Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs Stolen through Phishing. How to Secure Your NFTs

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is the most storied and successful Non-Fungible Token (NFT) collection to ever hit the market. It was also the pioneering NFT that introduced this rare, somewhat confusing futuristic technology to the masses. 

What is the BAYC?

BAYC is a collection of digital images with apes that can be regarded as internet humor. When it was launched in 2021 by Yuga labs, it was a new kind of experiment; to introduce the concept of a unique, aka non fungible digital currency concept to the masses. 

It did exactly that and more. It heralded a whole new era of digital art that hasn’t looked back ever since. It has been a revolution for digital art and collectibles and the industry is worth tens of billions of dollars overall. 

BAYC’s Recent Woes

But, recently, a string of the original BAYC NFTs was stolen through various hacking channels. This has cast some doubt around the whole sector as users struggle to understand it and keep their NFTs secure. 

The hack occurred on April 24, 2022 through what is called a phishing attack. It is a common approach used by hackers to illegally gain access to a user’s account details including username and password. These details are then used to log in to the account and transfer the NFTs to hackers’ own wallets. Around $1 million worth of NFTs were stolen during this security breach. So, users need to be extra careful in this matter. 

How to Secure Your NFTs?

Securing your NFTs is in many ways similar to securing your cryptocurrencies. With a good understanding of how everything works, one can easily have foolproof security for their NFTs. Lack of security need not deter users from engaging in NFTs as every new technology has its issues. This level of initial mover risk is always there along with advantage/pioneering 

NFTs, just like regular cryptocurrencies are stolen as digital tokens in a digital wallet. Often, NFT creators use a primary blockchain network like Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, and others to store vital information and link to the original data of the NFT. 

How are NFTs Stored?

So, to store the NFTs, you can either store them directly on centralized platforms like OpenSea and others or transfer them to a wallet of your choice. The wallet needs to belong to the parent chain of the NFT. Like, if the NFT is stored on the Ethereum blockchain, you will need an Ethereum wallet, if it is stored on Solana, you will need a Solana wallet. There are several useful wallet applications and extensions like MetaMask that allow users to store multiple cryptocurrencies and NFTs in a single wallet solution. 

If you are interested in getting a digital currency wallet on a cryptocurrency exchange for regular crypto, follow this link to set up your Binance lite wallet. 

How to Secure Your NFTs

Always have 2-factor Authentication Enabled

The importance of 2-factor authentication needs to be highlighted again and again. It is a very important layer of security that helps your account remain secure. Basically, this security feature mandates authentication from an email account or mobile number before key actions can be made on platforms including transactions like withdrawals. 

So, always have a 2-factor authentication process enabled. This will dramatically improve your security. 

Always on the Lookout for Phishing Links

Phishing links are web links that appear similar to actual platform links in every way and instead, they are hackers’ imitation websites that are used to extract login details from unsuspecting users. 

These types of links are especially sent through emails and SMS disguised as official emails from companies. They look just like regular company emails and they are often sent on special occasions like the anniversary of the company or NFT collection to make them sound believable. 

Users should be very careful about the kind of links they are opening and always be on the lookout for such phishing attacks. All that glitters isn’t gold and that is true for unrealistic offers you might be getting on your phone through various channels.

Transferring NFTs to Secure Wallets

The most effective way to make your NFTs secure is to get a private wallet and transfer them to it. It can also be a physical wallet but those have some lingering issues that keep propping up. Private wallets give full control to the user and they are the most secure.

There is a wide range of private wallets available for users and one of the best physical wallets in the market currently is Ledger with a range of different products. 

But, before you use them, a sufficient amount of knowledge regarding the sector is needed to avoid blunders. You have to remember that in the blockchain world, transactions are irreversible and thus they can cause real problems for users.