Yesterday Google’s leading man when it comes to email security Mark Risher sat down for an interview with CNBC. What would normally be a routine story without too much publicity or anything to be considered “newsworthy” took quite a turn. Risher revealed that social media users tend to make themselves the target hackers, thanks to the amount and detail of the information they dish out about their cryptocurrency holdings online.

Feeling safe on social media has become a trending topic since allegations started to come out that foreign hackers were using these sites to target people for possible kidnapping or robbery. Also, some countries believe that foreign enemies tampered their presidential elections.

According to Risher, attacks can start, thanks to very basic stuff people do every day. As Google’s head fraud fighter said:

“It could just be a case of mistaken identity or guilt by association … Or maybe they saw that you were discussing Bitcoin on a public message board.”

Why do these basic actions help hackers scout targets?

People Usually Have a Link Between Their Email and Their Trading Accounts

Online trading sites in which people could potentially score big trading cryptocurrencies 99% of the time require users to register an email address to link to their account. People then use the same email address to register on forums and social media. All hackers really have to do is hack the email address and presto! Down come all the other accounts linked to it, including a person’s digital wallet! Although Google and pretty much every trading site out there has made monumental efforts to ensure that this doesn’t happen, essentially the more you connect on different sites using the same email address, the more at risk you are.

Take Basic Precautions to Make Sure You Are Safe Online

Even the best government systems have fallen victim to hackers from time to time. Blockchain-based companies have also lost millions upon millions of dollars in Internet theft. That doesn’t mean, though, that everyone should be running scared.

Risher admits our data are all over the place. This allows hackers to contact people and use sometimes very personal information in their messages. This makes it a lot easier for someone to fall into one of their scams. The way to help guys like Risher protect personal digital data is to not leave a huge digital footprint on one account. Using a variety of different emails and passwords is a simple thing that could grant better protection. Above all, being able to resist the urge to boast about cryptocurrency winnings could be the simplest way to keep clear from a potential attack!