- A dust attack might seem small and insignificant, but it could change your life
- If the attacker behind the dust has enough information, your whole pseudonymous identity could be compromised
- If you get dusted, act fast and smart if you’re going to come out unscathed
With Bitcoin and virtually all the altcoins in the world starting to pump, more and more newbies are entering the crypto space. First up, welcome to the wonderful world of crypto. Secondly, be on your guard, as scammers are rampant in this world, and they’re permanently looking for a way to get your money without doing an honest day of work.
Today, we’re going to tell you how to handle a tiny amount of crypto landing in your wallet when you’ve done nothing at all. This might seem innocent and a potential accident, but there are no accidents in the crypto world. This is likely a dusting attack.
What’s a Dusting Attack?
A dusting attack is a relatively long-con and involves a lot of work, but they can be incredibly effective. Briefly put, a dusting attack will result in a tiny amount of crypto landing in your wallet. The attacker will then watch to see where it moves, in the hope of it moving to another wallet that the attacker knows who it belongs to. This information could be found in dumps from hacks of exchanges or when people post their wallets online. They’ll then use this information to extort you or conduct further attacks, such as phishing scams.
What Should I Do?
If you think you’ve been dusted, there’s little that you can do. The crypto is in your wallet, and you’ve now got a couple of options. You can either send the dust back to the address that sent it to you, this might cost you a fair bit in transaction fees to do, or you can leave it in your wallet.
Whatever you decide to do, create a new wallet and burn the old wallet. The attacker will be watching that wallet and will track any funds you move from that wallet to another, so consider it burnt. If you have more balance in there, send it to an exchange and cash it out. Again, consider that exchange wallet burnt and create a new one.
This might seem a touch extreme for a tiny dusting attack, but you can never be too careful when it comes to your security and crypto, especially when cryptocurrency markets are booming like they currently are!
