How To Protect Your Crypto Assets From a Phishing Attack

There was a spike in phishing attacks from April to September this year with the number of branded phishing attacks targeting email users increasing. Phishing is a deceptive practice criminals use to impersonate reputable companies using fake emails, texts, or SMS. To steal their encrypted assets, they deceive users into disclosing critical information, such as crypto asset accounts and password information.

According to a recent Reuters report, around 6,000 crypto-asset users lost money in September alone due to scammers. Phishing attacks are a type of deception that is not limited to cryptocurrencies. According to data, 75% of profitable firms worldwide have encountered some form of phishing attempt, with email accounting for 96% of the attacks.

How to avoid phishing attacks has become a must-know skill for every crypto asset owner. As a result, BigONE has prepared several ways to teach investors how to protect their crypto assets, which can successfully prevent phishing attempts from succeeding.

How phishers steal user assets

Attackers can impersonate personnel of the cryptocurrency exchange using a variety of email techniques. These include using an email claiming that the user’s account had been locked, as well as another email providing a bogus URL that, when visited, grabs the user’s login information. Additionally, the emails can contain an application that allows the attacker to gather user login credentials to access people’s email accounts.

Once an attacker has obtained a user’s login details or gained access to an email account, they can steal users’ crypto assets.

How to protect yourself from phishing

The best way to protect yourself from phishing and other sorts of fraud are to be wary of emails or text messages you receive, especially if you are not expecting them. Although many cryptocurrency exchanges have taken precautions to avert future attacks, the impact has been relatively minor. However, BigONE’s ‘security verification’ feature can effectively prevent such events from occurring. When users receive unfamiliar emails or log in to strange URLs, they can use the security verification tool to confirm the sender’s information and URL to guarantee that the emails and text messages they receive are genuine, so protecting their account from loss.

In addition to the security verification feature, BigONE has also compiled some other fraud prevention techniques, which can make your account more secure:

⦁ Don’t click on links in emails, even if the sender looks familiar. Instead, bookmark the URL of a sensitive site, whether it’s your bank or your cryptocurrency exchange. In this way, when you use a bookmark link you will always know that you are visiting a real site, not a fake website designed to steal data.

⦁ Check the content of your message carefully, pay attention to obvious spelling errors which can be signs of fraud, and always be skeptical of email addresses that don’t seem to be correct.

⦁ Don’t open attachments from an unknown source. If you receive an attachment from an unknown source, opening it may infect your computer with a virus.

⦁ Use two-factor authentication (2FA). This additional layer of security adds an additional verification step, such as the code you receive via SMS or email. Many websites also use applications that generate authentication codes, such as Google Authenticator.

⦁ Use strong passwords. Whether it’s an email account, online banking, or a cryptocurrency application, the number of passwords we have to deal with can be overwhelming. However, please try to resist using the same password for multiple accounts or use easy-to-remember passwords, such as your date of birth or the names of your partner or children. You can install a password manager on your computer or register for an online service such as LastPass or Bitwarden to help you generate and remember all passwords.

⦁ Make sure your antivirus software is up to date. Criminals continue to develop new ways to attack your computer and steal your information, and it will be crucial to keep your antivirus software up to date, and to scan your computer regularly.

⦁ If you accidentally clicked on the link or became a victim of a phishing scam, please make sure to change all passwords and report the fraud you have suffered to relevant enforcement agencies, anti-fraud organizations, or cryptocurrency exchanges.

Phishing and other types of online fraud will grow increasingly common as our world gets more digital. BigONE, on the other hand, believes that if you exercise caution and use tools such as a password manager, you will not become a victim of phishing.