You suddenly got 0.000001 BTC Satoshi in your Bitcoin wallet. But you know that you did not send your wallet the funds you received. Or as far as you know, you are not supposed to get this fund from anywhere.
This means you have a dusting attack. But you don't know what a dusting attack is? For which you may not have valued getting that fund. Then you may be in danger in the future.
So know what a dusting attack is. And protect yourself from any future danger.
What is Dust in Cryptocurrency?
In cryptocurrencies, very small amounts of funds are called dust. You may have seen when you go to trade that some amount remains in the fund wallet from the order you place to trade. This very small amount of funds is called dust balance. Such as- 0.00000012 BTC etc.
How do you know if you have a dusting attack?
When you see an unexpected amount in your account or wallet, especially this amount of balance, which is less than the transaction fee. Then you will understand that you have been caught in a dusting attack.
This type of dusting attack can be individual or group based.
Read more: 51% What is Attack?
Danger of Dusting Attack
Hackers send very small amounts of tokens or coins to the target wallet for a dusting attack. And that target puts the wallet in the tracking.
Because when a token or coin is sent to someone's address from one's wallet, it becomes very easy to track it.
With that tracking, hackers find out the identity of the target wallet. When hackers are able to identify the person in their target wallet, hackers endanger that person with phishing attacks or cyber threads.
Examples of dusting attacks
On August 06, 2019, there was a dusting attack on the Lightcoin network, pointing to the issue of August 10.
There are two types of dusting attack sites. One is through the exchange wallet (the user of the exchange wallet) i.e. the wallet that is used when we make a deposit in an exchange.
The other is in the personal wallet.
Exchange wallet user
Hackers can't take much advantage of Exchange Wallet users if they have a dusting attack. Because almost all cryptocurrency exchanges have multi-wallet systems, hackers have difficulty identifying who is using those wallets when.
In that case it can be said that the users of Exchange Wallet are safe in this case. However, if at any time you feel that your exchange wallet has been attacked by dusting, that is, a very small amount of balance has been deposited in your account, then you should report the matter to your exchange support as soon as you realize it. This will keep your account secure.
Personal wallet user
Personal wallet users, such as Electrum users, Mytherwallet users, etc., are vulnerable to dusting attacks, but there is a risk that your privacy will be compromised. Through which hackers can put you in the danger mentioned earlier.
Protect yourself from dusting attacks
If you are using an exchange wallet, you do not have to do anything differently there. But keep the security of your account hard. In this case 2FA can be used, again withdrawal list can also be used. Update passwords occasionally.
And if you use a personal wallet, you need to create a new address for each transaction.
Best of luck READ CASH user ❤️