Because of the trend of retroactive drops rewarding big amount of airdrops to early users over the years, we're poised to farm in both testnet and mainnet without any promises or guarantees for a future airdrop.
You can be qualified for a big potential airdrop by just minting an NFT (Aptos), history of transactions from start date to end date (e.g., Arbitrum, Optimism, etc.), being an early testnet user (Sei, Celestia, etc.), using a DeFi platform in the early goings (e.g., Uniswap, Shapeshift, etc.), playing a game during the early stages (e.g., Axie Infinity, Big Time, etc.) and more.
As farming airdrops are a thing nowadays, the hackers are seeing an opportunity to drain our hard-earned time and money to . But there are ways for us to prevent from getting our wallets compromised.
Most of us are using Metamask which is an EVM-compatible non-custodial hot wallet where only the user with the seed phrase or private key has the access. However, Metamask is vulnerable towards hacks such as sweeper bots or any other malware.
Therefore, here are the tools that I use base on my experience in protecting our EVM-compatible non-custodial hot wallets from getting drained:
1) Rabby Wallet - An open source wallet browser extension that provides additional layer for security measures that supports Metamask and other EVM-compatible wallets with smooth multi-chain experience without having to switch network manually and risk scanning feature for pre-transactions
2) Revoke Cash - Revoke permissions from suspicious approvals and supports multi-chain with a browser extension that prevents you from signing malicious contracts.
3) De.Fi - A crypto antivirus platform with shield, scanner and revoking features.
4) Wallet Guard - A browser extension that protects you by successfully detecting a phishing site that you're trying to access and has simulation feature when doing a transaction.
5) Pocket Universe - Another browser extension that protects you from Web3 scams and has up to $2,000 insurance for each transaction.
6) Avast Premium Security - An all-in-one antivirus for your desktop or mobile that protects you from malware, ransomware, phishing and suspicious sites and more. It's a paid subscription (w/ free 1-month trial) but it's worth the investment.
These tools above are meant especially for those who cannot afford to have a hardware wallet like Ledger Nano S, Trezor, etc.
In your Metamask or any EVM-compatible hot wallet, make sure that you make a habit of disconnecting and revoking permissions to specific sites after you're done using their platform. And please, use a burner wallet for crypto airdrops and not the main one where you have big amount of assets in your portfolio.
But the most important of all is you. If you do not know how to do your due diligence and common sense, you would still be vulnerable towards these hacks.
There are cases where the hacker might persuade you to turn off your antivirus or any 3rd party layer because of statements like "we're still in the process of making our website reliable, etc.". They are very skilled and creative to persuade us to do this and do that by posting fake job opportunities, pretending to collaborate to KOLs and ambassadors, making a fake beta test game download and more.
Speaking of downloads, it is where I fall into their trap last year in which I have lost almost $20k in my assets combined. I make sure of not experiencing that again by utilizing these crypto security tools I have mentioned.
They think outside of the box and may do whatever it takes to penetrate our wallets without us knowing. However, we can also outsmart them by practicing due diligence, in-depth researching, second and third opinions, hesitancy, etc.
We're still a long way to go in terms of cybersecurity in the world of crypto and Web3, but at least these tools would surely help a lot to both beginners and the experienced.
P.S. Feel free to suggest other crypto security-related tools that I didn't mention on this thread that would also be very helpful to increase prevention from getting our assets drained.
Revoking wallet accesses is always a good idea. And i am using de.fi as well for many things.. But...
i understand that losing $20k would make anyone extra carfeful. I mean i would be totally paranoid after that. But...
Having 3 browser expansions and avast premium just for protecting you is an overkill. I mean what could these possibly add to brave explorer security?
Every internet security experts i've talked with agree that if you have windows, their own defence system is good enough these days. It just used to be a joke so people have kept that need for 3rd party applications alive.
Programs are just helping you in some cases. They don't think and they can't help you if you are lured in to do something via social engineering, or if you want to make a mistake, or choose to make a mistake after those devence systems keep giving false positives. Also i am not an security expert, but have some experience with the programs, and i have to ask hey wouldn't so many defence programs just mess the system?
Most important steps i've taken with my custodial wallets and exhange wallets is
A. Having google 2a in everywhere. Even in my emails, backup emails and no-crypto relevant web accounts. And using lots of different emails and user names not connected to each other in any way.
B. Military grade passwords that i don't store in plain text or anywhere hackable.
And still i am still sometimes paranoid and trust way more to my exchanges security than my own. They have defence i could never afford, and knowhow i couldn't get with years of studying. Sure they are a bigger target that gets attacks all the time, but if you personally show your money online, people will believe you have it, and you can get targeted. And one person is way easier target than some company that is build on security.
