Not Just Ransomware, Bitcoin Wallets Could Make You Lose Money Too!

In simple parlance, Bitcoins are digital currency. According to BitCoinsSimplified:

A “wallet” is basically the Bitcoin equivalent of a bank account. It allows you to receive bitcoins, store them, and then send them to others. There are two main types of wallets.

Needless to say, this makes it irresistibly attractive to digital mischief makers. No wonder a lot of users are terrified that their bitcoin wallets aren’t secure anymore. Recently, Forbes reported that there are approx. 150 different kinds of bitcoin associated malware out there. Hackers, all around the globe are devoting their best possible efforts to strategically steal your bitcoin credentials. They have created viruses and malware that will automatically discover your private keys and transfer your money into their own wallets.

Today however, the most prevalent malware families are targeting bitcoins as a revenue stream. So if you think that malicious software cannot be attached to bitcoin wallet then you might be wrong. While the transactions themselves may be secure, your Bitcoins are only as safe as the wallet they’re kept in. Just like traditional currency, they can be stolen-although the process is a little more technology-oriented than getting mugged.

How Bitcoin Wallets Are Targeted?

Bitcoins are stored in a digital wallet, which can exist either in the cloud or on a user’s computer. The most common and effective types of malware are the wallet-stealers. Digital thieves extract the user’s key from the wallet and transfer the funds to a different wallet under their control. And since Bitcoin transactions are irreversible, once the money’s gone there’s nothing you can do. There’s no bank to back you, no insurance, no legal enforcement nothing!

How to secure your bitcoin wallet from malware attack?

If you want to continue to use Bitcoin, we have some quick tips for avoiding malicious Bitcoin malware and keeping your Bitcoin wallet safe from hackers.

• Split your Digi-wallet 
  They say “Don’t put all your eggs in the same basket”. The same applies to Bitcoins. Don’t put all of them in one wallet. Researchers have advised that this is the safest thing that you can do to protect your bitcoin wallet. So try and split your bitcoin holdings into numerous smaller amounts.
• Don’t trust the antimalware software blindly
  As persistence is one common trait of hackers, they achieve whatever they desire at length. To be frank, there is no anti-virus software that powerful which could possibly secure you from potential malware attacks.
• Think before you Accept:
  Do not install applications or browser extensions on your computer from non-trusted sources, especially pirated applications or random download sites which offer Microsoft Windows application downloads. Always download all Windows software from the webpage of the software author.

• Go Offline. Switch to Paper:
  To stay ahead of the vicious schemes of hackers, don’t leave a single trace behind. Backup all your data on offline hard drives to keep it secure from reach of hackers. Keep most of your Bitcoin holdings on a separate device not connected to Internet. No matter how traditional it sounds, switch to paper to store all your bitcoin stash.

• Keep your software up-to-date: 
  Nearly every vulnerability widely exploited by cyber criminals has already been patched by the software manufacturers. Always keep your software up to date to safeguard your system against malware attacks.

The bottom Line

If bitcoin attacks will keep evolving like this, web security companies will scramble to deploy more countermeasures for users. To date, there is no foolproof solution to protect bitcoin-stealing malware from swapping out bitcoin addresses on computers and smartphones. So all we can do is follow these tips to secure our digital privacy and be safe from cyber invaders.