An increasing number of individuals are putting their money into cryptocurrencies and NFTs—the good kind of trouble that will result in a collective societal push towards an almost certainly fully decentralized Web 3.0 with air-tight information security. But for the average person, all these digital dangers can make it tough to feel secure when you’ve invested so much of your hard-earned money (as the gangster Dutch Schultz once said while burying money he obtained illegally underneath the floorboards of an apartment, “I wrapped it in fancy paper to make it look beautiful” before elevating the home’s security by adding a safe deposit box.
The importance of protecting digital assets
Even though digital assets like cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are theoretically secure, they are, in fact, quite vulnerable to a range of digital threats and theft attempts. People need to learn the varied and nuanced ways in which their crypto and NFT holdings can be lost, lest the loss become a not-too-distant reality.
For instance, $3.8 billion worth of cryptocurrencies was stolen in 2021 across the whole of the digital space, a sum that represented a 15% increase over the previous year’s figures, meaning the theft is still on the rise. On average, this works out to around 0.71% of market capitalization, but the number might be higher for the real crypto space. Why is this happening, one might ask? To make a very long story short: The gold rush is on.
Use hardware wallets for offline storage
To begin, use a hardware wallet for secure, offline storage. This method is often referred to as “cold storage.” With it, you can move your digital assets to a “completely secure hard drive or other storage device” that’s not directly connected to the internet. This makes it impossible for hackers or other digital criminals to access the “digital valuables” you’ve stashed away.
That said, using a better safe than sorry approach will help. Remember that if you ever want to access that really long-gone version of your trusty ole’ hardware wallet, you’re going to want to use a really long-gone version of the internet, too. After all, while your grandpa may not have a drawer full of lost iPhones to whip out for show-and-tell, he does, more than likely, have a lost drawer or forgotten folder of NFTs to brag about during the next holiday get-together. Do not let history repeat itself!
Leverage air-gapped systems and devices
Another option is to use systems and tools that are completely isolated from the network. This could be anything from a USB drive, a CD or DVD, to a completely different computer that is never connected to the internet. The idea here is that if you don’t allow your critical information to touch the network, then it is much less likely to be compromised. This may not always be the most practical solution, but in some instances (especially for truly secure corporate environments) it is the best one and the one most likely to actually work.
Utilize multi-factor authentication for your accounts
Using multiple forms of identity verification is the most important security step you can take to protect your online accounts and digital assets. It’s an easy way to add an extra layer of protection and, more importantly, MFA is very effective. But how do you get started? How can you change your regular old password-and-username setup to a more secure one that’s based on multiple forms of identity?
For instance, you could demand a user provides a password and the right response to a security question. You could also couple a thumbprint with a laughably incorrect second factor, like entering “password” as the response to a security question. Or I could give you a good password (“aloe$0x3a”) and then make you say the right thing into your device’s microphone and take footage of your face as the third factor.
For added digital security, you should require a digital signature instead of a simple electronic signature when accepting important documents or purchasing digital products. Digital signatures are much more secure than either electronic signatures or basic e-signatures. Digital signatures employ public key cryptography and a certificate authority, which is useful for much more than just digital goods; they also help maintain trust and security for a whole range of online transactions.
Regardless of the case, the MFA enhances digital security by mandating any potential thieves to breach a variety of security levels that are consistent with multiple security layers.
Update your passwords regularly
Certainly, passwords can be very effective in making sure your digital assets are secure. But they have to be updated frequently. Don’t use the same password on more than one account and certainly don’t use the same password for multiple accounts. That can give a cybercriminal simultaneous access to all of your data.
Oh, and by the way, strong passwords are a must. You’re probably aware of the basics of strong versus weak passwords, but let’s just go over it anyway.
Learn how to spot and avoid phishing attempts
Phishing is a way for online scammers to pretend they are someone else for the express purpose of getting you to hand over key information—such as your password or a code used for encryption. It can be hard to tell a phishing scam from the real thing, but a few simple steps can help.
- Rule number one, never click on a link in an email you weren’t expecting. Instead, go straight to the website you think the email might be legitimately from and take care of whatever business you have with them there.
- Rule number two: keep your device’s operating system and all the apps you use regularly up to date.
Many security patches get pushed out to these things regularly, so take a second to install them when you’re prompted. And finally, be vigilant.
Invest in SSL certificates
Obtaining an SSL certificate is a simple way to ramp up the security of your digital assets and your website. With an SSL certificate, you can encrypt the traffic that goes to and from your site. This means that it is significantly harder for any bad actors to get their hands on the information they’re not supposed to have.
Using an SSL certificate is especially important if you conduct any kind of business online because many visitors or potential customers will look for that little padlock in the top left corner of their browser next to the website address before sharing any sensitive information.
Use premium DNS services
Turning human-readable domain names and web addresses into IP addresses just requires a few elementary steps for a fundamental understanding, such as the example that follows: our domain name, namecheap.com, gets translated into the IP address that computers and networks use when they want to request information from our domain name – say, to load a webpage. Afterward, when the request is completed and they’ve got their answer, they translate the IP address back into our domain name to achieve easy human understanding.
When you don’t use secure DNS hosting, your digital assets can be compromised. By paying a little more for your web hosting, you can leverage a premium, highly secure DNS service like Namecheap and ensure that your domain name is not going to be intercepted halfway through making its journey to our servers.
Keep all of your digital assets safe
It’s ultimately your responsibility to protect your digital assets and keep them safe for the long term. But you don’t have to tough it out alone. Namecheap can make it very simple for you to buy either an SSL certificate or a domain name … or both.
Using our Premium DNS offerings is simple. We can and will help you to shore up your online operations so that they’re much less vulnerable to any kind of digital threat.
