How to secure your account at a broker/exchange?

Many criminals want your cryptocurrency and you should not make it too easy for them to access your account(s). With a cryptocurrency broker or exchange you are always depending on the security of the company itself. There is always a chance that a broker or exchange will be hacked. Binance was hacked once, but so were BitHumb and DragonEx. In that case, there is not much you can do about it as a user. But the security tips below will make it very difficult for criminals to enter your account.

Security steps for your account

A good security starts with yourself. By taking the following actions, you make it more difficult for criminals to steal funds from your account. In general, criminals only catch easy preys.

• Rule 1 is to keep as much cryptocurrency as possible under your own control. Only leave crypto with an exchange, with which you are actually going to trade. You should store long-term investments on a hardware wallet, like the Nano Ledger X.
• Use a strong and unique password. Use at least 14 characters and also use numbers, symbols and capital letters. Make sure you don’t use the password for anything else.
• Always enable 2 factor authentication. All brokers and exchanges support this functionality. Use 2 factor authentication via the Google Authenticator app (or another variant). 2 factor authentication via SMS or e-mail is not recommended.
• Use a unique email address for each account you register. Gmail makes this incredibly easy. By adding points (.) or a plus (+) you can create a unique email address. These are all the same addresses and can be managed from 1 account:
  • exampleemailaddress@gmail.com
  • example.emailaddress@gmail.com
  • ex.ampleemailaddress@gmail.com
  • exampleemail.address@gmail.com
• Another way to make your address unique is by adding a plus. exampleemailaddress+BitvavoExchange@gmail.com goes to the same inbox. These methods ensure that the hacker has to make an effort to guess your username.
• Add an anti-phishing code and only trust messages with this code. Never log in using a button in an e-mail message.
• Save all brokers and exchanges in your favorites. Never use a search engine to go to the broker or exchange.

These tips will help you make it a lot harder for criminals to take over your account. Criminals are getting smarter and come up with new tricks to steal your assets. So, be careful.