Binance Hacked?! What we can do better to protect our funds?

[fiulpro]

Apparently according to the news : https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/technology/2022/oct/07/binance-crypto-hack-suspended-operations Binance was hacked and it temporarily suspended the transactions from all sides as well, the issue was extremely bad since they nearly lost 500 million !! Please keep in mind that the revenue of Binance is 20 billion to just keep all the things in perspective. The hack was ofcourse resolved on time and the people whose funds were on there are safe now but let us examine what we can do to keep our funds safe.

Some of my friends who are new in crypto were storing everything on Binance, sort of didn't look at the previous hacks as well, So what do you think is the solution?

- Hardware wallets ?
- Paper wallets?

In cases we would be considering long term investment and trading would definitely become difficult, the time it would take for your coins to go to the exchange 💱 the price will get back up or down.

Are mobile wallets the solution?

Definately it's something to think about and I would love to know everyone's opinion on it, I do think personal internet safety comes first, from going on sites for free video surfing to downloading viruses off the internet without knowing.

What's your solution?

[hosseinimr93]

The solution is to use a wallet which gives you full control over your keys. You should use a open-source wallet, so you can be sure that you are the only one who has access to the keys,
In this way, you don't rely on any third party.
If you want 100 security and protect yourself from being hacked completely, the other requirement is that your keys should never touch the internet. For this purpose, a solution is to use a secure wallet like electrum on air-gapped device or use a safe hardware wallet.

Are mobile wallets the solution?

There's always the possibility of being hacked if your wallet is online, whether it's a desktop wallet or a mobile wallet.
Don't keep more than you can afford to lose in a mobile wallet.


By the way, binance exchange wasn't hacked. It was their centralized smart contract that was hacked.
(I'm not saying binance exchange can't be hacked. There's always the chance of that.)

[joniboini]

If I remember correctly the hack happens on the BSC bridge, so the exchange itself is 'safe'. Holding your assets on HW or other wallets won't protect you from stuff like this since the attack is not targeted at your wallet. What can you do is probably be careful when doing cross-chain bridge and pray that when you do it, the network won't fuck you up. In other words, don't use the network/buy an asset on a weak blockchain if you don't want any risk. IMO, this is more suitable on the altcoin board since we're discussing altcoin vulnerability instead of the exchange.

[jackg]

You can plug a trezor into your phone and use it there - from trezor suite web - (I'm not sure how eth works with that though because I haven't used it on mobile - the same goes for other smart contract coins).

The nature of the "hack" doesn't seem to have been mentioned in the article so it's hard to say if anything about keeping your keys more secure would help if you've still got the same transaction to send (and if the bridge or pool were manipulated, you'd still incur losses).

[decodx]

What's your solution?

What's my solution to what? Storing cryptocurrencies?
How about a personal non-custodial wallet installed and properly secured on your personal device? Or, depending on your situation and the size of your investment, a hardware wallet would be my second recommendation. There hasn't been much change in this regard in the past decade or so. Is it really necessary to discuss this topic again?

[dimonstration]

The hack occurs on there bridge dapps after hacker exploits there security. There is no way that a user can prevent this from happening unless they stay away on centralized or too shaby security like this. There is no such thing like this on Bitcoin blockchain which is so far the safest blockchain in crypto.

The best solution is to stay away on other blockchains and focus on Bitcoin. Use open source wallet to store funds and never trust exchange.

[goldkingcoiner]

All these problems and fears could be easily solved with a wallet that you own. A hardware wallet is most secure but even a paper wallet is more secure than storing your coins on an exchange wallet. Buy your coins P2P and you do not need to even go near an exchange (unless you are a daytrader, but in that case I would still recommend keeping your coins off exchanges, if not in Bitcoin because the withdrawal fees are too high then at least in the form of a cheap withdrawal alternative like XRP). But thats really all you need to do to keep your funds safe...

Be your own bank.

[lovesmayfamilis]

Why are you still asking? Having had a good experience on the forum, you are not sure where to keep your funds. Ultimately, you can be sure that everything that can be broken will be broken. If the exchange is not hacked today, the hackers will not lose their desire. Trusting mobile wallets is again questionable if you use the internet. Currently, there is no need to reinvent the wheel.  Use hardware wallets or devices that are entirely restricted from accessing the network. 
I think that you will not hear anything new on this topic.

[DaveF]

As others have mentioned it was not a hack of the exchange but rather the cross-chain bridge.
Had to say it but cross-chain bridges are so insecure that even Vitalik Buterin thinks they are insecure. https://cointelegraph.com/news/vitalik-buterin-gives-thumbs-down-to-cross-chain-applications

There are more and more bridges popping up and there is no way to go through the 1000s of lines of hacked together code to verify them as quickly as people / exchanges are throwing them up for use. This is going to keep happening until people stop using them, which as near as I can tell is going to be the 2nd Tuesday of never, just after not gonna happen. People just see the buzzword of the day and follow it.

-Dave

[rat03gopoh]

It's a different case of hacking, any type of wallet doesn't help from the impact of network shutdown by just one command line message by 1 head (founder) to all priority validators.
POW coins are still the best choice, but active founders likely have the power to govern all miners in some way. Bitcoin is only the ideal solution for this case.

[audereyy]

It seems Binance's recovery strategy is to rob their users in order to compensate this loss. They have suspended withdrawals of my full-KYC account with 2.3 BTC in it after performing usual (for my account) conversion operations by depositing ETH and withdrawing BTC in chunks, since I never keep such amounts on exchanges long-term.

Having this account with them since 2021 with a weekly trading volume being around 15 BTC and never experienced such a problem. A few days after their bridge hack they have suddenly locked withdrawals for me after performing some withdrawals totalling 5 BTC stating "Your account may be at risk. Please contact Customer Support for further assistance.". All this considering that my account and login session data (IP, client and such) have never changed for almost a year, thus there is definitely no security risk. I've heard from others about their support being useless and just confirmed it myself. 24 hours later no resolution, no reason provided and only promises to resolve this issue within next 24 hours (again). 

I suppose they are planning to steal this amount from me, since they keep total silence about this and refuse to disclose any information regarding this "account safety concern".

https://oshi.at/oPKE.png (client withdrawal suspended)
https://oshi.at/nkmj.png (API withdrawal suspended)

Definitely would recommend to withdraw everything now and stay away from this exchange.

[sheenshane]

What's your solution?

It's quite simple, stay away from the centralized exchange because they are prone to hacking.

But at least, according to CZ's tweet, the fund is safe and it might SAFU is real, not only marketing ads.

P2p exchanges are the best solution for this but we have a problem as a trader when it comes to liquidity.

You can plug a trezor into your phone and use it there - from trezor suite web - (I'm not sure how eth works with that though because I haven't used it on mobile - the same goes for other smart contract coins).

Ledger Nano X and Ledger Live could be good too.
How to Setup & Use Binance Smart Chain (BSC) with Ledger Live

[dkbit98]

Are mobile wallets the solution?

Solution for what?
Certainly not if mobile wallets are custodial and connected with some centralized exchange like Binance or any other.
Mobile wallets can be useful for pocket spending money, but they should be open source, non-custodial and best if they are connected with hardware wallets.
For everything else you should use cold wallets that are not connected to internet, and decentralized exchanges like Bisq for p2p trading.

What's your solution?

I already said above, you have to own keys for your own coins, and use some form of p2p trading if you want to avoid risk of hacking and freezing your coins.
If you want to trust random Chinese guy like CZ than go for it, but complain later when something like this happens again.
Never forget how documents of million people leaked online, and how they received bunch of calls from scammers.

As others have mentioned it was not a hack of the exchange but rather the cross-chain bridge.

This stupid ''bridges'' are even worse, and Binance openly promoted them, they even forced people to convert many stable coins to their BUSD crap.
They are also promoting withdrawal of Bitcoin on their centralized blockchain, so they shouldn't be trusted at all.
Let's not forget their ''blockchain'' literally stopped working when this happened  
Meanwhile - Bitcoin is up 99.98% of time, with 3,492 days since last downtime.

[NeuroticFish]

- Hardware wallets ?
- Paper wallets?

For the average Joe I recommend hardware wallets, if he can afford it.
If one does just a bit of research, he has a good chance to buy a good enough HW. And unless he does something extremely stupid, he'll be safe.

Paper wallets are obviously cheaper, and I recommend them to tech savvy people who know how to generate them safely, offline, in a live system (with no storage).
But they are somewhat static, if one wants to spend it's not straightforward to do the safety measures again and do all the handling like with cold storage.

One handy solution - rather cheap imho - would be SeedSigner, which is not really a HW, but not far from that. Bitcoin only though.

Are mobile wallets the solution?

No. I don't recommend keeping any funds on mobile wallets - of course, unless the mobile wallet is linked to a hardware wallet.

What's your solution?

I have a hardware wallet and of course, safe backup on paper. If the HW dies off, I can make cold storage, or buy another HW, will see.


I expect people will keep telling about keeping the funds offline, in proper wallet, in hardware wallet, ...
I will add something more: make sure you only HODL decentralized coins, which cannot be frozen or stolen from you just for the sake of it.

[examplens]

Why are you still asking? Having had a good experience on the forum, you are not sure where to keep your funds.

Exactly.
The best we can do to protect our funds is not to keep them on Binance or any other service where we do not have complete control over them. I believe that even a large number of beginners know about this, so I'm surprised that this kind of discussion comes from someone who already has a lot of experience.
if someone still follows all this, my choice is a hardware wallet.

[Darker45]

In cases we would be considering long term investment and trading would definitely become difficult, the time it would take for your coins to go to the exchange 💱 the price will get back up or down.

To be honest, this is indeed a big problem if you are a big-time day trader. If you're only buying Bitcoin with the purpose of HODLing it for the long term, then it is easy to decide what to do. But if you are a day trader, it's not going to be easy. In the first place, can you avoid centralized exchanges? You're probably looking for the right volume, pairs, fees, features, and so on. Big centralized exchanges like Binance is indeed a good option. But would you trust Binance with your money when it doesn't have a spotless track record?

[michellee]

Hardware wallets may be a good solution for those afraid of the hacks that could occur on exchanges. But if they don't or can't buy a hardware wallet, they can use a mobile phone wallet that has been installed with a wallet that supports multi-coins. This way, they can start moving all their assets on the exchange to this private wallet. And they will be safe if they don't connect their mobile phone to the internet using an internet connection outside their area. And never tell other people about your crypto assets because it can make them curious.

[msbeby]

. Binance Wallet (Trust Wallet) is safe to store cryptocurrencies. Do not leave your funds on Binance Exchange. Download Binance Wallet which is called Trust Wallet and store your coins in this wallet.

In hack in 2018, The hack impacted Binance’s so-called “hot wallet,” which is basically storage that connects to the internet and is used for liquidity so bitcoin can be exchanged. However, Binance customers won’t lose money, thanks to its “Secure Asset Fund for Users,” an emergency insurance fund it’s had in place since July 2018.

But in the future, it is difficult to predict what will happen if Binace is hacked again because it depends on how the security and storage network of binace is set up in the future.

[The Cryptovator]

My solution is a hardware wallet. I don't like to hold large amounts to any centralized exchange whether Binance or any other. It's fine to trade there, but not holding for a long time. I don't prefer paper wallets or mobile wallets. The paper wallet would be lost or compromised somehow and the mobile wallet would hack as well. I have faith in hardware wallets when it comes to holding my bags. I use Binance as an exchange, not as a wallet anyway. The exchange would hack anytime though Binance doesn't hurt users, still, we have to be careful and take care of our funds.

[Rikafip]

. Binance Wallet (Trust Wallet) is safe to store cryptocurrencies. Do not leave your funds on Binance Exchange. Download Binance Wallet which is called Trust Wallet and store your coins in this wallet.

Nope, Trust wallet is not the place where you want to store your crypto for a longer period of time. It is ok for a hot wallet, a place where you will store smaller amount of crypto that you need for everyday use but nothing more than that. And even for that there are better choices if you plan to store only bitcoin and don't need multicoin support.

In hack in 2018, The hack impacted Binance’s so-called “hot wallet,” which is basically storage that connects to the internet and is used for liquidity so bitcoin can be exchanged. However, Binance customers won’t lose money, thanks to its “Secure Asset Fund for Users,” an emergency insurance fund it’s had in place since July 2018.

I personally wouldn't put too much trust into so called SAFU fund because if shit hit the fun and bigger hack happens I don't think that it will much, if anything. Its probably just a marketing stunt and nothing else.