written by

Avoncourt Team

Culture Blog - Mar 26, 2018

Security needs for ICOs and cybercoins

Cryptocurrency exchanges are full of “pump and dump” scams that would be illegal in most markets and leave unsuspecting investors at risk of large losses. In addition, hackers have begun targeting hosts of exchanges and stealing coins from unwitting users. Cyber security is much needed in this emerging field.

Stealing personal data through a laptop concept

Uncertainty and scams

The SEC began cracking down on ICOs and crypto exchanges in recent months.

Criminal crypto traders typically use the secure messaging app Telegram to orchestrate scams. The strategy is to suddenly inflate the price of a cryptocurrency by coordinating a few buyers to act at specific times. Then, after the price rises, they attract other, unknowing investors to buy into the price momentum. The “pumpers” quickly sell the coin to make a profit. The coins often crash within minutes after the initial surge. This leaves the second wave of investors often with heavy losses. They are in need of security in their investment strategies, knowing what possesses authentic value and what is valueless.

Hosts are unsafe

Many of the hosted exchanges are on masternodes. These are computers that run on the cryptocurrency Dash. They make decisions, such as locking transactions with InstantSend, coordinate the mixing of coins, and voting on budget funding. But many of these find themselves vulnerable to hacker attacks, relying on wallet encryption solely to protect assets.

The platforms that the majority of ICOs and cryptocurrency exchanges use are not cyber-safe.

The astonishing gullibility of buyers and apparent lack of experience of sellers leaves wallets prone to hacking, phishing and theft.

Market for cyber security

The crypto world is in urgent need of security screening and platform scanning. Anyone preparing to invest in these fields needs to do their homework and be sure that the platform they are using is cyber-safe and no target to hackers.