Six tips to keep your crypto wallet safe
Cryptocurrencies have long been available to everyone and are becoming increasingly popular. With the growth in popularity, the number of wallets available that can be installed on a phone or computer has grown, and we expect new hardware wallets. With this growth in the popularity of cryptocurrencies among people, the number of fraudsters who try various ways to get hold of crypto coins illegally is also increasing. One way to get scammed is when scammers ask you to send them a certain number of coins and promise to return much larger sums than what you sent. Of course, the sender gets nothing in return. So, in addition to securing your wallet, be careful not to fall for these scams that are obvious but take advantage of people's naivety.
Here we will list measures to protect your wallet and coins from theft that you wouldn't know is possible until it happens.
1. Use a safe device
First of all, make sure that your device is free of viruses and malware and that you do not have pirated software. Often, pirated software comes with additional programs that steal or change certain data. If you use a computer to store your wallet, scan it regularly with antivirus and/or antimalware software. In case you have installed the wallet on your phone, it is recommended that it is not rooted. If you don't know if your phone is rooted, then it's probably not rooted, as it requires additional actions, and you can find more about that on Google, search for "phone root" for more details. So, you must install only safe applications to your device, downloaded from official sites and application stores. Not only the wallet but also other programs you use on your device.
2. Be careful where you download your wallet
Download the wallet from the official website. For downloads from the Play Store, see who published the app information about the application, and how many reviews and downloads it has, to make sure the app is fake or official. This is also a recommendation for other programs that you will install on your device.
3. Wallet selection
The best choice is a hardware wallet, the most popular wallets are Trezor, Ledger, and SafePal. A special recommendation to use hardware wallets is if you store a large amount of crypto. We wrote about wallets, you can visit the following link for more details about crypto wallets.
4. Back up your private keys
When you create a wallet and before sending any funds to the wallet, it is recommended that you make a backup copy of your private key or "mnemonic" phrase. You can make multiple copies and store them in different places to ensure you don't lose your key in the event of, for example, a fire. That way, you'll make sure you can get your wallet back if your device breaks or if happens situation similar to this.
5. Do not share data
Do not reveal the private key to anyone. Sharing your private key is like you give the key to unlock a safe where you keep your valuable property.
6. Wallet protection
Set up additional protections that support the wallet you use. Most of the wallets that you install on your computer have the option to set a password or PIN code, and some of the protections of the wallets that you install on your mobile phone are fingerprint authentication, PIN code, or password. In this way, your wallet will have one (or more) layers of protection and it will be safer if you lose your phone or someone has unauthorized access to it. Do not keep the password or PIN code written down on the device where the wallet is installed, for example in some kind of notes or similar.