When it comes to bitcoin and its safety, many analysts and blockchain tech learners raised this question. Whether it would be safe to keep your money in the digital format or is it just a rising trend that would subside with time? All these assumptions proved to be nullified later when the people started transacting the currency for daily transactions among their peers and mates. The daily use built a level of trust among its users. Which later propelled the creation of centralized, decentralized, and hybrid exchanges known as CEX (Centralized Exchange), DEX (decentralized exchange), and HEX (Hybrid Exchange).
All such exchanges coupled with blockchain technology improvement made things easier for traders and novices to reap the benefits and accumulate profits out of trading. While keeping funds in a certain exchange or a wallet there were higher chances of it being stolen or taken away by cyber hackers and scammers. For people unaware of what private keys are and their importance associated with your funds stored in the form of crypto, it is better to have conceptual clearance on this aspect. There is still a lot to do for raising customer awareness about the protection of their data, funds, and wallets. In short, where there is money and its cashflows, there are severe chances of it being stolen and taken away.
There are certain exchanges that provide timely guidance and sessions such as Binance, Okex, Kucoin, and Bitflex that support their users and traders to have safety standards maintained while making any trade and transactions. You can learn all of this, but we need to ascertain that is it possible to hack bitcoin and if so then there would there be enough chances for the hackers to continue their attack and bypass the entire system or chain. To answer this let us see what blockchain is and how a hacking attempt in crypto works.
Ruling Out the Possibilities
We are all aware that a blockchain is a group or chain of combined computers or nodes that are chained and linked together. Being tightly stitched together, there are more chances for it to be more controlled when it comes to sharing and manipulating data.
All transactions that take place are recorded in blocks while the new ones are always added to the chain. All created blocks cannot be manipulated or altered and therefore represent an open ledger for the public to see. If someone decides to try altering or adding a fake transaction in any of the blocks, all the remaining nodes would not validate it and hence the difficulty of manipulating it and altering is not possible at all.
The 51% Attack
Previously after Bitcoin and its blockchain were discussed there were less and lesser chances for it to be hacked or altered. But recently due to the growing momentum of blockchain technology and new projects coming each day, the chances of 51% attacks are possible. Not in Bitcoin or Ethereum’s blockchain but in those with a lesser number of blocks and a smaller blockchain. The problem with a small blockchain is the possibility of it being attacked with less difficulty level or recently launched blockchain.
The attacks are maximum on such blockchains as there would be less time and power required to hack the 51% of systems in the chain. Therefore, to secure any blockchain there should be many blockchains to banish hacking attempts and attacks.
The other reasons could be some creation errors that can jeopardize the blockchain and its data making it more vulnerable. The bigger the blockchain is with the complex nature of an attack the more difficult it gets to resolve it and make it safe again.
Is It Possible to Hack Bitcoin Private Key?
Although it takes an extreme plan to overrule and attack the 51% of the blockchain, there are still some loopholes to steal the private keys attached to your digital assets aka crypto. Hackers have been attempting to steal away private keys that are solely in your custody. How this happens, let us see that. When you create a certain asset, you are given a private key to secure your funds.
As per the rules, the safest method to store your unique private key is by writing it down somewhere and not placing it in your system or smartphone. As once forgotten, you would not be able to retrieve it back, so a proper and secure method is necessary to keep your funds secure. Any device that has an application and connects to the internet is vulnerable, therefore keeping your private key in your smartphone or system is unsafe. At times, many crypto exchanges were hacked and faced losses on part of the private keys of users being stolen by hackers and money flowing out. Such attempts are rare but put the funds in unsafe hands and completely wiped away.
How to Stay Safe?
Always try to keep your private key for your digital wallet be kept in a cold wallet also known as a piece of paper and make sure to keep it safe. Do not share your key with anyone unless you do not trust them. In case you want to keep it secure in the USB thumb drive, with certain encryption, you can do so, although there are chances for it to be degraded with time. Before the degradation starts occurring, try to transfer it to another USB and not plug it in the system for long, safekeeping it from being connected with the internet.
