Enhance awareness of cryptocurrency asset security

In the past few days, a shocking case of cryptocurrency asset theft that occurred in May has gone viral online—its methods may have already surpassed the protective capabilities of most centralized exchanges (CEX).

According to the victim's own statement, the assets stored in a certain CEX were stolen on May 3.

The victim initially thought this case was similar to past incidents involving internal issues at the exchange, system problems, or insider jobs. However, during the investigation, it was discovered that the perpetrator had actually forged the victim's personal information by using AI-generated short videos to deceive the CEX's authentication, stealing the assets from the victim's account.

The victim suffered a total loss of nearly $3 million.

What was most unexpected in this incident was the use of AI-generated short videos for fraud—this is arguably the most advanced method of scamming currently.

Writing this reminds me of a case mentioned by Mr. Buffett when he answered a question about artificial intelligence at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting: he said he saw a video generated by AI that featured himself and immediately thought of AI being used for scams.

Little did he know that such a case would soon occur in the cryptocurrency space, which he despises.

Most of us have probably heard about scams involving AI to some extent, but I believe most people think such events are still far removed from our lives. However, this time it has truly happened in familiar scenarios and familiar things.

I believe that not only ordinary users but even most CEXs would not be prepared for such scams, let alone deploy effective preventive measures and strategies.

In today's highly developed online society, coupled with an atmosphere where privacy is poorly protected, everyone who goes online has, to some extent, leaked our biometric information (facial photos, fingerprint collection, iris collection…) and identity information (ID cards, phone numbers, etc.), and this information can almost easily be obtained illegally from the internet.

Therefore, as long as our cryptocurrency asset information is exposed, hackers can easily locate our identities and carry out targeted attacks. Especially since the transfer of cryptocurrency assets is conducted online, this further facilitates hackers in specifically targeting cryptocurrency users.

This security incident has opened Pandora's box, and I believe that the demons will be released one after another. As for these new methods of committing crimes, existing CEXs and individual users are likely to be defenseless.

The issue of cryptocurrency asset security has been discussed to death, but this topic will never go out of style.

Every time we talk about related security incidents or topics, I always strongly advise our readers to use cold wallets and store their non-trading cryptocurrency assets in cold wallets. The assets in a cold wallet can only be withdrawn by the owner, and as long as the procedures are strictly followed, it is difficult for outsiders to transfer assets out of the cold wallet.

Technological advancements are happening at an unprecedented pace. In the cryptocurrency ecosystem, hackers often use new technologies in ways that are far more advanced than ordinary people. When it comes to offense and defense against hackers, we certainly cannot compete with them. However, we do not need to engage in this competition; by simply being a bit more cautious and using a cold wallet, we can avoid the vast majority of asset theft incidents.

I hope this incident serves as a reminder to all our readers to abandon any sense of complacency and to prepare a cold wallet to store significant assets securely.