N. Korean H4x0ry
Does anyone remember this article by CNN (North Korea is trying to amass a bitcoin war chest)? Like many, I shrugged it off as just some fakenews or worse (scare news). I didn't pay any attention to it because the sources are among:
- Conspiracy
- Circumstantial evidence corroborated by ... (a satirical comedy feature film)
- Kapersky (a network security firm with ties to government organizations and we just shouldn't trust them anyway)
Then this:
Now This
Recently, I came across this article North Korea Accused of Hacking South Korean Exchanges
I am immediately asking myself? Are these connected? Thus far, NiceHash has been anything but transparent after their nearly immediate press release. Of course, there's a criminal investigation going on here, so we shouldn't really be surprised. Still, what's going on? Not even the FBI is releasing any information related to this. Is the FBI involved? N. Korea would be outside their jurisdiction, right? That is a reasonable question to be asking at this point to understand just what is going on.
Am I Worried?
A little. Immediately after the Nicehash press release, Coinbase sent me an email assuring me things are great and that I should also be taking every precaution to make sure my account is secure. They used this to peddle me 2FA. Of course, I already am rocking the 2FA, but they sent it anyway. I have to wonder, is it really because of nicehash, or are they tracking (internally) their own investigation into some penetration attempts?
We are all vulnerable and exchanges are not bank accounts. Your money is not protected or secure there. Your money is most secure in one place. A wallet on your desktop.
Ledger Wallets
Make sure you're keeping your stuff safe.
Thanks to @kimjongkush for mentioning ledger wallets. Ledger Wallets are hardware wallets. They're basically fancy encrypted flash drives that contain a wallet on them. These are great because if your system crashes for whatever reason, you don't need to recover a hard drive. It's all just flash memory. You also don't need to worry if your platform supports the wallet because again...hardware. It's a good way to keep your cryptocurrency hoard safe.
If anyone wants to recommend ledger wallets for the readers, please leave a comment. I'll be sure to upvote you. Thanks.
Great stuff. But I feel stories can get played up just because its N. Korea. I'm sure they could be attempting to hack, but there is countless hackers out there doing the same.
And I totally agree you should never leave your crypto on a exchange, unless your day trading with a amount your willing to lose at any time. Besides a desktop wallet, a Ledger wallet would also be a get place to store your coins.
@kimjongkush Thanks for the insight and affirmation. That's a good point that exchanges are always under attack. Somehow adding a face to your attacker makes them scarier IMHO.
@kimjongkush Updated the article with your recommendation. Thanks for that. If you want to recommend a ledger wallet for the readers, please do. I'll leave you another upvote.