When it comes to the market of cryptocurrencies, most people are interested in finding out more about predictions and tips for trading. However, it is essential to keep in mind that safety should always be in the first place when you are investing or selling these digital assets. Issues related to this market are not so rare since people faced various scams like phishing, fake coins, and hacker attacks.
You should always find more details about the online exchange before you start spending your money or choosing it to convert your crypto. Also, how you keep your digital assets can affect their safety as well. There are two options available, online platforms and cold wallets.
The first one might seem more convenient since you will keep your funds on some platform, and it will be easier to trade or convert. However, it is also a much more dangerous option due to the risks of hacker attacks and other problems. Therefore, the best solution is to use the hardware crypto wallet and keep it offline.
The great thing is that developers are introducing new and advanced versions of hardware wallets that have improved layers of security. There is a great comparison between popular models of cold wallets Trezor Model T vs Trezor One that you can find here. In this article, we are going to analyze more about the safety of hardware wallets and whether there is a chance for them to get hacked.
Main Advantages of Hardware Wallets
We already mentioned that this is a much safer solution when compared to keeping your funds on some online platform. The key is to keep your digital wallet online and only use it when you want to trade or make a conversion. The selection of the online crypto exchange is also very important. On the other hand, there were cases where even some of the best exchanges in the world faced serious cyber-attacks that resulted in losing millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrencies.
The essential detail related to cold wallets is that you will keep your funds offline most of the time. The problem with online platforms is that you will keep all data on the same server, and that also includes passwords and private keys. The situation with hardware is quite different. You will need to keep your codes or remember them and type them each time when you want to use the cold wallet. It can be annoying, but that is the only way to keep your crypto safe.
Is There a Way To Hack the Hardware Wallet?
Even though it represents a much safer option for keeping your digital funds, keep in mind that there are still some ways to face problems. For example, it will be nearly impossible for someone else to open your wallet in case they stole it from you.
However, there is a chance to do that with processes known as power glitch and side-channel attacks. These are very complex processes where hackers are trying to break the security layers and figure out the secret code. Luckily, developers are introducing new models that can deal with these attacks.
The most common approach that hackers are using is to interrupt the platform that you are using at the moment when you want to make a transaction. They can do that by sending malicious files to your device or leading you to visit a fake platform.
The phishing attacks are the biggest issue. It works in a way where scammers will create a platform that has a name similar to some popular crypto exchange. It might even have the same design and features presented on the main page. In this case, it does not matter how good your hardware wallet is since you will provide them with sensitive data that they can use to steal your funds.
Therefore, you don’t need to worry while your digital wallet is offline, but visiting an unknown website can lead to issues. When you are making a transaction, you will leave visible traces of your wallet, and they will use it to create additional transactions and empty your wallet.
Best Ways To Keep Your Crypto Safe
As you can see, there is a chance to face issues even with the best model of cold wallet on the market. The biggest problem is when you connect it to some online platform. In that matter, the best solution is to keep it offline all the time.
On the other side, that won’t be possible if you want to trade more often. If you are not sure whether the online platform is safe, one of the best options is to use multiple wallets. For example, one where you will keep most of your funds, and that one should always be offline. Besides that, you can use additional wallets where you can transfer smaller amounts of crypto to test some exchange.
Moreover, don’t rush with your selection of online platforms. As we already mentioned, hackers can create nearly the same website. The difference can be spotted in the link or some details, and you should pay more attention to that as well.
Avoid visiting any sort of unknown links and pages that are leading to another page since there is a chance that it will implement viruses on your device. Once you connect you wallet to it, they will be able to steal your data and get an access to your wallet.
Last Words
There are some processes that hackers can use to break the security of your cold wallet. However, that is very difficult with the most recent models. On the other side, the biggest issue is related to fake online platforms that hackers are using to steal data. Once you link your digital wallet with such website, hackers will steal all data related to your wallet, and remove all of your crypto from it.
The best solution is to always research the website before creating a profile there and making a transaction. Also, having multiple wallets at once is a great way to keep most of them untouchable all the time.