If you own cryptocurrencies, you should always keep your antivirus program updated. But, you should also be extremely careful when you install applications and games. One ground rule should be… if you can afford crypto, you should absolutely afford a decent antivirus and anti-malware program. If you consider the protection to be too expensive, it is your fault. But, let us return to the topic of this article. What is crypto-clipping?
There are lots of methods used by hackers who want to steal your data and your money/crypto. Most of us have heard about keyboard loggers (programs that record the buttons you click on your keyboard making them able to find your passwords even though they are “hidden” on the screen), ransomware (they block access to files on your computer and you will only get the access back if you pay the attackers), vishing, phishing, and many others. The thing these have in common is that they often get to your computer when you install programs, apps, and games from unknown sources. They might also come as you download something sent to you in a message on Facebook that you thought was harmless, but it wasn’t.
In other words, if you have crypto, secure your computer/phone, and do not even visit questionable sites. If you really need to visit such sites, use a different device for such activities.
But, what is crypto-clipping?
This is a quite new method used by thieves to steal your crypto. What they first do is install their crypto-clipping malware on your computer. Well, they do not install it, you do that, often by downloading other content that you thought would be harmless and safe. it can also come as you click links in your browser that suddenly downloads such malware to your device.
The malware code is now running in the background and it is specialized in sniffing for cryptocurrency addresses.
Imagine that you want to send 10 AVAX to your Avalanche wallet (C-Chain) from Binance. You go to MetaMask and copy the address of your wallet address. Then you return to Binance and now it is time to paste the wallet address in order to arrange with the transfer.
The crypto-clipping malware is active and instead of pasting your MetaMask address, an address belonging to the thieves will be used. Since you just did a copy-paste, you do not expect anything bad to happen, and you transfer the funds. But, when you discover that the funds do not arrive (even though they have been sent from Binance), you look around, and suddenly you will see that a different address was pasted instead of the one you wanted to use.
This was caused by crypto-clipping malware on your computer.
How can you protect yourself against crypto-clipping?
It is quite easy to stay protected against crypto-clipping.
1. Don’t install anything from unknown sources and don’t click on content/links that you do not trust
The best thing you can do is to stay safe in the first place. Do not click links sent in messages on Messenger, WhatsApp, or in other programs unless you 100% trust the content and know that it is safe. Do not install questionable programs on your phone or computer either. Avoid live streams from spam sites (not official sources), and so on.
2. Use a great virus- and malware scanner that will protect if you should be unlucky
The best is to avoid the problem in the first place. But, sometimes you might be unlucky and sometimes you might do your best, but still have your phone or computer infected. In such cases, it is vital to have an antivirus program that is updated at all times and that is constantly scanning files in use and downloaded. Using a program with browser scanning is useful and it is also important that it has some sort of malware protection.
3. A VPN might give you some additional help as well
This might not be the most important, but hacking a computer that uses a VPN makes the job harder. There are also many VPN providers that come with some sort of additional protection, meaning that they will block sites they know to be questionable and sites that they know contain dangerous content. Two VPN providers with such add-ons are NordVPN and SurfsharkVPN.
4. Check the address after you have pasted it
This is so important that we almost forget it. When you transfer cryptocurrencies from one address to another, make sure to check that the address is correct, even after pasting. If the address consists of lots of letters and numbers you might not have to check them one by one, but take a look at the first five symbols and the last five, and based on that, you will see if the pasted address is correct.
If you do this actually discover that something is wrong (a crypto-clipper is active), you should take quick action, install malware and virus scanners, and get rid of whatever junk is installed on your device as quickly as possible.
We hope this article on crypto-clipping has helped you. It is always better to take caution before the accident has happened, but if you have experienced crypto-clipping, please write your experience below and share it with our readers so that we can all protect ourselves in a better way.
