Axie Infinity, the Pokémon-style NFT battle game has blown up in terms of daily active users, especially in the Philippines. But with huge user growth, comes bigger numbers of hack and scam victims. When talking about NFTs or anything in the cryptocurrency space in general, securing your accounts should always be a priority.
Why? Once your cryptocurrencies, NFTs, or in this case specifically — your Axies get stolen, the chances of you getting them back from hackers or scammers are almost zero.
Remember, Axie Infinity uses NFTs, which is a different backend system in its entirety compared to how most video games handle their user’s accounts and assets.
If you own and handle your own Axie account or manage scholars, this is for you. On the other hand, if you’re a scholar, probably share this article with your manager to help him/her NOT lose his/her assets.
So, how do you secure your accounts?
Make sure your devices are secure
This should be common sense, regardless if you play Axie Infinity or not. And suppose you like downloading cracked games and movies from really shady and untrusted websites. In that case, you’re putting not only your Axies at risk but all your accounts in general including your finance-related accounts.
Some tips:
Keep your devices(Windows/macOS/Android/iOS/etc)** updated at all times**. These operating systems frequently push out security updates to make sure everyone’s devices are as secure as possible.
Stop downloading software or files in general from random websites. If you really want to, use a different device or use a virtual machine if you’re more of an intermediate user.
If you’re using an Android phone, stop installing pirated APKs. Unless you’re installing an open-source APK file that you can verify yourself, there is almost no way to verify whether the APKs you’re downloading and installing don’t have viruses or malware built in to steal your data.
Unless you know what you’re doing,** don’t root or jailbreak your mobile phone**. Rooting your Android phone and jailbreaking your iPhone can definitely be beneficial in terms of features. But if you don’t know what you’re doing on a technical level, you could potentially be giving administrator access to malicious software.
If you’re using a Windows device, run frequent malware/virus scans. And no, you don’t even need to download any special anti-virus or anti-malware software. The built-in Windows Security software is more than enough.
Don’t use cracked versions of Windows, Linux, or any other operating system. Both operating systems are free, there are zero reasons for you to use cracked versions that could potentially have malicious software built in.
If you want to take security seriously, buy a cheap laptop that will handle your Ronin wallet, and nothing else. Or better yet, grab a hardware wallet.
Store. Your. Backups.
“I don’t need backups, I won’t lose my phone/computer”
– someone who just lost all his money after he broke his device
If you broke your phone/computer or if they get stolen and you don’t have backups of your Metamask and Ronin accounts, then say goodbye to your Smooth Love Potions(SLPs) and your beloved Axies.
Remember those 12-24 words they ask you to write down after creating your Metamask and Ronin accounts? Write, Them. Down.
And don’t even save them on your phone’s notes app, through SMS, a note/word file on your computer, or anywhere digital. Saving your backups digitally is one of the easiest ways of getting your accounts stolen by hackers through viruses/malware. Writing them down on a piece of paper is the simplest but safest way of backing up your accounts.
Beware of fake MetaMask and Ronin links
Hackers and scammers promoting fake software phishing links on search engines like Google are one of the most common ways thieves manage to steal people’s cryptocurrencies, and they could also use the same technique in trying to steal your Axies. Always make sure to download MetaMask, Ronin, or any other software from their official websites.
MetaMask: https://metamask.io/ Ronin Wallet: https://skymavis.com/wallet
Do NOT give out your Ronin wallet backups
If you’re a manager, you’d know that you need to generate multiple Ronin wallet addresses for each scholar that you handle.
Do NOT share your Ronin wallet backups with anyone that you wouldn’t heavily trust. If you give out your Ronin wallet backup to a certain person, that person can effectively send out and steal your Axies.
NOTE: If you manage scholars, all they need to have is the account’s login credentials and/or the login QR code.
Use a hardware wallet
A If you own Axies (and/or cryptocurrencies) that are worth a good amount of money, investing some of your money in a safe and reputable hardware wallet device is absolutely essential.
Using a reputable hardware wallet is the best choice you can make to maximize the security of your Ronin wallet. With a hardware wallet, even if your device is infected with malware, your Axies and Ronin wallet should be safe.
NOTE: To prevent receiving fake hardware wallets, only purchase hardware wallets from their official website
QUICK NOTE to our Philippine readers
We’ve been hearing about a lot of people from the Philippines that are having troubles with the local Philippine Customs department concerning their Ledger packages.
To circumvent such problems, we heavily suggest using middleman shipping companies such as ShippingCart.
Create a ShippingCart account on ShippingCart.com
Grab your ShippingCart U.S. address
Order a Ledger hardware wallet from the Ledger official website using your ShippingCart address as the delivery address, NOT your Philippine address
Once your Ledger package is received in your ShippingCart address, it’s now time for your Ledger package to be shipped to your Philippines home address
Final thoughts
The cryptocurrency space(including NFT-based games like Axie Infinity) is a frequent target of hackers and scammers simply because of the huge amounts of money they could potentially steal, so always make sure you’re maximizing your security.
If you have any friends or family that play Axie Infinity or belong to any Axie Infinity social media group, please share this article to help out the Axie Infinity community.
With that said, happy gaming!
Axie Infinity: https://axieinfinity.com/ Axie Infinity Marketplace: https://marketplace.axieinfinity.com/ Ronin Wallet: https://wallet.roninchain.com/ MetaMask: https://metamask.io/
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