Best practices to prevent hackers from stealing our crypto assets

[samcoin]

7. Be careful with email and links :

This is where phishing attacks often come from, which are used by cybercriminals to steal sensitive information, credentials, and private keys.

Those phishing emails or links may appear from a reputable source such as a crypto exchange or wallet provider, and those who receive them will think it is the original website but it turns out to be a trap. There are so many incidents like this, that even crypto holders when they search on google, many fake websites will appear that they don't know are malware.

This is the most important point, in my opinion, particularly for newbies. I have been receiving tens of links on e-mail or Telegram and all of them are scams. The number of scams/fishing attempts is increasing as much as the popularity of cryptocurrencies, because a lot of dishonest people see this domain as an opportunity. Unfortunately, even some experienced or crypto-influencers fell into these scams and lost money. Therefore, I think everyone should be well careful with every link and new connection they receive on various social media platforms.
I want to add another procedure, which is: don't talk about how much money you have in the form of cryptocurrency, especially on telegram, because these talks will make hackers/ scammers target you using different ways.

[Yamifoud]

There is only one thing I could add OP,
 - only use your personal computer when accessing your wallet.

Because it can also be a reason why we got hacked when that computer is also infected with viruses and malware installed. Though I have no experience yet as I was anticipating such a thing, a friend of mine got that kind of experience when using the internet cafe. His transactions went successfully but when he access it the following day, he find out that it was empty already and notice some unpermitted transactions.

[abel1337]

There is only one thing I could add OP,
 - only use your personal computer when accessing your wallet.

Because it can also be a reason why we got hacked when that computer is also infected with viruses and malware installed. Though I have no experience yet as I was anticipating such a thing, a friend of mine got that kind of experience when using the internet cafe. His transactions went successfully but when he access it the following day, he find out that it was empty already and notice some unpermitted transactions.

Doing crypto in a internet cafe is just crazy given that there is a crazy amount of chance that the past users of that computer accidentally or intentionally installed a virus or malware. As long as it's confirmable in the blockchain, The transaction will be expected to be successful but if you were hacked, It's hard to expect that the wallet you are using still has the balance you are expecting. I believe that it is one of the basic security thing that all we should put in our mind, Use our own device only in using crypto. Imagine those people who did multiple security measurements, I know people who don't use crypto but still scared on connecting to public network because of the risk of getting hacked in it. It is one of the basic rules of crypto security, Always use your own device!`1

[BitcoinPanther]

There is only one thing I could add OP,
 - only use your personal computer when accessing your wallet.

Because it can also be a reason why we got hacked when that computer is also infected with viruses and malware installed. Though I have no experience yet as I was anticipating such a thing, a friend of mine got that kind of experience when using the internet cafe. His transactions went successfully but when he access it the following day, he find out that it was empty already and notice some unpermitted transactions.

Doing crypto in a internet cafe is just crazy given that there is a crazy amount of chance that the past users of that computer accidentally or intentionally installed a virus or malware. As long as it's confirmable in the blockchain, The transaction will be expected to be successful but if you were hacked, It's hard to expect that the wallet you are using still has the balance you are expecting. I believe that it is one of the basic security thing that all we should put in our mind, Use our own device only in using crypto. Imagine those people who did multiple security measurements, I know people who don't use crypto but still scared on connecting to public network because of the risk of getting hacked in it. It is one of the basic rules of crypto security, Always use your own device!`1

I agree, public internet cafe have lots of keyloggers installed, other even infect our USB with keylogger installer.  It happens to me when my mother print some picture in an internet shop.  The moment I open the USB to save another set of pictures, my Kaspersky antivirus alerted me and deleted the malware.  If I don't have an antivirus, my pc system would have been compromised.

So we better be vigilant whenever we  rent on internet cafe, always scan the  flashdisk we use and make sure that it is clean before opening any file on that flashkisk.

[Kelvinid]

There is only one thing I could add OP,
 - only use your personal computer when accessing your wallet.

Because it can also be a reason why we got hacked when that computer is also infected with viruses and malware installed. Though I have no experience yet as I was anticipating such a thing, a friend of mine got that kind of experience when using the internet cafe. His transactions went successfully but when he access it the following day, he find out that it was empty already and notice some unpermitted transactions.

Doing crypto in a internet cafe is just crazy given that there is a crazy amount of chance that the past users of that computer accidentally or intentionally installed a virus or malware. As long as it's confirmable in the blockchain, The transaction will be expected to be successful but if you were hacked, It's hard to expect that the wallet you are using still has the balance you are expecting. I believe that it is one of the basic security thing that all we should put in our mind, Use our own device only in using crypto. Imagine those people who did multiple security measurements, I know people who don't use crypto but still scared on connecting to public network because of the risk of getting hacked in it. It is one of the basic rules of crypto security, Always use your own device!`1

I agree, public internet cafe have lots of keyloggers installed, other even infect our USB with keylogger installer.  It happens to me when my mother print some picture in an internet shop.  The moment I open the USB to save another set of pictures, my Kaspersky antivirus alerted me and deleted the malware.  If I don't have an antivirus, my pc system would have been compromised.

So we better be vigilant whenever we  rent on internet cafe, always scan the  flashdisk we use and make sure that it is clean before opening any file on that flashkisk.

By all means, we should not use internet cafe if we wanted not to get hacked because some antivirus doesn't work, you got to be lucky that Kaspersky antiv warns you. Because what if it has never been detected, it certainly you got compromised and lose your important files which may include login details, keys/passwords to your crypto assets. It is advisable to use our personal laptop or PC to avoid any problems, might we detect it the first time but never know next.

[ultrloa]

There is only one thing I could add OP,
 - only use your personal computer when accessing your wallet.

Because it can also be a reason why we got hacked when that computer is also infected with viruses and malware installed. Though I have no experience yet as I was anticipating such a thing, a friend of mine got that kind of experience when using the internet cafe. His transactions went successfully but when he access it the following day, he find out that it was empty already and notice some unpermitted transactions.

Doing crypto in a internet cafe is just crazy given that there is a crazy amount of chance that the past users of that computer accidentally or intentionally installed a virus or malware. As long as it's confirmable in the blockchain, The transaction will be expected to be successful but if you were hacked, It's hard to expect that the wallet you are using still has the balance you are expecting. I believe that it is one of the basic security thing that all we should put in our mind, Use our own device only in using crypto. Imagine those people who did multiple security measurements, I know people who don't use crypto but still scared on connecting to public network because of the risk of getting hacked in it. It is one of the basic rules of crypto security, Always use your own device!`1

I agree, public internet cafe have lots of keyloggers installed, other even infect our USB with keylogger installer.  It happens to me when my mother print some picture in an internet shop.  The moment I open the USB to save another set of pictures, my Kaspersky antivirus alerted me and deleted the malware.  If I don't have an antivirus, my pc system would have been compromised.

So we better be vigilant whenever we  rent on internet cafe, always scan the  flashdisk we use and make sure that it is clean before opening any file on that flashkisk.

By all means, we should not use internet cafe if we wanted not to get hacked because some antivirus doesn't work, you got to be lucky that Kaspersky antiv warns you. Because what if it has never been detected, it certainly you got compromised and lose your important files which may include login details, keys/passwords to your crypto assets. It is advisable to use our personal laptop or PC to avoid any problems, might we detect it the first time but never know next.

Some people could install key loggers on internet cafe so its not good to use this place to log in your important details especially your online wallets since hacking might happen if you are playing cool around. Much really better use your own personal device to avoid this head ache causing incident. We know how hot crypto these days and for sure once there are people who find out that you use that and have huge balance on your wallet they might plan on how you could fall in there hand so avoid risky place and settle on your device since you can find the real safe place there.

[vv181]

7. Be careful with email and links :

This is the most important point, in my opinion, particularly for newbies. I have been receiving tens of links on e-mail or Telegram and all of them are scams. The number of scams/fishing attempts is increasing as much as the popularity of cryptocurrencies, because a lot of dishonest people see this domain as an opportunity. Unfortunately, even some experienced or crypto-influencers fell into these scams and lost money. Therefore, I think everyone should be well careful with every link and new connection they receive on various social media platforms.

It reduces the complexity of truly keeping safe a wallet if you regard that point as the only important one. OP's points are good even for newbies, I believe what most users need to comprehend is the nature of cryptocurrency whereas we are in control of our own belonging/private keys. With that in mind, we should be reluctant and keep a high alert if there is something that we deem suspicious when dealing with any of our personal belongings.

Some common sense like, if we create a wallet without submitting an email, and then there is an email that claimed we need to update those wallets is shady at best. So, that is the kind of thing that new users should be aware of.

[uneng]

There is only one thing I could add OP,
 - only use your personal computer when accessing your wallet.

Because it can also be a reason why we got hacked when that computer is also infected with viruses and malware installed. Though I have no experience yet as I was anticipating such a thing, a friend of mine got that kind of experience when using the internet cafe. His transactions went successfully but when he access it the following day, he find out that it was empty already and notice some unpermitted transactions.

You are right. Only use trustful devices to login into your wallets. That is, devices only you have access. Accessing wallets through devices which belong to other people, doesn't matter who they are, isn't advised, even if it's your father, mother or best friend's desktop or mobile.

Not that they want to scam or sabotage you intentionally, but they might click wrongly, downloading viruses or malwares by mistake when browsing online, depending their level of knowledge and cleverness when spotting potential threats on the internet.

[profgates]

The need for safe guarding our crypto assets cannot be overemphasised. It's best to be weary of the possibilities of hackers taking advantage of loopholes and strive to ensure that due care is taken to safe guard your assets. The suggestions by the OP is quite helpful but not exhaustive.

[so98nn]

Yup, nicely suggested. Everyone has different choices though. For me I am always believing on my hardware wallet. Though I had it lost once and found it back, I had hard time recovering the wallet from the mnemonic phrases I had stored pretty well. That proved that having hardware wallet is safest place to keep your bitcoins in it. I lost it during our home shifting but it was found in new home in old furniture. In the process almost one year gone and my bitcoins were sitting just like that. I think that is enough to understand when its locked up then no one is touching it.

Only thing to keep in mind is, have the seeds, private keys safely stored somewhere which are away from any members. Having extra layer of security is always preferred. Who knows it could be million dollar worth wallet in the future. 

[BitcoinPanther]

There is only one thing I could add OP,
 - only use your personal computer when accessing your wallet.

Because it can also be a reason why we got hacked when that computer is also infected with viruses and malware installed. Though I have no experience yet as I was anticipating such a thing, a friend of mine got that kind of experience when using the internet cafe. His transactions went successfully but when he access it the following day, he find out that it was empty already and notice some unpermitted transactions.

You are right. Only use trustful devices to login into your wallets. That is, devices only you have access. Accessing wallets through devices which belong to other people, doesn't matter who they are, isn't advised, even if it's your father, mother or best friend's desktop or mobile.

Even accessing your email in other's pc or laptop is not advisable.  Our personal stuff should be stored and access only from our own devices.  Because web browser often keep the cookies and details of the site and might be used as gateway to know our account details.

Not that they want to scam or sabotage you intentionally, but they might click wrongly, downloading viruses or malwares by mistake when browsing online, depending their level of knowledge and cleverness when spotting potential threats on the internet.

True often times people make a mistake of clicking links whenever it fascinated them.  So for our cryptocurrency security, never access or setup our wallet address privatey form other people's gadget.

[Silberman]

7. Be careful with email and links :

This is where phishing attacks often come from, which are used by cybercriminals to steal sensitive information, credentials, and private keys.

Those phishing emails or links may appear from a reputable source such as a crypto exchange or wallet provider, and those who receive them will think it is the original website but it turns out to be a trap. There are so many incidents like this, that even crypto holders when they search on google, many fake websites will appear that they don't know are malware.

This is the most important point, in my opinion, particularly for newbies. I have been receiving tens of links on e-mail or Telegram and all of them are scams. The number of scams/fishing attempts is increasing as much as the popularity of cryptocurrencies, because a lot of dishonest people see this domain as an opportunity. Unfortunately, even some experienced or crypto-influencers fell into these scams and lost money. Therefore, I think everyone should be well careful with every link and new connection they receive on various social media platforms.
I want to add another procedure, which is: don't talk about how much money you have in the form of cryptocurrency, especially on telegram, because these talks will make hackers/ scammers target you using different ways.

Newbies are especially susceptible to those types of scams as they are willing to believe they can invest in a shitcoin and make a lot of money, while those like us which have years of experience on this market know that even if this is technically possible almost no one can get those kind of results, so newbies prefer to believe those lies and take their chances, and unfortunately for them they end up losing the small amount of money they invested in this market.

[bitgolden]

How do we keep our cryptocurrency assets? Because I researched various good practices that we can apply as holders. Because it is not enough that we know how to find good coins and which one to buy. But we don't know how to protect it.

In the cryptocurrency case, there are many hacked incidents although when I was just starting, I experienced my laptop being hacked and fortunately, I didn't have much important stuff saved in my file there.

Just like everyone said, hardware wallet and that is not even being creative. I know a few people who put their money into an address, and wrote down that address, and put that in a vault or something, not really a vault but definitely a safe, like the ones you see behind paintings in the movies. That's as paranoid as you can get.

I don't really do that much safety, don't see the reason for it, don't have enough money to make it lucrative for any hackers, they would be quite disappointed if they hack me. But at the end of the day, there are levels to this and you can pick whichever you want, from putting it in an exchange, to having it written down, anything could be done.

[goaldigger]

The need for safe guarding our crypto assets cannot be overemphasised. It's best to be weary of the possibilities of hackers taking advantage of loopholes and strive to ensure that due care is taken to safe guard your assets. The suggestions by the OP is quite helpful but not exhaustive.

This has been the best option to secure your wallet, but of course hackers can still find a way so if you are not being careful with your holdings, you might fall on their trap and becomes a victim. Protecting our crypto is a must, you have to use every resources that you can have just to be more safe and not waste all your sacrifices, going offline can also be a good option, don’t over exposed online.

[TimeTeller]

The need for safe guarding our crypto assets cannot be overemphasised. It's best to be weary of the possibilities of hackers taking advantage of loopholes and strive to ensure that due care is taken to safe guard your assets. The suggestions by the OP is quite helpful but not exhaustive.

This has been the best option to secure your wallet, but of course hackers can still find a way so if you are not being careful with your holdings, you might fall on their trap and becomes a victim. Protecting our crypto is a must, you have to use every resources that you can have just to be more safe and not waste all your sacrifices, going offline can also be a good option, don’t over exposed online.

As you have mentioned about going offline, I can also add that as much as possible, don't disclose your activities in social media.
With the generation today, a lot of them are posting every step of their lives in social media not knowing that their privacy is already exposed.
These scammers know who to hunt, and usually they can get their victims via online, what they are reading from these people.
So for me, not only offline wallets but also be discreet with your activities. There's no reason for you to publish that you have satoshis.
Unless, you want to boast it to the world that you have. But to safeguard your privacy, much better to keep it with yourself. You don't need approval from other people.

[swogerino]

I think that the point of educating yourself includes all other points.From all the books I have read on Cybersecurity from many vendors that offers a lot of training I have been able to spot one thing which is,user education and training is the most important part in any job a user perform and I am making for a second time the analogy here to emphasize how important it is education when it comes to digital assets like our cryptocurrencies are.I agree on everything and I would add to the list a point which is to use secure operating systems like Linux,while this alone won't help people who do not know what they are doing,it will drastically improve the security posture to people who know what they are doing.

[beerlover]

I think that the point of educating yourself includes all other points.From all the books I have read on Cybersecurity from many vendors that offers a lot of training I have been able to spot one thing which is,user education and training is the most important part in any job a user perform and I am making for a second time the analogy here to emphasize how important it is education when it comes to digital assets like our cryptocurrencies are.I agree on everything and I would add to the list a point which is to use secure operating systems like Linux,while this alone won't help people who do not know what they are doing,it will drastically improve the security posture to people who know what they are doing.

That's basically the key point to every safety and every software. I just saw an instagram reel where a father makes a joke to his son, the "recipe" for peanut butter sandwich says "put the knife in the peanut butter" and he just puts it in directly, simply throws it in, not like trying to scoop some up or something, literally just puts it in as a whole.

Now we all know that is not true, but the instruction said "put the knife in" and he did. If users are terrible at security and safety, no matter what type of instructions and what type of tools you provide for them, they will fail to protect their funds. So we need to make sure that we know how to properly do it.

[mdzahed134]

I used Google Authenticator from google playstore but i see a error it’s code aren’t always worked, so i chosen Authy it’s the best 2FA app i think. And i don’t think reputable exchanges means your money will be safe, you know FTX was one of the biggest exchange and it’s considering safe for many users but unfortunately it’s now Bankruptcy. Because in CEX you have no key that means you're not owner the assets.

[Pierre 2]

Even if there are many methods to avoid harmful attempts your funds/wallets there is no better way that can beat hardware wallets. When you write its seed to paper and put to secure place it just never leaks online.
For exchange side, best method is to never deposit coins there. Exchanges are there to trade (buy/sell) not to use as crypto wallets. I know earn sections are very mouth watering sometimes but there's no better way other than avoiding to hold your coins there.

[Silberman]

Even if there are many methods to avoid harmful attempts your funds/wallets there is no better way that can beat hardware wallets. When you write its seed to paper and put to secure place it just never leaks online.
For exchange side, best method is to never deposit coins there. Exchanges are there to trade (buy/sell) not to use as crypto wallets. I know earn sections are very mouth watering sometimes but there's no better way other than avoiding to hold your coins there.

Exchanges do a good job at tempting people with the offers they give to their customers, but people should never forget why they are holding cryptocurrencies to begin with, and that is to have complete control over their capital, the moment you give up your control then it does not matter what cryptocurrency you bought you are back to the fiat system, and this is not what we want, unfortunately there are many investors which are here only for the money they can potentially make and it is easy to convince them to go against the principles which created this market.