The wider world · 83 / 86 · 2 min
Security habits
The habits are boring, which is why they work. Bookmark the real site. Split the wallets. Never put the seed in a chat.
The habits are boring, which is why they work.
A worked case
A search ad sits above the real exchange. The person clicks the ad because it is first. The site asks for the seed. A bookmark they made last month would have skipped the ad. The habit was the whole tool.
A short list
- Open exchanges and wallets from bookmarks you made, not from search ads.
- Spending wallet and savings wallet are different.
- The seed is on paper, not in a screenshot.
- Updates come from the vendor you already use, not from a DM.
- A prize is not a reason to connect a wallet.
The check, applied to yourself
Who gets paid if you click this. Usually the attacker. Who can change the rules. The site you have never used. Who can take the money. The approval you are about to sign.
The bookmark would have skipped the ad
The losses that repeat are boring, which is why the habits are boring. Search ads sit above the real exchange. The Twitter hack put a real badge on a fake ask. The Ledger leak put your name on a phisher's list. A seed in a screenshot backs up the wallet to whoever gets the cloud account. A prize mint asks you to connect the wallet that holds the savings. None of these require a new kind of genius. They require you to be slightly hurried.
The habits are a list you can actually keep: open venues from bookmarks you made, not from ads. Keep spending money and savings in different wallets. Put the seed on paper, not in a photo. Take updates from the vendor you already use. Treat a prize as a reason to close a tab. Hardware wallets help with one line of that list and none of the others if you confirm a bad prompt.
Write the list down once. The cases on this site are what the list looks like when it is skipped.
Read it yourself
These links are the record. They are not a recommendation, and they are not instructions. A news story or a court paper can still be wrong about a detail. The check does not change because a famous name is in the story.
Apply the check
Open a question. The line is about this topic. It is not a verdict that anything is safe.
The ad, if you click it.
You, if you keep the two wallets apart and the seed offline.
A seed in a chat, or a connection you did not mean to make.
Check yourself
Where should the seed phrase live?
Offline, written down, not in a chat, a photo, or a cloud note.
After this you can keep the seed offline and open financial sites from your own bookmarks.