The increasing popularity for cryptocurrencies has brought more and more actractivness for hackers.
Here are eight tips for protecting your cryptocurrency investment.
1. Use a strong password
A strong password is a password that is quite long, random, and unique.
You can use a passphrase for your account, which is a sentence or group of words such as : ihg2c&1d for i have got two children and one dog.
However, do not choose a phrase already existing on the web or wherever, because hackers have access to databases.
2. Do not re-use your password
As told before, a password has to be long, random, and unique.
Therefore, never use the same password twice ! If one of your account gets hacked, the hacker will know the email linked to your account and could try to log into your email or over websites related to it with this password.
3. Put 2-factor authentification (2FA)
By activating 2-factor authentification, two authentication methods will be performed :
- 1st one : your password
- 2nd one : the extra authentification
For that, the most common extra authentification is by receiving an SMS on your mobile phone and writing on the website we try to log in the number received.
4. Keep Your Devices Clean and Updated
Many types of malware or virus exist and can infect your device
To be protected from these threats,here are some advice:
- use anti-virus protection up to date
- scan your device regularly
- do not hesitate to clean all your cookies or use a cleaner software
- try not to go on weird website as much as you can
5. Hardware wallets
Hardware wallets are very high secure devices designed to securely store private keys. Considered safer than desktops or smartphones wallets, they are not connected to the Internet at any time, which reduces the attack vectors available to malicious parties.
6. Distribute your currencies among multiple wallets
Split your funds amongst multiple wallets :
- Exchange Wallets: for what you plan to trade/stake
- Mobile Wallets: for what you plan to spend/receive/stake
- Cold Wallets: for what is very precious for you
If you only have one wallet for everything and if it gets hacked, you are totally screwed ! With multiple wallets, you do not put all your money in one place only.
7. Do not put your seed phrase everywhere
A seed phrase is a list of words which stores all the information needed to recover your wallet. The safest way to store your seed phrase is by memorizing it and/or writing it down on paper and storing it somewhere very safe.
I advise you to keep out this phrase from somewhere digital such as a file in your laptop or a screenshot in your mobile.
Do not hesitate to share more tips on how to keep your cryptocurrency safe in the commentary section :)
