As in yesterday's post, I wrote about crypto theft from my MetaMask wallet, now after more than 24 hours, I am feeling a bit normal. When you accumulate little by giving your time and hard work and you come to know that suddenly your hard work has been wasted, then it is natural to feel sad.
The last 24 hours passed with only one question where did I go wrong so I had to suffer so much loss. To know the answers to my questions, I searched on YouTube whether this also has happened to others and how? Probably I have found the answer to my questions while watching a video.
In the video, he was said to have downloaded the file from an unknown source and then had crypto stolen from his Metamask wallet. Just hearing this suddenly I remembered that I had given my laptop to my son for some time and he had downloaded some files but it had a virus and he deleted it. Before giving the laptop to my son, I had copied and pasted the seed phrase of Metamask, which may have been saved in the cursor. Just by combining these two mistakes, my wallet was compromised and my crypto was stolen. After much thought, I came to the same conclusion that there is no other reason other than that due to which my wallet got hacked.
Although this mistake seems very small, it is a vivid example of how sometimes we can have to pay a heavy price for small mistakes.
What has happened now cannot be reversed but at the cost of this loss, I have learned some lessons which I want to share with you so that you should be careful and avoid these mistakes.
- If you are dealing with crypto, never share your PC with anybody not even with any family member. (Specially not with kids)
- Never copy-paste seed phrases, instead type them manually. It is time-consuming to type them manually but far safer than a simple copy and paste job.
- Never store seed phrases online. Writing down seed phrases on paper is the best way to secure your wallet.
- Never download any file from an unauthorized site and it should be strictly followed when you are dealing with crypto.
- Never use public wifi.
- Format your system if you found any virus or Trojan attack on your system.
- Always use good antivirus in the system.
- Always be careful while connecting your wallet to any dapps as connecting to fake sites/dapps may cause a loss of your funds. Use only bookmarked sites.
- If possible always use a hardware wallet as it is more secure than compared to an online wallet.
- Always use more than one wallet. One for regular trade and another for long term investment.
- It is better to lock your asset if your investment view is long term.
Last but not the least
- Never invest your life-saving in crypto which you can not afford to lose.
The rules must be followed strictly irrespective of the size of investment in crypto. Generally, we become care less if we have small investments but it should be remembered that if your small portfolio is secure then only there are chances to grow in the future.
Let us share your experiences here if you have any regarding securing your crypto wallet.
