Back in September, it was reported that the popular crypto-gambling site Stake.com had suffered a security breach. This breach, believed to be the work of North Korean hacking group Lazarus, saw Stake.com’s ETH/BSC hot wallets compromised and over $40 million in total stolen.
While the site has regained access to its hot wallets and customers have been able to recover their funds, there are still lessons to be learned from this incident. This is especially true for those looking to gamble with cryptocurrency moving forward.
How Safe is Crypto Gambling?
Despite the unfortunate incident with Stake.com, crypto gambling is quite safe, although it faces some unique challenges. Besides the risk of losing games (which is a risk all gamblers bear), there is also the risk of one’s crypto losing value as they bet with them. But on the flip side, these tokens may also gain value, so it is up to the gambler to decide if they are willing to take the risk.
But, in terms of hacks like Stake.com experienced, this is not overly common for crypto gambling sites. One thing to note about this attack is that it targeted Stake.com’s hot wallets. These wallets are connected to the internet and can be hacked by malicious parties. But Stake.com has clarified that only a small portion of its funds are kept in hot wallets and has restored services for its customers.
So when it comes to these types of crypto attacks, your best bet is to only sign up on a reputable site that will have proper systems in place to make sure that funds are not tampered with. Because, outside of protecting your own crypto wallet, you can’t really control whether or not your crypto gambling site of choice will be targeted by hackers.
How to Choose a Safe Crypto Gambling Site
We’ve established why you need to choose a reputable crypto gambling site for your needs but how do you go about doing this? The first thing you might want to do is look out for a curated list of Bitcoin gambling sites from reputable publications. Several sites specialize in reviewing crypto gambling sites and this can help remove the wheat from the chaff. Look up several review lists of the best crypto gambling ones and if certain sites are mentioned consistently, they’re probably a good option.
At the same time, if these reviews keep mentioning certain gambling sites as not being great options, it is best to avoid them. There are a few factors to keep in mind when choosing so you can have the safest experience:
- Customer Funds Storage: One thing that stands out in this Stake.com saga is that only a small portion of funds are kept in hot wallets by the site’s management. Still, this amounted to over $40 million. Imagine if the site kept all of its funds in the hot wallet! If the information is publicly available, look into whether the site you’re considering stores its funds in cold wallets or not. If you can’t find this information, reach out to the site and ask. If you can confirm that most customer funds are not being kept in hot wallets, the site should be relatively safe to use.
- Two-factor authentication: One of the easiest ways to lose your funds while on a crypto-gambling site is to have your account compromised. This is why many sites have two-factor authentication that will require you to confirm your email and/or phone number before you are granted access to the account. It is a great idea to look into what sort of two-factor authentication a site has in place before you sign up. If you feel that it is inadequate or if the site doesn’t have two-factor authentication in place at all, it is best not to sign up with them.
- Customer support and communication: No one wants anything to go wrong when gambling with crypto, but sometimes it happens. If this happens to you, you want to be signed up with a site that communicates properly with its customers. Stake.com, for example, kept customers abreast of the situation when it suffered the hack, confirmed the damage that had been done, and restored customers’ access to the site once things were resolved. When signing up for a crypto gambling site, consider what customer support channels they have in place and how well they engage with customers. The last thing you want is for the site to suffer an attack and for customers to be kept out of the loop. So consider this before you opt for any site.
- Site Encryption: Most sites these days opt for encryption as a way of heightening their security. Encryption ensures that customer information, including financial details, is kept private and cannot fall into the wrong hands. If a site does not have encryption, it is a major red flag and you should avoid such sites. The good news is that this sort of information can be found easily by going to the site’s ‘Security’ or ‘About’ page. Sites will usually list their security measures, including their encryption software. If the site doesn’t have these, it is best to avoid them.
- Reviews: One of the best ways to find out if a site is worth using is by reading users’ reviews. Simply Google ‘[site name] reviews’ and look at what comes up. Besides in-depth reviews on sites that specialize in crypto gambling, make sure to look at sources like TrustPilot as well. Besides the usual things like its layout and the number of gambling games available, make sure to pay attention to people’s experiences with the site’s customer service and its security. This will give you an idea of whether it is a site worth signing up for or not. As much as possible, you should opt for the site with the best reviews.
How to be Safe While Using Crypto Gambling Sites
Even after choosing a reputable crypto-gambling site, it is your responsibility to take measures to keep yourself and your funds safe. First, make sure that you keep your login details guarded and don’t share them with anyone. Also make sure that, as much as possible, you withdraw your funds once you’re done playing and don’t use your casino account as a quasi-storage system for your funds. Finally, make sure that you report any suspicious activity to your crypto-gambling site as soon as you spot it.
Conclusion
While the Stake.com hack is one of the biggest crypto hacks of the year and resulted in the loss of over $40 million, it does highlight the importance of security when using crypto gambling sites. For consumers, this means choosing sites that are most likely to be secure and taking personal steps to keep funds safe. While hackers will likely continue to target crypto gambling sites, these steps will help to reduce the chances of loss and, if these hacks take place, ensure that users are kept in the loop and compensated.
