Anyone who does request such information should be considered malicious.įor users or investors, the risk of losing one’s bitcoin to a personal hack is far lower than forgetting or losing one’s own password or recovery phrase. No legitimate service in the Bitcoin industry will ask for your password or seed phrase at any time. For example, an attacker might call, email, or direct message a victim pretending to be an employee of their wallet provider and convince the victim to divulge their password or seed phrase. A social engineering attack focuses on convincing a victim to willingly divulge information to the hacker, which can then be used to steal their bitcoin. Social Attacks on Bitcoin UsersĪnother way users can lose bitcoin is through social engineering attacks. Thanks to industry standards such as mnemonic recovery phrases, also called seed phrases, Bitcoin users can keep track of an infinite number of keys with a single set of 12-24 words. For this reason, keeping backups of your private keys is vital. At the same time, if you lose access to your private keys, you will be unable to spend your bitcoin. Anyone who can access your private keys can spend your bitcoin. Instead, your wallet holds the private keys that control your bitcoin. When you use a Bitcoin wallet, your bitcoin are not stored directly in the wallet. The most common way for Bitcoin users to lose their bitcoin is not through a hack, but through simple human error and forgetfulness. In the case of Bitcoin, this can result in total and irreversible loss of user funds. They do so not through any vulnerability of Bitcoin itself, but through traditional hacking and other fraudulent methods. Malicious actors can also take advantage of users in order to steal their bitcoin. Individual users are prone to mistakes that can cost them their bitcoin due to negligence or forgetfulness. ➤ Learn more about the security of the Bitcoin network. If you are interested in the security of Bitcoin as a system, you can read our article on the topic using the link below.
This article will focus on the security of individuals and their bitcoin, rather than the broader security of the network. With this in mind, the blockchain database has never been hacked.
"The Bitcoin blockchain database has never been hacked."īitcoin is both a blockchain database and a network of computers which communicate to build and update the database. ➤ Explore more in Bitcoin Markets and Price More ▼ Less ▲ Bitcoin and the Stock-to-Flow (S2F) Model.How Much of the World's Money Is in Bitcoin?.How Do Macroeconomic Events Affect Bitcoin?.The History of Monetary Collapse in Zimbabwe.➤ Explore more in Bitcoin Basics More ▼ Less ▲ How Much Bitcoin Does the Government Have?.Can Bitcoin's Hard Cap of 21 Million Be Changed?.