Staying ahead of cybercriminals is a game of cat and mouse for both individuals and businesses; with so much money at risk, cybercriminals are continually raising their game and the sophistication of their attacks. This explains why, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), cybersecurity attacks in 2021 have already eclipsed the entire amount for 2020, making 2021 a record year.
The good news is that individuals are becoming more conscious of the importance of self-protection. According to a recent survey conducted by The Pearson Institute and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, “roughly 9 in 10 Americans are at least somewhat concerned about hacking involving their personal information, financial institutions, government agencies, or certain utilities.” Approximately two-thirds are very or extremely concerned.”
Previously, the belief that attacks would always happen to someone else explained the increase in threats. The necessity of protecting our digital identities and personal information cannot be overstated, and this is equally true for blockchain users.
Unfortunately, headlines showing crypto attacks have become routine, with a range of hacks targeting digital exchanges and the blockchains themselves, which claim security as one of its major foundations.
DEX Security Is Questionable
DEXs are important tools in the cryptocurrency ecosystem since they allow users to buy, hold, exchange, and sell their holdings. However, with an increasing number of crypto attacks on digital exchanges, their security measures are unclear.
One of the most famous breaches that made the mainstream press was that of the Poly Network, a leading DeFi platform, where over $600 million was first taken before, in an unusual turn of events, the hacker restored almost half of the money before returning nearly the entire amount. Why did he give back the money? That’s because, even if you can take the funds, the blockchain is so transparent that it’s extremely difficult to pay them out later, especially at this level.
Other Momentous Crypto Hacks
- BitGrail: In 2018, $146 million was stolen from this Italian exchange, resulting in around 230,000 BitGrail account holders losing money.
- KuCoin: In 2020, this well-known DEX was hacked for $281 million. Fortunately, the Seychelles-based company was able to recover the majority of the funds.
- MtGox: One of the most well-publicized hacks was that of this Japanese exchange in 2014 when $450 million in primarily Bitcoin was lost, causing the exchange to collapse and all users to lose their money.
- Coincheck: In 2018, $534 million was stolen from another Japanese exchange, and consumers’ funds were eventually restored.
- Poly Network: As previously stated, this Chinese network lost $610 million, with the hacker eventually repaying the funds.
Crypto security, like cybersecurity, is becoming a critical emphasis of the industry as it expands and evolves. Among the most notable players in this field are:
Avarta
Avarta specializes in user authentication and identity for internet and blockchain-based apps. Avarta offers a 4-in-1 solution in which a user’s face serves as his private key across multiple blockchains.
This product’s key characteristics are as follows:
- A wallet that operates across blockchains and is protected by the user’s face.
- An anti-bot framework for public DEX listings.
- A multi-signature wallet for businesses
Decentralized identity management across many chains is based on a risk-based scoring mechanism with military-grade authentication.
The wallet allows users to control all of their private keys with their faces, which means they can keep all of their keys in one wallet with no passwords or seed phrases required.
Avarta is an advanced security-enabled identity wallet that enables consumers to control their private keys easily. With Avarta’s multi-chain functionality, cryptocurrency users may combine all of their cryptographic keys in a single wallet, eliminating the need for passwords, seed phrases, and writing down the keys in a safe (or not-so-safe) area using a mix of biometrics and data from the device.
ByBit Exchange
This exchange, on the other hand, has been voted the most secure conscious exchange. It spends almost a quarter of its budget on infrastructure security and protection. Bybit, which debuted in March 2018, has established a professional platform for cryptocurrency traders, complete with an ultra-fast matching engine and, unusually for this market, dedicated customer service and multilingual community support. Aside from online trading, the exchange provides API support for both retail and institutional traders.
In terms of its security focus, Bybit’s Head of Communications stated, “We strive hard to uphold our vow of transparency and reliability to the crypto lovers that come to Bybit.” We spend around a quarter of our budget on security to protect our infrastructure, which is nearly double the industry average.
We are always fine-tuning our platform processes to optimize for security and customer experience in order to present our clients with the next level of trading. Crypto and Bybit are never down. We will continue to reinvent the market by integrating the best of cryptocurrencies and traditional finance to provide our traders with an unparalleled trading experience and price transparency.”
Summary
So, what can we take away from the unprecedented number of cryptocurrency hacks? The most essential thing to remember is that it does happen and that it may happen to you. Second, examine how focused on security and identity protection any blockchain product or platform you are using. We are becoming more aware of the dangers of hacking and identity fraud on the internet; now, it is time to become more aware of the genuine concerns on the blockchain.
