Wondering how to keep your cryptocurrency safe? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered, we will show you how!
If you are a cryptocurrency holder, you must be worried about two things: theft and your own mistakes. Using cryptocurrency is advantageous in numerous ways, however, you must ensure to keep your private keys safe. Note that, once a transaction is made you cannot get your money back by reversing.
It is believed that some of the early cryptocurrency holders kept so many encryption measures which made them not able to gain access to their cryptocurrency accounts.
The cryptocurrency industry is growing tremendously and in the years to come its value will go up. When it does, hackers will pay attention. This calls for cryptocurrency holders to find ways to ensure their cryptocurrency is secure.
In this post, we will list some of the ways to help you keep your cryptocurrency safe.
What is cryptocurrency?
A cryptocurrency is a form of digital money or virtual currency that is used as a medium of exchange. This digital money must be secure and unidentified always. To keep cryptocurrency secure a method known as cryptography is used which also helps in the verification of transactions. This method is also necessary to control the manufacture of fresh units of a specific cryptocurrency.
How to keep your cryptocurrency safe
1. Ensure your wallet seed is safeguarded
Cryptocurrency holders are usually faced with the challenge of losing their Bitcoin. Losing your Bitcoin can happen if you fail to keep your wallet recovery seed in a secure place. The latest wallets require a cryptocurrency holder to store their recovery seed in a safe place immediately after creating a wallet. To save it is a safe place; you need to store it in an encrypted flash drive. Ensure to confirm more than twice to make sure you don’t forget the words and the order in which your words appear.
2. Use hard-to-guess passwords
When creating a cryptocurrency account, ensure to use hard-to-guess and exceptional passwords. Avoid using same, easy-to-guess or simple passwords for all your accounts. Create a strong and unique password for each account with at least 14 characters in length. Use a mixture of numbers, upper and lower case letters and symbols. Never use a password that you already used in your other accounts.
3. Use a password manager
If you are not sure whether you have used a password previously or not and to avoid reusing a password, use a password manager such as LastPass to store your passwords. LastPass will help you create strong and unique passwords for all your accounts. It will audit all your passwords and let you know whether you have reused a password and give you a score.
4. Throw away that free anti-virus/anti-malware of yours
If you are using a free anti-virus, to be honest, you are not protected! Anti-viruses, like any other software, require frequent updates and these updates are made available by a team of experts. The team doesn’t work for free, they get paid. Meaning if your anti-virus is a free version, it won’t get updates which therefore mean no security patches are released.
In fact, it is believed these free anti-viruses are not safe as the company owning them sometimes monitor and sell users’ data so that they can pay their team of professionals. Jones Anderson, Marketing Manager at EssayGeeks.co.uk, states that: “You should not expect to get what you want from free services, but pay to get value for your money, free services are easy to obtain but come with their own drawbacks, and paid services are a pinch in our pockets but they are good when it comes to value”.
The free version of anti-virus cannot prevent your machine from being infected; they scan it when it has already been infected. Therefore use the paid/premium versions which will block any attempt to invade your machine in real-time. If you try to visit a malicious site a premium version will cut the connection.
5. Keep your machine up-to-date with the latest software version
Ensure to keep your computer updated with the latest security patches and OS since this will help to prevent latest threats from invading your system.
6. A hardware wallet is also an option
To keep your cryptocurrency safe, ensure to use an electronic gadget that is purposely used to store Bitcoin. Trezor, Nano Ledger or KeepKey are the recommended secure hardware wallets to store your Bitcoin in. Ensure your wallet is secure with a strong password and encryption.
7. To keep your cryptocurrency safe: Hard drive encryption is a must
You must encrypt your entire hard drive. This will prevent anyone using your computer from retrieving your sensitive data. If you are a Windows and Apple iOS user (especially the latest versions), it’s easier to encrypt your hard drive. For Mac users, FileVault can do you good when it comes to encrypting your hard drive. BitLocker can be helpful for Windows users.
Takeaways
There, you have it! 7 ways to keep your cryptocurrency safe and just a reminder once you transact with Bitcoin, the transaction cannot be reversed. Ensure to keep your private keys safe so that you don’t lose your money. Dealing with cryptocurrency means you have control over your money but you must be responsible. Ensure you put security measures in place that will prevent your money from theft and give you a smooth transfer of your cash.
Chris Richardson is a journalist, editor, and a blogger. He loves to write, learn new things, and meet new outgoing people. Chris is also fond of traveling, sports, and playing the guitar. Follow him on Google+.
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