Basic Online Security Tips

When you’re online, you’re always vulnerable to hackers who want to steal your data, passwords and private information. This can be even more concerning when you’re using the internet to buy or use your cryptocurrency.

When you’re online, try following the below security tips to protect your valuable information:

Be Cautious When Using Public WiFi

Whenever you login in to a public Wi-Fi connection, your personal information may be stolen. Hackers can position themselves between you and the connection—meaning that instead of communicating to the Wi-Fi point, you end up sending your information to the hacker. For this reason, it is best practice to never enter your credit card details, check your cryptocurrency or share any personal information when using public Wi-Fi.

Constantly Check for Malware

Installing anti-virus software is a critical and simple measure you can take that can help protect your valuable information and reduce the risks of your cryptocurrency being compromised or stolen when online. Be sure to turn on automatic system upgrades to ensure that you’re always protected with the latest virus and malware protection available. 

Create Unique Passwords

You might be surprised at how often your personal information and passwords are hacked. Never use the same password twice, and make sure they combine a number of letters, numbers and special characters. If a hacker gets a hold of one of your accounts they are often shared with malicious parties, putting the rest of your accounts at risk. Therefore, strongly consider using an encrypted password manager.

Be Careful of Click Bait

Hackers will try to get you to click on infected or malicious links by creating sensationalised links. This vector of attack is becoming more and more common and sophisticated, with hackers cleverly pretending to be a contact that you trust (such as your bank or trusted service you’ve used) in an attempt to get you to click on a malicious link that could compromise the security of your device, and in turn your cryptocurrency. Try your best to show great caution when clicking on any links. When an email is suspicious, ensure you inspect each letter of the sender’s address.

Limit the Amount of Personal Information Available Online

It is best to limit publicly accessible personal information such as your email address, phone number and date of birth. This is especially the case with social media profiles, making sure they are private. Limiting the amount of personal information online can reduce the risk of hackers impersonating you with your service providers. If a hacker can impersonate you, they can redirect your phone number or services, potentially compromising your 2FA methods.

Make Sure Your Online Connection is Secure

Always use a secure website when entering sensitive information online. Do this by ensuring that your browser’s address bar begins with “https://” not “http://” and look for the small padlock near the address bar.

Do Not Open Unsolicited Messages

Hackers will typically send unsolicited messages through email as part of a targeting phishing scam. Ensure your email account has a spam filter.

Monitor Your Accounts for Unusual Activity

Check your accounts—such as bank accounts, social media or digital portals—for transactions you didn’t make or activity that may not be you. 

Be Careful When Downloading Software

Only download software from official or authorised source. Downloading software from unknown sources carries risks and is unnecessary.

Never Give Anyone Your Private Keys or Seed Phrase

Whilst we’ll cover this in more detail later in the course, simply put, your private keys are your passwords to your cryptocurrency. If someone gets access to them, they can access your cryptocurrency. your private keys, they can also access your cryptocurrency. NEVER give your private keys to anyone, including a trusted service. A trusted service NEVER has a reason to request your private keys. If they are, there is a good chance their security has been compromised.