As traders, we usually focus on securing our crypto exchange accounts and making sure they will not be hacked, but sometimes the problem is not there, it's actually the email address we are using.

So I read this warning from Singapore Police where attackers first gain access to their victim's email account, and once inside they can easily search the inbox and find out what crypto exchanges you are using. And because they are smart, they can create email rules to hide security notifications, then request a password reset from the exchange and intercept the reset link or verification email without the user noticing it.

So here's the usual format of the attack:

Your old or reused password gets leaked.

[1] They gain access to your email
[2] They search which crypto exchanges you are using
[3] Hide security emails using inbox rules
[4] Reset your exchange password
[5] If successful, they gain access to the account

So even if the exchange has good security, if our email is not properly secured, there is only so much the exchange can do to protect us. For me, using a different password for your email and exchange is really a must, and if there is 2FA available we should activate it.

Based on the report, we should also check our email forwarding settings, inbox rules and active sessions from time to time because unusual changes there can be a sign that someone already gained access to our email. With this incident it tells us that securing the exchange account alone is not enough, because the email connected to it can also become the easiest way for an attacker to get inside.

As far as I know, hackers hack emails through browser cookies. There is a lot of data available for purchase in the black market, which many people buy for business purposes, from there they get login access data for various platforms including emails, they are third parties, while actual hackers directly hack people's browser cookies through various phishing links through various means and from there they get access to various things. Exchangers without 2FA should be avoided, and many times accounts are hacked despite 2FA being set, this is because the email that the hackers hack has a 2FA backup in the same email. Google Authenticator now keeps 2FA codes as a backup in Gmail, in that case, if they get access to the email, they are automatically available. If the email of the Exchange account and the email of the 2FA backup are the same. You have to be careful in all aspects if you want to stay safe from hackers.

Where the user set 2FA, it wil require resetting that before being able to access the exchange account and the process may signal the owner of the account through notification. I don't know if the post detailed how to also boycott this in the hacking process. Protecting the email is very important as a lot can be compromised if the email is accessed.