It turns out Ian Balina has been hacked. His MEW wallet addresses have been cleared out. Over $1,000,000+ was compromised in this attack.
In light of this situation, I want to URGE all of you to use BEST PRACTICES to protect yourself from this happening to you or someone you may know.
If you have not already, you NEED to do a self audit immediately.
Use my self audit guide below to find out if you are using the best practices to protect yourself from situations like this.
▪️ Are you using a cold storage to store your crypto, meaning do you own a Trezor/Ledger to store your crypto?
**If NO, buy atleast 2 of them IMMEDIATELY. Keep one as backup in case one gets stolen or lost.
▪️Is your password for all of your logins complex and greater than 32+ characters including a capital letter, lower case letter, numbers, and special characters?
If NO, make sure your passwords for your email, comptuer login, and any other important logins fit this criteria.
▪️Whenever you use your computer are you logged in on a reputable VPN service like NordVPN with CyberSec enabled?
** If NO, stop being cheap and go to www.nordvpn.com and buy a 2 year subscription to protect your internet traffic and make it encrypted.
▪️Is your computer free of viruses and malware? Are you using the latest security systems to prevent attacks like this? Do you have a realtime and automatically updated anti virus on your system?
** If NO, stop being cheap and go to www.bitdefender.com and buy a subscription to protect your computer from malicious attacks.
▪️Does your mobile phone carrier have security settings to prevent your phone from being ported etc?
** If NO or if you don't have a clue what I am talking about, call your mobile phone carrier ASAP and tell them you want to SIM lock your phone (so no one can transfer your number) and also port freeze your phone line (so no one can forward your number to another number.) Also, ask them to setup a pin to make any and all changes to your account.
▪️Are you practicing common sense?
** Don't click on links in your emails. Always double check usernames and where emails are coming from. The best thing to do is to assume that everything is an attempt to get you hacked. Seriously, even be careful on what you're clicking on when you shop or watch porn. (All jokes aside - I am being serious... It's 2018 ... You don't need to download a special file to watch your porn... it's a virus 100% of the time.)
▪️Where are you keeping your seed recovery keys for your wallet? Who knows where they are?
** Don't keep your passwords and private keys just laying around. Lock them up somewhere safe. Don't tell people where they are. Assume all posibilities on what can happen in the enviroment that you are storing it in - ie make sure that it's fire proof, water proof, etc. Make sure you are the only person that knows the pin to your cold wallets.
▪️Are you showing off your profits and portfolio to people?
** If YES, think twice about who you show it to and where you are posting it. Your closest friends can be your biggest enemies. People are snakes. There are bad people out there always plotting ways to get something out of you. Always assume that - and don't fucking post your portfolio online. You are asking to get tied up to a chair in a dark basement and tortured.
▪️Are you traveling a lot?
** If YES, be ready to protect yourself at all costs. Staying at a resort? Think twice about leaving it. Don't be stupid - there are bad people in crypto just waiting for you to access the wifi on the cafe without computer protection and a VPN enabled. If you are a lady take extra caution when traveling. Do NOT go to places that aren't well protected and public period if you are someone prevalent in this space.
▪️Are you protecting yourself from danger?
** Guns, pepper spray, baseball bats, metal rods, knuckle sandwhiches... whatever it fucking takes. Have something ready in case someone is threatening your life. Of course, be sure that whatever you do is within the statute of the law wherever you reside. Don't carry guns and weapons where you can't.... if you can get a concealed carry gun permit I highly suggest you do.
▪️Are you keeping most or more than $10,000 of your crypto on any exchanges while you are not actively trading?
** Honestly, WTF are you doing and WHY are you doing this if the answer is yes to this question. Did you not learn what happened to Mt. Gox back in the day? If the exchange gets hacked you will get fucked too. Don't get fucked - be smart. Always remember, if you don't own the private keys to the wallet, you don't own the crypto. Again, if you don't have a cold storage wallet like a Trezor or Ledger you better fucking buy atleast 2 of them this week.
Excuse my language and profanity in this post, but I am speaking to everyone reading in this manner so you guys really get what could go down if you slip up. If it offended you in anyway, I am not sorry whatsoever. Anyway, chances are I missed a couple points. Please take this shit seriously and please protect yourselves.
Thanks to elcap. io for compiling this article.