What have you learned from recent incidents?

[Comeacross]

In the past few weeks, lot of things have happened to remind us that no system is perfect. The traditional banks are full of flaws, centralised exchange is not different from traditional banks and now even the hardware wallets we trust for self custody is not longer reliable.

Earlier this month, Zenith bank confirmed that hackers gained unauthorised access to their customers data. Although money is saved but their email, phone numbers and other sensitive information were exposed. Who knows what they're going to do with this stolen details? Sell them or use it to scam potential victims? It's time to rethink before handing out our personal data to any third parties.

Last months, about 3 popular exchanges announce they'll be shutting down their operations. They told their customers to withdraw their coins to somewhere else before the deadline. Some users are complaining about high withdrawal fees but they don't have choice than to deal with it. When next you hear not your keys, not your coins, you'll stay away from keeping your assets in centralized exchanges.

And latest is the ColdCard incident. This wasn't phishing. Nobody clicked a link or fell for a scam. It was a manufacturing flaw in a device sold specifically as the safe option, the one people bought because they didn't trust exchanges. Imagine paying money to lose your coin.

Don't keep large assets on any centralized exchanges. Deposit whenever you want to use it either for trading or P2P.
Generate your seed properly on hardware wallets. Don't rely on automatic generation.
Use multi sig setup if you hold a significant amount and planned to hold for a long time.
Store your keys separately and away from online. No system is completely safe and free from risk but with proper management, you can reduce the risk significantly.

Please stay safe!!!

[POPOLUV]

In the past few weeks, lot of things have happened to remind us that no system is perfect. The traditional banks are full of flaws, centralised exchange is not different from traditional banks and now even the hardware wallets we trust for self custody is not longer reliable.

Earlier this month, Zenith bank confirmed that hackers gained unauthorised access to their customers data. Although money is saved but their email, phone numbers and other sensitive information were exposed. Who knows what they're going to do with this stolen details? Sell them or use it to scam potential victims? It's time to rethink before handing out our personal data to any third parties.

Last months, about 3 popular exchanges announce they'll be shutting down their operations. They told their customers to withdraw their coins to somewhere else before the deadline. Some users are complaining about high withdrawal fees but they don't have choice than to deal with it. When next you hear not your keys, not your coins, you'll stay away from keeping your assets in centralized exchanges.

And latest is the ColdCard incident. This wasn't phishing. Nobody clicked a link or fell for a scam. It was a manufacturing flaw in a device sold specifically as the safe option, the one people bought because they didn't trust exchanges. Imagine paying money to lose your coin.

Don't keep large assets on any centralized exchanges. Deposit whenever you want to use it either for trading or P2P.
Generate your seed properly on hardware wallets. Don't rely on automatic generation.
Use multi sig setup if you hold a significant amount and planned to hold for a long time.
Store your keys separately and away from online. No system is completely safe and free from risk but with proper management, you can reduce the risk significantly.

Please stay safe!!!

Wow! Is it what really happened to zenith Bank for the past days when i went to do transfer and my phone app was not opening and when i asked questions around people that was using the same zenith Bank, they were complaining the same thing, although the money in that account was not much and i was not even aware that hackers gained access to the Bank, we need to be extremely careful on the kind money we keep in the Bank or centralized exchange and it is not always good to give data to a third party, that is why Bank always advice never share your pin or the code at Bank of your ATM card with any else.

And incident that occurred few days back  thought me never to have one Bank as saving bank, that one Bank can be disappointing if there is need for emergency withdrawal of fund, so i learnt that we should have more than one Bank incase there is bridge in network or hackers.

[Oyoyoma_yu]

Any investment that is connected online is not entirely secured because of the activities of these scammers, before now we do hear about scammers attacking banks, and stilling money from individuals account, and once your details are exposed to them, then they will use it to access your account. At present, people do receive call from fraudsters pretending to be bank workers, and asking you to give them your security details so that they can help you solve problems in your account, and if you expose your information to them, they will attack your bank account.
As we store our bitcoin asset in an exchange, it is not really safe because exchanges are always the target of scammers, and that is the more reason why it is not a safe place. So, self custody wallet is good so far you can keep your security details intact.

[IceLincoln]

In the past few weeks, lot of things have happened to remind us that no system is perfect. The traditional banks are full of flaws, centralised exchange is not different from traditional banks and now even the hardware wallets we trust for self custody is not longer reliable.

Earlier this month, Zenith bank confirmed that hackers gained unauthorised access to their customers data. Although money is saved but their email, phone numbers and other sensitive information were exposed. Who knows what they're going to do with this stolen details? Sell them or use it to scam potential victims? It's time to rethink before handing out our personal data to any third parties.

Last months, about 3 popular exchanges announce they'll be shutting down their operations. They told their customers to withdraw their coins to somewhere else before the deadline. Some users are complaining about high withdrawal fees but they don't have choice than to deal with it. When next you hear not your keys, not your coins, you'll stay away from keeping your assets in centralized exchanges.

And latest is the ColdCard incident. This wasn't phishing. Nobody clicked a link or fell for a scam. It was a manufacturing flaw in a device sold specifically as the safe option, the one people bought because they didn't trust exchanges. Imagine paying money to lose your coin.

Don't keep large assets on any centralized exchanges. Deposit whenever you want to use it either for trading or P2P.
Generate your seed properly on hardware wallets. Don't rely on automatic generation.
Use multi sig setup if you hold a significant amount and planned to hold for a long time.
Store your keys separately and away from online. No system is completely safe and free from risk but with proper management, you can reduce the risk significantly.

Please stay safe!!!

You have given some of the basic precautions and instructions to avoid unexpected loss of our assets. I’ll just have to add that an extra layer of security is always advisable. In addition to a seed phrase, a pass phrase is necessary with what we’ve seen now it’s very very important to have it because it’s highly difficult or almost impossible to brute force both Security levels.
The online space is not a safe zone, your privacy and protection is in your hands. Be smart and effective with your security measures.

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

Don't keep large assets on any centralized exchanges. Deposit whenever you want to use it either for trading or P2P.
Generate your seed properly on hardware wallets. Don't rely on automatic generation.
Use multi sig setup if you hold a significant amount and planned to hold for a long time.
Store your keys separately and away from online. No system is completely safe and free from risk but with proper management, you can reduce the risk significantly.

Please stay safe!!!

What happened recently also teaches us about the importance of diversifying our funds too, because imagine if you were a Zenith bank users and had all your money in it, that's how you would have lost all your money, and likewise it's also applicable to the users of ColdCard which just also got hacked few days ago, because no matter how a system claims to be more secure, diversification should never be totally eradicated from it. However, when it comes to the case of ColdCard, I was made to understand that the hack was only possible when the hackers was able to discover a bug that could enable them guess the randomness of wallet seed phrases, of which they were only able to have access to 500 wallets before it was discovered. And secondly, using multiple offline Bitcoin hardware wallets is also a good way to approach this, in other to avoid losing everything if your wallet gets compromised.

[Samlucky O]

That's true, no system is totally safe because bank has been hacked on different occasions likewise centralized exchange was hacked, the truth is that both are risky but non custodial wallet (cold Wallet) is better than keeping on exchange because you have your private key. The only problem is that people prefer convinient to safety that's why they store money on exchange so that they can move it at their convenient time with ease, and when the database of the exchange is tampered, everyone gets affected. I will advise us to concentrate on cold Wallet storage than using exchange.

[Tmoonz]

Any investment that is connected online is not entirely secured because of the activities of these scammers, before now we do hear about scammers attacking banks, and stilling money from individuals account, and once your details are exposed to them, then they will use it to access your account. At present, people do receive call from fraudsters pretending to be bank workers, and asking you to give them your security details so that they can help you solve problems in your account, and if you expose your information to them, they will attack your bank account.
As we store our bitcoin asset in an exchange, it is not really safe because exchanges are always the target of scammers, and that is the more reason why it is not a safe place. So, self custody wallet is good so far you can keep your security details intact.

Are you trying to say that any investment that is done off line is entirely secured? No investment is completely secured be it online or off line, don't just wish that the bad day comes regardless of whether you are investing online or offline as both offline and online investment has it's prons and cons meaning that no investment is completely secured. We having it that no system is safe is a compound proof that life it self is filled with uncertainties, even the life we are living is borrowed, we have heard of stories or have seen people sleeping and not waking up the next day, no place is completely safe though we will keep trying our best.

[Franctoshi]

One key thing someone should learn from these things is the spreading of your funds across your storage platforms. Wherever safe methods that you used to secure or save your funds are, in case such an event happens, you wouldn't lose all your wealth just in a matter of minutes. I never bank with one bank because the reality is that, currently, it's difficult to not save, store, or deal with the banks. Spread whatever you have, big or small; if one bank is hit, you would be safe for the others. This method is also applied to our crypto portfolio, whether hardware or whatever method you use.

[Moreno233]

You missed the hacking of UBA where they stole over N3 billion few weeks ago. Cyber attack have become a very lucrative business and I believe that the advancements in AI is fueling this too. I don't know how careful we can be to be safe because even the recommended safety measures are being vulnerable just like we saw in Coldcard. I don't know we should rely on luck or prayers but it is not looking funny how things are going especially with new developments that will reshape the digital space still on the way.

[Bryan jessy]

I heard something similar happened to access Bank too, I think the manager announced to their customers never to release their details to anyone claiming to have solution or setting up anything concerning their bank account as they will never request for such information from their customers, and it is only when we give out our personal information regarding our account that is the only way they can be able to access the account, let's be guided and careful of giving out some details, this scammers text SMS to people claiming they are one of the Banks costumer care service provider and requesting some personal information, it is better to go to the Bank and confirm if such thing is needed before giving out any sensitive information.

[Agbamoni]

Earlier this month, Zenith bank confirmed that hackers gained unauthorised access to their customers data. Although money is saved but their email, phone numbers and other sensitive information were exposed. Who knows what they're going to do with this stolen details? Sell them or use it to scam potential victims? It's time to rethink before handing out our personal data to any third parties.

Zenith Bank did well to protect their customers' money from theft. However, they need to know that the hackers are not outsiders. The hackers are actually insiders trying to get user's information. The other day I was called by a banker saying he is my account manager. He called my BVN and other personal details. Surely I understood that an outsider cannot have easy access to my personal information if it's not coming from an insider stealing those informatings and selling it to scammers.

Banks will not stop requesting customer's personal information because they must know their customers. If you are rethinking handing out your information, think of not using the traditional system of banking anymore. It is the only way to clear your information from their list.

[Bigjoe33]

That's true, no system is totally safe because bank has been hacked on different occasions likewise centralized exchange was hacked, the truth is that both are risky but non custodial wallet (cold Wallet) is better than keeping on exchange because you have your private key. The only problem is that people prefer convinient to safety that's why they store money on exchange so that they can move it at their convenient time with ease, and when the database of the exchange is tampered, everyone gets affected. I will advise us to concentrate on cold Wallet storage than using exchange.

It's already an established fast that nothing good comes easy. If we must escape some scam activities and be more safe, we must be able to go through the right process to save our assets and keep it away from potential scams. If saving our assets in non custodial wallets is better, why not go through the process and keep it a bit safe. Anyone who prefers convenient rather than doing the right thing to be safe will face the consequences. There are lots of scammers out there looking for whom to feast on, so if you snooze, you loose. We have to guard our assets the best way we can.