I have read many articles in Steemit and other places such as reddit where crypto enthusiasts posts their public addresses online. This is either done to show off or seeking help about some technical issue with their wallet or transactions. If a transaction fails or has some other kind of issue with it, then the user, especially if he is a noob get very concerned about it and often post their public addresses online to seek help.
Posting public addresses aren’t really a security risk in and of itself. Public addresses are encrypted with industry standard advanced encryption which even the fasted computers on earth (supercomputers) can’t crack. But posting public addresses give hackers potential targets.
Hackers generally don’t try to hack private keys but they try to hack the computers of potential victims. Hacking windows computers that aren’t up to date is generally much easier since they often have security exploits. Once a hacker gains control of a victim’s computer, he will watch it for a while and grab any private keys using special scripts. This is why it is always necessary to keep antivirus software updated to the latest version.
One other very common tactic hackers use is phishing with social engineering. In this method, the hacker will try to get the user to visit a malicious site and give away his private keys. Many Steemit users’ lost their private keys this way. If the hacker knows who he needs to target, it becomes a little easier if the user he is targeting doesn’t have much experience with cryptocurrencies.
Cryptocurrencies are better than fiat money in most aspects but security isn’t one of them. As long as the user doesn’t fail, they work like charm. But mistakes are fatal. Thanks for reading my rant I hope you liked it. Please leave a comment if you want to share what you think about this security issue.