Simple in practice: Crypto education is key to curbing phishing scams

As the global crypto economy continues to prosper, with Bitcoin currently occupying the $15,500 region, questions regarding the overall safety and security of digital assets continue to persist, especially in the wake of a new scam whereby hackers made use of a phishing email to direct users to a fake Ledger website.

"The phishing scams were likely a result of emails released from an e-commerce/marketing data breach. An unauthorized third party had access to a portion of Ledger's e-commerce and marketing database through an API Key.".

Phishing attacks are a common occurrence, not only within the crypto space, but with any online service that involves a means of payment.

A similar outlook was shared by Jevans who believes that matters related to customer security and privacy need to be viewed with a lens of "Shared responsibility," such that hardware wallet operators as well as crypto owners work in sync with one another to ensure the optimal safety of their assets from third-party threats.

Despite being revolutionary in design and technological potential, crypto continues to remain a foreign concept for most.

As a result, it stands to reason that companies in the blockchain and crypto space need to educate their users about the security implications of their actions.

Statistically speaking, around 85% to 90% of crypto owners seem to fall prey to very common crypto theft schemes, typically fake investment scams rather than phishing traps, according to data provided to Cointelegraph by CipherTrace.

"Based on hundreds of crypto theft and fraud cases, crypto users need to become much more sophisticated regarding their personal security operations when they choose to custody their private keys. Many crypto crime victims do not know what to do when they discover they have experienced theft."Wallet operators should become industry trendsetters.

While companies like Ledger and Trezor do have dedicated information related to phishing and other similar, scammy tactics on their websites, these pages are not easily accessible and are usually buried deep within troubleshooting FAQ sections.

On the issue, Rusnák is adamant that transparency and education are the keys when it comes to maximizing the security of one's funds.