Everytime we hear about a cryptowallet being hacked, or an exchange being breached, people immediately start talking about security. Already this year, the Bithumb, Coinbene, DragonEx and Binance exchanges have all been compromised. In addition, according to a recent report from CipherTrace, $356 million in cryptocurrency was stolen in Q1 2019 alone.
But, why do these exchanges wait until disaster strikes to properly secure wallets and exchanges? Why not proactively secure the blockchain ecosystem, rather than be a step behind and reactive to these kinds of attacks?
A key reason for this reactive mentality is that there’s a false perception in the industry that blockchain is the be-all end-all of technology and therefore cannot be compromised. Obviously, this isn’t the case given the hacks that have taken place this year.
However, reaction is not an option when it comes to crypto hacks. The only proper defense is to be proactive. First things first, you need to understand how the blockchain ecosystem can be compromised. The reality is, rather than the blockchain, wallet, or exchange, hackers target endpoints, which are the devices we use to manage crypto and infect them with malware. This is because it’s much simpler to hack a phone or a computer. Once you understand the root of the problem, you can protect yourself by protecting your devices.
BlockSafe recognizes this problem and has developed solutions to protect the blockchain ecosystem starting at the device level. Some of the tools we use to do this include keystroke encryption and clipboard copy protection that prevents malware from spying on what you type or what you copy and paste to your clipboard so hackers cannot steal your wallet key from right under your nose. This way even if your device gets infected with malware, criminals cannot laterally move into your wallet or access your exchange information.
With some of the world’s largest companies like Alibaba and Amazon recently entering the world of blockchain, it’s now more important than ever to focus on blockchain and crypto security. While we’re never going to completely eliminate hackers, taking proactive security measures, rather than just sitting back and waiting for the inevitable to happen, is the first and most important step in protecting yourself and your crypto.