A beginner’s guide to getting started with cryptocurrencies

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I am sure many of you have heard of coinbase right? Well you best listen up, because you could lose everything. Why do I say this, because I just did. Earlier today someone outside of the united states gained access to my coinbase account and gmail address, most likely by someone sim swapping my cell phone, here is an article about it, wish I had known this much earlier http: Within 20 or so minutes they had not only emptied out my account with almost all my assets I had planned to move my BTC to cold storage tomorrow, really wishing I had done it yesterday but also had triggered Coinbases violation bots by buying 4 BTC using my bank address, though the buy request got denied and they decided to cover their tracks by closing my account.

In a way it is horrifically brilliant. How did I figure all this out from a single email from coinbase saying that my account had been closed? Well in my trash folder whoever got into my email had forgotten to delete the email from coinbase saying my bank had cancelled the payment. The email with Googles warning about an unverified login, and all other coinbase emails must have been deleted already. To add insult to injury since the Coinbase account is closed I cannot and probably will never know the addresses my 7 ethereum and.

The message from Coinbases customer service is essentially "Too bad". I hope that this isn't the end of my crypto journey, but the idea that I have lost not only 6 months of meticulous and successful trading, but also most of my lifes savings, is hard to swallow, I honestly keep pinching myself hoping to wake up from this nightmare.

You never think it will happen to you If you have a coinbase account, I suggest being very vigilant and adding all the security you can, even though it didnt really do me any good. Maybe even coinbase two factor authentication 2fa using google authenticator keeps your bitcoin ether safe your stored BTC to a cold wallet If you would like to help others please help me spread the word by resteeming or promoting this post! If you would like to help me out of this dark hole, here are my new wallets, anything you can give is appreciated.

But again the message is far more important, I cannot sit by and let others get hurt the same way I did. Coinbase is really busy and has very little time to help those that get hacked. Everybody sez never leave your coin with them. I was literally going to leave coinbase tomorrow morning. I've lost it all, and all my faith in coinbase because of their reaction to me. What could they do? You lost all faith in them but in reality with the way ethereum and bitcoin are structured there are really no ways that I know of to reverse the transfers once they are completed.

So you got hacked which really sucks, but I found myself thinking about coinbase and I really don't know what they could have done about this. It is something ALL of us run risks with anywhere that we store our crypto.

I am truly sorry this happened to you. Oh, and I don't use coinbase, so I am not defending them out of any sense of loyalty. I pretty much leave my money in steem power and I sell steem and sbd and convert it to fiat to buy things as needed. I don't leave it sitting anywhere but as steem power. I am very sorry to read what you went through!. I always thought Coinbase is reliable, being so regulated. ID verification, limits on deposits, withdrawals, coinbase two factor authentication 2fa using google authenticator keeps your bitcoin ether safe on, what a nightmare!

Hope you recover soon, buddy, all the best! Did you have Google auth as a 2FA? I had Text 2fa set up this is what bit me, since my sim card got swappedmy password was only bypassed because they had access to very private information such as coinbase two factor authentication 2fa using google authenticator keeps your bitcoin ether safe social security number my password would take 3 million years to crack under brute force.

And Email confirmation as well, but all where redundant in the face of them having taken control of my number. Hm I see, you had 2 step verification - a code sent to your phone and not 2FA google Authenticator thats why i was reading that text code to phone is less secure.

BTW just read Coinbase are insured if you are in USA, but only if they are hack attacked, not losses resulting from the compromise of your individual Coinbase account: How can they have your SSN?

Do these people know you? I'm sure there is an article about that here on steemit but in any case it is a healthcare insurance provider. So, I guess your phone number was associated with your email??? I re-steemed your story yesterday. I hope more people do that and help you out. Thank you very much! Steemit has always been good to me, so I am hopeful that this post will pick up! Damn that is awful! I truly feel for you, it's why I only started using Coinbase to transfer and instantly withdraw, can't trust that exchange!

Hi sensatusI'm a journalist at Fortune writing about Coinbase hacks just like yours yours is the third I've heard about in just a couple of weeks. Hoping you can tell me a little more about what happened, even anonymously if you prefer. You can find me on Twitter jenwieczner email address in bio --thanks! Now I buy and immediately move to my wallet. Also, does anyone use Abra to buy Bitcoin? Seems like a better alternative. But I don't see it mentioned much in Bitcoin circles.

Theres a site called Localbitcoins that seems to be a much better way of purchasing BTC, If i hadnt sunk my life savings into BTC originally I would probably use them as my GO-TO, to get back in, and probably to get out aswell when the time comes. The Trezor is great. I'm sorry to hear that happened to you, it's really the wild west here and I know that Coinbase has had a four fold increase in new users since January and that the system is probably a bit overwhelmed.

But yeah, def get coins in cold storage right away next time. A decentralized exchange like Lykke where you hold a private key! There are also others like Bitsquare, but Lykke is easy to use. Quick, whats a good cold wallet to snag?! You are truly amazing, I know you've probably heard this before I believe their security is terrible. How did that happen? Can you explain a bit? I am so sorry to read such sad news, but please enlighten the others as sensatus did.

Hope for you and all the best! Hope that your sharing will bring back to you 10 fold for your losses. Yes coinbase two factor authentication 2fa using google authenticator keeps your bitcoin ether safe really crushing, you'd think life would have given me a little more used to being an adult before it up and strips it all away.

I'm sorry to hear this. It seems to be happening more and more. I posted an article yesterday relating to password security http: I hope these links are useful to you going forward. Sorry to hear about that sensatus. Been reading about a lot of complaints with them lately. Guess it's like shopping for presents on Christmas eve - lots of turmoil at the moment and the pickpockets are going to be taking advantage.

Wish I could send you something, but I'm relatively new here and don't have much more than an upvote in my account to spare. Sorry to hear that, bad karma on the way to those who did this to you. It won't take you long to recoup, you seem like a successful trader so they can't keep you down for long! I hope so, thank you for the kind words! Coinbase two factor authentication 2fa using google authenticator keeps your bitcoin ether safe hoping that I can try to get some of what I lost back and then rebuild!

And you're correct, I shouldn't let this destroy me, especially not without fighting back on my own terms. You know the risk of Crypto. But hopefully you can make it all back Hope my vote helps in some way Is there anyway to really keep your crypto safe other than cold storage? I'm running into the problem of who I can trust with my coinbase two factor authentication 2fa using google authenticator keeps your bitcoin ether safe.

What happens when you store wealth in something that computer whizses can crack and steal from? Which wallet is secure without downloading the core client? I hope you get back 10x what was taken from you. I speak blessing to you brother, keep your head up and learn this very valuable lesson. Be thankful you were not in like a million and have this happen. Learn it now to secure your funds so when you get a million you'll be just fine: Thank you for the kind words!

Yea, I think you may be on to something with cold storage and not being able to trust the established services, If I manage to recoup enough of my losses to purchase a physical wallet, I will do so in a heartbeat. Someone recommended Trezor to me. I would also recommend getting out of Bitcoin altogether and looking more towards altcoins like ethereum and steem.

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Downloading questionable or pirated software from the internet greatly increases the chance of accidentally installing viruses or malware onto your computer, which can range from harmless pop-ups to more sophisticated key-loggers, and even programs that can remotely control your computer.

Ensure you use a good anti-virus and anti-malware detection program and keep it up to date with the latest virus signatures.

Windows computers are more susceptible to viruses due to the fact that most viruses are written to target the Windows operating system.

While there are fewer viruses written for Mac OSX they do exist and it is advisable to invest in a good anti-virus program. With the recent and ongoing Vault 7 releases of NSA documents at WikiLeaks, there have been a lot of new viruses and malware popping up that are targeting un-patched operating systems. Reusing many of the same passwords online and for email severely weakens your security profile and greatly opens you up to the possibility of identity theft, cleaning out your bank accounts or your Exodus wallet.

If a hacker is able to compromise a website that you have used the same password for Exodus or your email, then it's possible to gain access to other websites that you've used the same password for. If you use a password manager, generate a unique, strong password for every website, greater than 30 characters, comprised of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters if the website allows it.

Use a hardware or software-based firewall to prevent hackers from gaining access to your home network and never connect your computer directly to the internet without using a software-based firewall. Make sure that WEP passwords are not used on your wireless router. Do not use common dictionary phrases for your wireless password, ensure that there are special characters, number and a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters.

A fork of the hacker program Reaver can break the WPS pin in several seconds and will then show your wireless network login password in clear text. Make sure that you change the administrator login to your wireless router from the default that shipped with the router, most new wireless routers will force you to change this when you first setup the router, but older routers allow for it to remain unchanged and easily guessed by an attacker. If your wireless router has an option to allow for WAN configuration, disable it, this allows for an attacker to connect to your Public IP address assigned by your Internet Service Provider and login to your wireless router.

From a security perspective, wallets can be sorted into two categories: Anyone that gains access to your computer locally or remotely stands a strong chance of stealing your assets a hacker will still need your Exodus password , especially if you export your private keys. To learn more, please read this article:. Once again, Exodus is only as safe as your computer it resides on and the security practices that you use.

Some users have laptops dedicated solely for Exodus, and they make sure to only download necessary programs or none at all. Another thing to remember is to be careful when sending your computer in for repair. We recommend either sending out your assets, or deleting the Exodus program entirely, and restoring your account after your computer has been returned. The reason we recommend this is that most people use simple passwords and repeatedly use the same passwords across multiple online accounts.

By enabling 2FA, you're preventing anyone from accessing your account unless they also have your 2FA key. We recommend you generate a password using a program versus making your own. A password generated by a computer is usually harder to guess than a password created by a human. LastPass - This app works in your browser, and can generate new passwords on the fly without much hassle. This does not prompt you for a security password, so be careful and make sure you're the only person that uses your computer.

Your Private Key is like the password for your bank account, keep it safe and never share it with third-party sources. Another genre of scam involves duplicating a known and trusted website like MyEtherWallet and hosting it on a similar URL. Then inviting users to enter their private keys into this fake site.

Never click on links from strangers, or even from sources you trust - instead bookmark the legitimate sites and only access them from your saved bookmarks. Clever scammers like to copy the entire look and feel of a legitimate site. You should also beware of Slackbot scams. If you receive a private message on a Slack channel asking for your private key or sending a link to any website, even from what looks to be a moderator or admin of the channel, do not trust it.

A moderator on the Exodus slack may ask you for your public address or screenshots of your wallet during a private discussion, but will never ask for your private key. You can safely assume that anyone directly contacting you on forums to give you too-good-to-be-true advice is a scammer.

This Fake OmiseGo site asks for your private key even though it says it's safe. Here's a person talking about a fake MyEtherWallet site that almost tricked him into giving up his Private Key. There have been numerous reports of crypto users getting scammed from fake accounts on Social Media which appear to be a famous personality or company.

The basic rule to keep in mind is: No one will ever give you free money! Ever seen anyone getting rich by paying the so-called 'bank charges'? Money once sent on the blockchain cannot be reversed by anyone - code is law in crypto-land. Hence, think very carefully before sending your cryptocurrency to anyone. Here are some examples: If you do export them, then Exodus will create a desktop file with your private key.

This is why it's prudent to permanently delete the private key file from your desktop after use. If you need it again, Exodus can just generate another copy, but again, make sure to delete the file permanently. What are Private Keys?

Here's a couple of videos that help explain why they are so important:. Safety and Security Tips It's an unfortunate reality of this modern crypto world, that there are people out there who will stop at nothing to steal your crypto assets or scam their way into your wallet.

We've compiled this list of tips to protect yourself and greatly reduce the chance of becoming a victim of theft or scams. The vulnerability is called the Krack Attack and more information can be found here: Security Best Practices The most important thing to remember about Exodus is this: Exodus is only as safe as the computer it resides on and the security practices you follow. Firewalls and Wi-fi Use a hardware or software-based firewall to prevent hackers from gaining access to your home network and never connect your computer directly to the internet without using a software-based firewall.

Security is only as strong as its weakest link! Holding Large Amounts of Assets in Exodus Only you can decide the amount of funds you are comfortable keeping inside any desktop wallet From a security perspective, wallets can be sorted into two categories: To learn more, please read this article: Here's a video on how to use Google Authenticator: And here's how to enable 2FA with the 7 top popular email platforms: There are many programs that can keep your passwords, but we recommend the following: Check out this video about creating strong passwords: Scam Sites Stay away from sites that ask for your Private Key.

Here's a couple of videos that help explain why they are so important: Last updated on April 1,