In May of this year, a cryptocurrency site emerged that prompted users to register to find out more about a COVID-19 coin that, morbidly, “gains value as more people die and get infected.” As horrific as this is, it is merely the tip of a COVID-19 induced spate of cryptocurrency scams.
According to Bolster’s first quarter State of Phishing and Online Fraud Report for 2020, “multiple phishing websites peddling fake COVID-19 cryptocurrencies and crypto wallets that aim to siphon data for future phishing, targeted malware, or credential stealing” are causing a shake up in the crypto world.
Of course, crypto scams are nothing new. The very same decentralized and deregulated nature of bitcoin and other currencies is the same drawcard that attracts hackers in their droves. In 2019, more than US$4.4 billion worth of currency was stolen, a sharp increase from the less than 2 billion taken in 2018.
In the current threat landscape, securing your wallets and investments is more important than ever before. Here, we go over five key strategies to keep your cryptocurrency as safe as possible in 2020.
Be aware of current phishing tactics
Phishing is a social engineering tactic that hackers use in order to prompt victims to reveal sensitive data, download malware, or otherwise offer up the details of their account info. Phishing remains a major threat in 2020 across all industries and areas of interest.
In the cryptocurrency context, phishing often comes dressed up as hard to resist initial coin offerings (ICOs) or last chance investment offers. These messages can be delivered through email, text messages, or even posted on social media, especially Twitter.
One tell-tale sign of a phishing attempt is a sense of urgency. Hackers use this to encourage investors to act fast, and in the process, sign away much more than just their email address.
Choose the right wallet for the job
If you have a significant amount of Bitcoin or another currency, it’s time to start thinking about cold offline storage as this offers more security than online wallets can. Of course, you will still need a hot wallet for trades and if you’re actively making investments, but the majority of your funds can be moved elsewhere.
Don’t keep your money in exchanges
While it might be tempting to keep your currencies in exchanges — after all, that’s where you do the majority of your trades and investments — putting faith in an exchange’s security protocols is not a wise move.
That is not to say that all exchanges are operating with poor security, rather that they are a prime target and will continue to be attacked in 2020 and beyond. The unfortunate reality is that exchanges are largely unregulated, which means two key things: matters of security are up to the exchange, and there is no resource if you lose your currencies.
Instead of stashing your cash in exchanges and courting danger, move your investment to a secure wallet or several wallets instead.
Use VPN encryption whenever you connect
A Virtual Private Network is one of the best ways to ensure any information you send or receive is protected. Once primarily considered as tools for privacy, VPNs have now emerged as a leading cybersecurity solution.
With a VPN connected, you’re browsing and operating on a completely private network, your data transmissions are also encrypted, making it exceedingly difficult (if not impossible) for a threat actor to see the data and to decrypt it.
Choose MultiSig whenever possible
Relying on one key is the equivalent of relying on one very simple password, it unnecessarily opens you up to attacks, no matter how secure you think your private key is. Instead, choose MultiSig (multi-signature) log-in procedures whenever you can to make it significantly harder for your wallets to be attacked.
There’s no doubt about it, the cybersecurity threats around cryptocurrencies and trading are only increasing, but following the five basic steps above can make all the difference to the security of your investments.