In a study, crypto investors were asked about passwords and the security of their crypto values.
Forgot your wallet password? You’re not alone in that. Time and again there are crypto investors who have forgotten their passwords. For example, the German programmer Stefan Thomas, who forgot his passwords and thus also lost access to his 7,002 bitcoins. James Howells felt the same way. In 2013 he accidentally threw away his hard drive including the private keys on it for his crypto wallets – 7,500 Bitcoin were on it. Even after years, both of them have not given up on finding their passwords again.
In a current study 1,021 crypto investors from the United States were asked about the safekeeping and security of their tokens. 26.6 percent of those surveyed preferred a password manager for storage. 18.6 percent opted for handwritten notes for their passwords. 10.3 percent opted for a screenshot. A full 6 percent shared their access with friends or family. And 4.8 percent secured their passwords by means of a mobile phone note. But only 34.8 percent of respondents use a two-factor authentication method to increase the security of their passwords. However, 61 percent said that they saw their passwords safe.
Forgetfulness in the crypto space
The frightening finding of the study: A total of 39.7 percent of the respondents stated that they had already forgotten their password. Forever lost? Fortunately not. Because 95.6 percent of crypto investors who had forgotten their passwords were able to restore them and thus regain access to their crypto values. It is also astonishing that 85.7 percent of these users used a recovery service. In other words, companies that specialize in these special services. BTC-ECHO only reported on June 27th on how a Berlin company can restore Bitcoin and Ethereum wallets. And so there is hope in Germany, too, to get back to crypto values that were believed to be lost.
In addition to the preferred way of keeping their password safe, respondents were asked whether they had ever been the victim of a scam. 32.6 percent of the study participants said that they were victims of such fraud. 92 percent of the deceived study participants saw their own crypto security strategy as the main reason.
47.7 percent were defrauded by an email, 45.2 percent by a fake website and 44.6 percent by a fake mobile app. The calculated average loss was $ 538. The greatest damage to the respondents was caused by fraudulent websites. This resulted in an average damage of 932 US dollars.
This is how you keep your coins safe
A few tips at this point: Discretion about your own commitment to crypto is a good idea. After all, why should everyone know how much Bitcoin they own or which tokens they have just bought? The security of your own computer is another essential security factor. You should also think about what happens if your own computer is stolen. Are the exchanges on which you trade trustworthy? In general, one should be skeptical once more in the crypto area. And every now and then you should keep the old adage “If something is too good to be true, then it probably is too” in the back of your mind.