Hackers and ICOs

[Mlc]

Lost in the excitement and ongoing momentum of the ICO craze is the fact that, despite the crowdfunding model’s enormous potential, we’re still surrounded by risks. To date, there have been thousands of ICOs and token sales, and although many go off without a hitch or shock, there have been a shocking number of ICOs that end in investors losing their money. Sometimes, ICOs themselves are fraudulent, and they’re designed to steal users’ money. These scam ICOs have become a large problem, but the heavier regulation and oversight from most governments will likely curb them to a degree. Many times, hackers and fraudsters will take advantage of an upcoming ICO to scam users in a variety of ways, from phishing attacks to more insidious methods, most of which started after the huge rise in bitcoin prices this time last year.

This year has been no different, with some major hacks already coming to light and it seems like everywhere we look, new stories of hacks are popping up. How many millions worth of tokens have been stolen via elaborate attacks is still unknown .

In most cases, the problem is not finding the right ICO to invest in, but rather that even when they choose a legitimate company, they are still at risk of external hackers and others who may steal their funds. No matter how well-intentioned, the best ICOs and investors can even be victims in a variety of attacks that can get past the most robust security. It makes me wonder what we can do to protect ourselves, but the situation is not entirely hopeless. The reality is that most of us who invest in ICOs are not always tech-savvy industry insiders. In many cases, people looking to participate in these sales are regular users who are excited about the project they’re funding or are looking for a way to enter the crypto market. Hackers have developed several methods to disguise their attacks by leveraging an ICO’s identity, and in some cases to attack ICOs directly. Widely used phishing attacks can include something as simple as creating a fake website that is nearly identical to an ICO’s site but with a slightly different URL.  For example, I’ve seen websites claiming to be Sentinel Protocol’s, but with a single letter changed in the URL. In this case, Sentinelprotocol.io would be changed to Sentinaprotocol.io. Most users wouldn’t look twice to confirm, but it could be catastrophic. Other techniques include sending solicitous emails from official-looking accounts or impersonating team members on Telegram and other social media. In all of these cases, the goal is to get users to give away their personal information, share their wallet addresses or otherwise expose themselves to scams. Additionally, hackers can deploy malware and other software-based exploits that seek out vulnerabilities in wallets, exchanges and other related tools. So with this in mind as we are approaching 2019 I want to ask what new ICO projects have caught your attention ? Do you plan to invest in them ? Have you fallen victim when investing in ICO projects only to find it was a scam or that hackers have stolen your funds? 

 

[KiXxnTRiXx]

After being scammed by an invesment site where i was putting everything ive won, im kinda weary on investing with another company again. the company i was with took everyones investment and fell off the face of the planet.. they ran with everyones money and no where to be found.. they built a house of catds and many fell for it including mysrlf. this has put me in so much hardship and is now behind in alot of areas.. lesson learned..