CIS608 - Week7 - Crypto currency, and keeping it safe

Cryptocurrency

A cryptocurrency is a digital currency in which encryption techniques (cryptography) are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank. The first cryptocurrency created was Bitcoin back in 2009. Today, there are hundreds of cryptocurrencies, often referred to as Altcoins.

The popularity of cryptocurrency has also increased the rise in the number of crypto exchanges in the market lately.

Undoubtedly, there’s a great opportunity in this area to make a profit on crypto trades.

At the same time, being a naïve and unregulated market for cryptocurrencies, it has become prey for hackers. A report in the Wall Street Journal shows more than $US800 million worth of cryptocurrency has been stolen by hackers this year. The figures are based on an investigation by Autonomous Research, an independent research provider for the finance industry.

We cannot recover stolen cryptocurrency funds (Bitcoin or any other digital currency) from either exchanges or wallets being hacked. We only get to know in which wallet address the cryptocurrencies has been sent but will never get to know the owner of that wallet.

Typically, crypto currencies running on blockchain can't be hacked as it needs 51% of total hash power and you must hack the longest chain in a few minutes before new block gets created.

So, hacking is almost impossible, to date there is no hacking has happened within entire Bitcoin or any other altcoins who runs on the blockchain.

Hackers only attacked exchange application and have stolen app username and password. But, there is no solid proof guarantee that cryptocurrencies can be kept inaccessible to unwanted web-intruders.

But certainly, the tips below will get you enough close to the mark.

1. Securing a cryptocurrency’s Wallet is equivalent of securing our personal data on the computer. It is always recommended to create backups of cryptocurrency’s wallets. So, that it will recover wallet addresses if in case of our personal device/gadget was lost or stolen.

3. It is a good practice to have a unique E-mail address for your username when we open an account to access cryptocurrency’s platforms. So that, it can be kept separate from personal email address and no need of sharing that ID with anyone.

4. Another important tip but many people ignore of implementing is encryption of personal device in which we secure/access cryptocurrency wallet. Having a secured anti-virus installed adds a great advantage and keep our devices secure from malware and ransomware.

5. Keeping a very strong password (including special characters and alpha-numeric type) to all our web accounts is much-needed thing to avoid unauthorized access of our information over the internet.

6. It is not recommended to use two-factor authentication on an SMS that could be ported. Instead, using something a bit more like Google Authenticator or yubikey would be much better.

7. It is always not a recommended practice to share everything on the social network. We need to keep information of cryptocurrency/wallet/platform private and do not post on social media or do not share with unknown people.

8. Trading of cryptocurrency from multiple vendors/platforms is an added advantage to lower the risk of your wallets being stolen. Buy cryptocurrency across multiple exchanges. So, that in case if one exchange is hacked other will remain accessible. One of the finest available secure wallets today is Ledger Nano S. It is a highly secure drive which prevents malware, and any unverified attempt to access.

References:

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/cryptocurrency-exchange-hackers-2018-2018-7

https://cointopper.com/guides/how-to-save-your-cryptocurrency-assets-from-being-hacked-in-2018