Cryptosecurity: Protect yourself in the world of decentralization

In the cryptographic world there are many risks nowadays, hackers are everywhere and it is our responsibility to educate and protect ourselves so as not to become victims of these people, therefore, the issue of security is paramount when handling our funds. In that sense, in this post I intend to highlight the advantages and most important aspects to take into account to protect our money and more if you are just starting in the world of cryptocurrencys.

If you are just starting out in the world of cryptomonies, this post is for you, since it touches on a very important subject that everyone fears when they learn about blockchain and digital assets. If you have experience and already know about this subject, don't worry, you can also share it so that everyone can better manage the information.

Without further ado I will begin...

In security issues, despite the existence of high security companies and platforms, most of them present the same problem, this is **"Centralization"*. It is an easy target to allocate resources to break those security systems, especially when you know that behind it lies the reward.

The Blockchain allows this same security, and even more robust, but in a *"Decentralized" way, making it economically unviable to break the system, since the amount of resources needed to do so would be in many cases greater than the possible reward to obtain, and that considering that it could be achieved.

Such decentralization makes it impossible for a "dishonest actor" participating in the network to take control of it and consequently make changes in it, thus granting it the very powerful characteristic of **IMNUTABILITY*, that is, the ability for the information stored in the DLT (Distributed Accounting Book) to remain unaltered. Precisely, this ability prevents important considerations such as double spending from being executed, giving Bitcoin its "sound money" function, for example.

Consensus by definition, is the way in which an agreement is reached within the network, where X happened at moment Y by user Z. In this sense, I consider the *"Proof of Work" mechanism that was born with Bitcoin is undoubtedly the most robust consensus mechanism that exists. Proof of Work or PoW uses computer power for mining (mining hardware) and energy to validate information and reach a consensus on the network.

On the other hand, in the second case, PoS or (Proof of Work) is a much more ecosystem-friendly solution, without the need to allocate unnecessary resources in electricity, cooling or machinery and making all the income generated in cryptosystems remain in this same ecosystem, benefiting the majority creditors of these currencies and giving them a better chance of winning the winning ticket that enables them to mine the next block. However, this generates an imbalance, making the rich richer and the poor poorer, and causing that, in the future, few people have a majority control of these currencies, opening the way to possible attempts of violation. That is why, from my perspective, if we are talking about security issues, the PoW algorithm is more robust in security matters than PoS, although it requires allocating much more resources to do so.

An attack of 51% is when a user or entity manages to monopolize more than 50% of the processing or computing capacity in the network, which generates that it can alter the information in the Blockchain and allocate all its capacity to make it grow as the longest chain, even when the rest of the nodes have invalidated the block. In this way, the entity could transfer funds that are not its own to an Exchange for example and liquidate them and this would see that everything is correct, but in reality it is because it has taken control of the Blockchain through processing.

It could also go back to a previous block and generate a side chain, a momentary Hard Fork in order to make a double expenditure. This type of attack occurs mainly in block chains that do not have many nodes or capital, and therefore very little computing capacity, which would allow an experienced miner to take control of his Blockchain and generate havoc on the network. In this sense, users must be very careful in which currency they invest, since depending on the liquidity that it has, their Blockchain will be safer than another that does not have much investment in it.

It is necessary to know that although the Blockchain, in robust crypto currencies such as Bitcoin, in theory are extremely difficult to hack because of its decentralization, the Wallets and Exchanges connected to the Internet can be vulnerable, this is because in large part there is much interest in finding a back door on these platforms and get all the crypto currencies, and being centralized are a target for it.

This is why to choose a secure wallet, first of all, you should always think of a wallet that is not connected to the network, a cold wallet, or even a paper wallet. These, in spite of being the most secure, require the user to be extremely careful with his private keys and where he keeps them, because losing them could mean the definitive loss of his cryptocurrencys.

I hope that this information has been very useful to you, whatever your level of knowledge, the intention is that everyone can have the information and secure their money as effectively as possible. You can also leave comments on which wallets you use and which have served you best in securing your funds.