In recent years, if there is one market that has continuously risen in value since its start, it is the cryptocurrency market. While there are many more cryptocurrencies in issue right now, the most important one is bitcoin which forms an integral part of the crypto world.
Bitcoin didn’t start out with a mighty value. It started with a value of a few cents in 2009 but just earlier in 2024 it hit a value of $60k per bitcoin. Those who believed in bitcoin from the start and invested in it at its early stages are bitcoin billionaires now.
Inspired by their success, thousands of people have invested in Bitcoin in hopes that they too will get amazing returns on their investments. If you too want to be a part of these investors, you can click here to get started on your bitcoin journey.
However, an increasing number of investors joining the bitcoin world has brought an equally increasing number of problems with it. The most major of these problems has been online thefts. There have been countless thefts in the bitcoin world and almost $4 billion worth of bitcoins have been stolen by malicious hackers from their rightful crypto owners.
No one would want this to happen, especially when they have large amounts of bitcoins in their wallet. That is why in this article we’ll be listing several tips that will help you protect your bitcoins from the hands of hackers and thieves. Read the article to the end so you don’t end up missing out on crucial details.
1. Use unique email IDs and passwords for your wallets
Using a single bitcoin exchange for trading and investing is a bad idea for multiple reasons. First of all, you are putting excessive amounts of bitcoins in a single account. This leaves it vulnerable to hacking and theft in case someone finds out about it. Secondly, using just a single account doesn’t leave you with a backup that you can use in case your account gets hacked.
That’s why it is a good idea to open multiple accounts on multiple exchanges and keep a minimal amount on them which should only be used for trading and investing. It’s crucial that you open a separate email account for all your bitcoin accounts and put different passwords on both your email id as well as the account. You can write these passwords down and keep the note safe with you in a secure place.
If you put the same password for every account and even use the same email id for everything, then all a hacker needs to do is find out the one password you use along with your email id and then they have instant access to all your bitcoin accounts. However, if you have different passwords, even if one of your accounts gets compromised you still have the assurance that your other accounts are safe.
2. Opt for hot wallets instead of cold ones
Many new Bitcoin investors don’t know that there are actually two types of wallets that you can choose from – hot and cold. Hot wallets are nothing but wallets that are connected to the internet one way or the other and provide better ease of access when accessing your bitcoins. On the other hand, cold wallets are wallets that aren’t connected to the internet all the time but can either act as keys or connectable devices when you need to access your wallet.
The reason cold wallets are better and more secure than hot ones is that they aren’t based on the internet. Due to this, they are safe from thefts that can happen online with hot wallets. Having a cold wallet means the access to your bitcoin account is only safe with you and cannot be accessed by anyone else.
3. Ensure that your device is malware and virus-free
One of the most common tricks hackers use to access someone’s bitcoin account is to install malware and trojan viruses in an individual’s system. The virus may seem inconspicuous and oftentimes doesn’t affect your system in any way. However, with the malware installed, a hacker gets unlimited access to your system.
They can not only see what you are seeing on your system, but they can use it with remote control as well. This way many hackers have found out the private keys and public keys of individuals and gained instant access to their accounts. If you want to avoid this happening, invest in good antivirus software and don’t download anything that looks shady and suspicious.
4. Don’t connect to unsecured networks or use public systems
It just so happens that we need to access our bitcoin wallet urgently for a transaction but we are well outside the WiFi reach of our home and our phone doesn’t seem to have any network connectivity. The most obvious thought, then, would be to access a public WiFi network just temporarily and use it to access the bitcoin wallet on your laptop or phone.
However, we strongly advise against doing so and there is a solid reason for that – these networks can be easily monitored by hackers who are waiting for a susceptible prey to open their account using the network. You’d be surprised to know how much information can be gained using an unsecured network and how viruses can be easily installed with them.
5. Enable 2FA on a distinct SIM card
Many people are familiar with the 2-factor authorization method which makes your bitcoin very secure and hard to access without your permission. What they aren’t familiar with, is that even the 2FA can be easily compromised if the hacker has access to the email or phone number you are using for verification.
Thus, if you do plan on using 2FA to secure your bitcoin wallet, which you definitely should, then you should consider using a separate SIM card for it and not the one you use personally or for business purposes.
Conclusion
There are several ways through which you can protect your bitcoins from online theft. We hope this article helped you realize some of them and if it did, please consider following our website for regular updates as it will help us out immensely.
