Coinrail, one of Korea’s many cryptocurrency exchanges, was recently hacked. In the process, the company lost over $40 million in altcoins. While it is a relatively small exchange, there is still plenty of potential to get away with a huge profit if the hack is done right. Unfortunately, this hack affected Coinrail users, not the companies behind the currencies stolen. The company plans to be back online in July, but it is not clear if users are going to trust them once more with their hard-earned coin.

Will Users Have Trust in the Exchange Once Again?

The future of Coinrail as an exchange depends solely on whether or not users can trust the services once they are back online. Current estimates have placed the resumption date at July 15, though the company notes that this could change.

What Measures Have Coinrail Taken to Prevent Future Hacks?

One of the biggest obstacles Coinrail faces is convincing its users that hacks like the one that happened in June cannot happen again. The first step the company took was to move approximately 70 percent of their coins to cold storage, safeguarding them from online hacking attempts. Additionally, they have frozen or redeemed at least 80 percent of the funds that were stolen in the hacking process.

Unfortunately, many consumers are skeptical about Coinrail. There is widespread disbelief that the company is even going to resume services on July 15 as previously promised. Additionally, there is widespread doubt about a recovery process, leaving many users fearful that their coins are gone forever. This fear has gotten so bad that at least 50 users made the trek to the company’s head office in Seoul, where they were greeted by a notice advising them that the company does not receive visitors. These actions have not inspired a lot of confidence.

How to Best Protect Your Holdings from Hacks

Exchanges of all types are vulnerable to attacks. The one that happened in June to Coinrail is not unique. Users should anticipate these kind of hacking attempts whenever they purchase any type of cryptocurrency. Keeping your assets protected involves a few simple steps. First, be sure to only use cryptocurrency as a payment method when dealing with a reputable vendor. Next, only use exchanges when you want to trade your money; not as a place to store your funds. For long-term cryptocurrency storage, be sure to use cold storage services. Hackers can almost always get at funds or information stored online, including your private keys. Using cold storage keeps your coins offline, and away from the easy access of those with malicious intent. Just be sure you keep careful track of your passwords and keys. The decentralized, private features of using cryptocurrency make it impossible to recover passwords or information if forgotten or lost.

Finally, be sure you check your account often and back up any information necessary onto secondary devices, not connected to the internet. Also any coins you might have stored on exchanges should be transfered to your personal wallet or hardware wallet.

Some exchanges do offer compensation in cases of breaches, but only if you report it within a certain time frame. Do not wait for hacking attempts to make headlines before you check on your own coins. While you do not need to obsessively watch your balance on a daily basis, checking in once or twice a week to be sure that the balance is as you anticipate is a good idea. When backing up your data, consider writing down your information on paper and storing this information in a safe deposit box or other secure locations. Not only does this ensure that you do not forget or lose this information, it gives your loved ones the ability to access it should you opt to will them your coins.

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