackers. They promised to pay back investors who invested in their ICO. Thsi is a huge loss. After I read that news, I began to wonder. How safe is Bitcoin and Other altcoins? What measures should we take to avoid being hacked ?

[taiwww]

I would say hackers are everywhere and they can not stop running the crypto currencies because they know very it's anonymous nature is leading factor for them. They kind of get extra layer of protection. Anyway with some research they can be caught.

About the precautions . .

1. You should store your tokens and/or coins in the wallet for which you hold the private keys.
2. Obviously store these private keys in safe place and I would suggest that you should save them in the offline password manager.
3. Never ever go to link of your wallet from different websites, chats etc. Always bookmark your wallet website link.
4. Using the hardware wallet is advisable but looking at the cost you may prefer focusing on the first three points.
5. Storing the tokens on exchanger is worst idea. Hence follow the rules 1, 2 & 3.
5. Do not use public internet and I am pretty sure if you access wallets like that then you will loose your money.


That's all I know and I follow.

[Lancusters]

Hacking the stock exchange and the ICO cannot be prevented. It will always be. Hackers are monitoring the entire network. It seems to me that over time the exchange will come up with a mechanism to delay the application for withdrawal of funds in order to be able to verify the authenticity of the request for withdrawal of the coins. The withdrawal of Fiat in my exchange occurs within 3 days. I think all this time, you can stop the payment if it were made by hackers. For me this delay will not be a tragedy.

[13abyknight]

Its no longer news that an ICO in Japan has lost over $400 million to hackers.

Pretty sure it was an exchange which was hacked and not any sort of ICO.

How safe is Bitcoin and Other altcoins?

By code, it is almost invulnerable to hacks or breaches as explained in Satoshi's whitepaper. Yet, users are still prone to client-sided breaches due to security lapses on third party software/applications.

What measures should we take to avoid being hacked ?

For storing coins, simply use the latest version of secure wallets such as Electrum or Multibit and make sure your seed/password/recovery phrases are safely backed up offline. Hardware wallets like Trezor and Ledger are also great alternatives in this situation which provide the highest level of security.
As a tip, avoid storing coins on exchanges as these are always major targets of hackers. 

[bryant.coleman]

Its no longer news that an ICO in Japan has lost over $400 million to hackers. They promised to pay back investors who invested in their ICO. Thsi is a huge loss. After I read that news, I began to wonder. How safe is Bitcoin and Other altcoins? What measures should we take to avoid being hacked ?

These exchange hacks always makes me suspicious. Most of them looks like inside jobs. Because it is not possible for the hackers to crack through multiple levels of authentication, unless they have support from someone who is familiar with the system.

[julius caesar]

Its no longer news that an ICO in Japan has lost over $400 million to hackers. They promised to pay back investors who invested in their ICO. Thsi is a huge loss. After I read that news, I began to wonder. How safe is Bitcoin and Other altcoins? What measures should we take to avoid being hacked ?

Well I think if you are aware of it you must have to be more careful, stop the easy go lucky attitude in his platform, cause hackers nowadays were very genius when it comes to technology, and if you are a vig fish they will o anything to catch you, be observant on the ads or links that was being send to you, dont be so easy when it comes to investing and giving personal info.

[mezzaluna]

Its no longer news that an ICO in Japan has lost over $400 million to hackers. They promised to pay back investors who invested in their ICO. Thsi is a huge loss. After I read that news, I began to wonder. How safe is Bitcoin and Other altcoins? What measures should we take to avoid being hacked ?

Blockchain technology is by far one of the most innovative security systems. However, hackers cannot disappear. No matter how strong of a system is, there will always be a hacker who can breach it. If it is made, then there is always a way. Negligence is the number 1 cause of hackers' continuing counts of victims. That's why we all should know some precautions:


1. Never give you private key to anyone.  When a site wants a private key, start doubting that site.
2. Always read and understand. Watch out for grammar mistakes and such stuffs. Most bogus sites have ugly as hell grammar
3. Be vigilant! Do background checking! Some might say "paranoid!!" But who cares?! It's your money on the line!!!!

[Creepings]

Its no longer news that an ICO in Japan has lost over $400 million to hackers. They promised to pay back investors who invested in their ICO. Thsi is a huge loss. After I read that news, I began to wonder. How safe is Bitcoin and Other altcoins? What measures should we take to avoid being hacked ?

I always think that ICOs are not the same as bitcoin or any other digital currency. ICOs are still on it's way from being a valuable digital currency, if they have been hacked, then the one on fault is not the people or users but the developers itself. Bitcoin and other digital currencies are still safe as it is on the past, did you heard anything about bitcoin or other digital currencies directly hacked? no, the most hacked are not wallets or digital currencies itself but exchanges and ICOs.

[snipetr]

Bitcoin is a digital currency.  It can be traded and stored digitally. Bitcoin is the highest valued cryptocurrency, due to it posses more risk of getting hacked by hackers. Bitcoin has its own security system “Blockchain”. All bitcoin transactions are verified and secured by its own people, miners. When bitcoins lies in Blockchain they are in safe hands. Its duty of a bitcoin holder to protect its own coins. For the safety of our valuable bitcoins always use bitcoin certified mobile wallet. Keep your mobile or computer antivirus and firmware protected. Do not save your private key on it. Do not click on any unknown email or any unknown link.

[thejaytiesto]

Get a computer which has never touched the internet ever before or at least wipe the hard disk, then install a linux distro, get a wallet there, generate your private keys and move your BTC there. To transact, presign the transaction and move it into an online wallet.

Anything else in the current scenario shall be considered as compromised bitcoins.

[Carlsen]

The wallets are safe, but it is the software at the exchanges that can be hacked. There it is possible to assign illegitime withdrawals.
An exchange has the problem that it has to manage the ongoing trading actions, that makes it really complicated to keep security on the highest level.
Many of the members here advise never to let any coins stay at an exchange.
And then you have to keep in mind that many of the hacks at exchanges are in reality inside jobs. A person who has legitimate access to the wallets takes what he can and runs.

[amishmanish]

As safe as we are willing to keep it.
There are hardware wallets that keep your keys encrypted within that little USB like thingy. If you can't afford a wallet, then there is the option to have a brand new installation and keep all wallet backups there.
Only connect them to the internet when you really have to. Not to be left on a laptop connected to the internet full time.

I think more than the hackers, the phishing and scam attempts are making the scene unsafe for newcomers. They play all sort of mind games with similar looking websites, scam addressed during ICOs in telegram/ slacks, Special airdrops and what not.

Cryptocurrencies in general demand a bit more expertise from their users than the basic thumb twiddling android user.

[nitrousteam]

Get a computer which has never touched the internet ever before or at least wipe the hard disk, then install a linux distro, get a wallet there, generate your private keys and move your BTC there. To transact, presign the transaction and move it into an online wallet.

Anything else in the current scenario shall be considered as compromised bitcoins.

Interesting view on the things that are the current threat to the cryptosystem!

Linux is indeed the "bulletproof" system. It is not user-friendly for the newcomers but hackers must make the hard effort to hack that kind of system. This procedure, even if it would be effective, is not - user-friendly. I doubt that investors will use this kind of procedure in the century in which all are searching for the easier methods.

Anway, hardware wallet, just a necessary time of your portfolio on the exchange and two-factor authentication are - must have for everyone who is caring for his/ her portfolio. There will always be a way for the hackers to pass through the set of obstacles but they must at least try harder to achieve their hack.

[Gregoryxl]

Nothing is completely safe. Even if you have the money in more than one wallet, or if the password is encrypted, unfortunately we will remain vulnerable to this type of theft of funds. Currently there are viruses that are causing inconvenience, not only is the case of Japan, especially they do it directly through the brokers. Do you think it is necessary to create a form of protection for this?

[Janation]

Nothing is completely safe. Even if you have the money in more than one wallet, or if the password is encrypted, unfortunately we will remain vulnerable to this type of theft of funds. Currently there are viruses that are causing inconvenience, not only is the case of Japan, especially they do it directly through the brokers. Do you think it is necessary to create a form of protection for this?

I've been using my wallet for 2 years now and I am not having any problem about being hacked or being scammed. Also, this kind exchanges are one of the best sites that hackers want to to hack. The reason why a lot of people do not suggest to hold your digital currencies on exchanges, they do not give your private key and once the hackers got the site, they also get all of the digital currencies in that exchange.

[voltesbit777]

In part of investment there's a risk so accept the fact that there's a bad habit that manipulating the system, Hackers can hack newbies private key because they are controling them without any knowledge, just to be sure keep it in your hard wallets or Private keys so they can't hack that.

[player514]

Its no longer news that an ICO in Japan has lost over $400 million to hackers. They promised to pay back investors who invested in their ICO. Thsi is a huge loss. After I read that news, I began to wonder. How safe is Bitcoin and Other altcoins? What measures should we take to avoid being hacked ?

Ideally, they're very safe. They keep your personal information out of things, especially if you're using a wallet to keep your bitcoin. It's not like a credit card where someone can take advantage of it and steal your entire identity knowing just a few bits of information.

However, the issues come when people use exchanges. Exchanges may not have the best sense of security, and one way to look at it is that a lot of people store their money in there. They shouldn't, but they do because of ease of use, and let's face it, not many investors even know much about the currencies they're investing into. When exchanges get hacked, the money is lost, and it seems like that's what the hackers have been targeting recently.

[sportroma2805]

cкoлькo бyдeт cyщecтвoвaть кpиптa,cтoлькo и бyдeт взлoмщикoв.....

[farhaan]

Its no longer news that an ICO in Japan has lost over $400 million to hackers. They promised to pay back investors who invested in their ICO. Thsi is a huge loss. After I read that news, I began to wonder. How safe is Bitcoin and Other altcoins? What measures should we take to avoid being hacked ?

Its usually advised that bitcoins or any other crypto coins should never be stored in  any of the exchanges as it has higher chances of getting hacked.We earlier saw the collapse of Mt.Gox exchange which was followed by the hacking of some other exchanges.Also,we should never reveal our private keys anywhere.Also,we should not store our private keys in clipboards in our desktops as clipboard hackers could easily hack them.

[wantjokull]

Its no longer news that an ICO in Japan has lost over $400 million to hackers. They promised to pay back investors who invested in their ICO. Thsi is a huge loss. After I read that news, I began to wonder. How safe is Bitcoin and Other altcoins? What measures should we take to avoid being hacked ?

That’s look like mistake of ICO to me. How could they be so unreasonable I would say. The only source for the security breach is via their website or the token address of wallet where they are storing their tokens. How on the earth they end up leaking that kind of information.

They promised to pay back investors who invested in their ICO

That’s going to be hard punch on them. Lolz. Next time they won’t leave it open.

How safe is Bitcoin and Other altcoins?

They are completely safe for the time being, but it’s upto you how you handle them. Any misleading step, and you loose it.

What measures should we take to avoid being hacked ?

The #2 post looks enough to me.