In short: Your Secret Recovery Phrase is the key to your wallet! Anybody with your secret recovery phrase or your wallet's private keys can access the funds in your wallet - so no matter what, never share this information! Zelus staff will never ask for your secret recovery phrase or private keys
🪙 How to keep your crypto safe
Cryptocurrency wallets are essential for holding, managing, and spending your digital assets. However, because these digital assets are often valuable, they can also be a prime target for hackers and thieves. Here are some tips to help you keep your cryptocurrency wallet safe:
🔐 Never Share Your Secret Recovery Phrase
Your secret recovery phrase, also known as your "seed phrase", is the key to your wallet. It's used to generate all of the private keys that your Zelus wallet uses to store and send your coins and NFTs.
Anyone with access to your secret recovery phrase has access to all of the funds in your wallet! It's very important to never share it with anyone - otherwise, all of your coins and NFTs could be stolen!
We recommend writing down your secret recovery phrase and keeping it in a safe place. Never send it via email or text, never enter it into a website, and don't enter it into a wallet application that you don't trust. And absolutely, positively, never share it with someone that asks you for it, even if they say that they're trying to help you!
When you first create a Zelus wallet, you'll be prompted by a banner on your NFT gallery to save your recovery phrase. But, you can also access it at any time from your security settings which you can find on the Hub screen!
🧬 Use Biometric Authentication in Your Wallet
Most modern smartphones support Face ID or Touch ID - also known as Biometric Authentication - which provide an additional layer of security. In addition to enabling it on your device by default, you can go to your Zelus Wallet's security settings to enable it there.
If you do this, biometric authentication will be required whenever you open your Zelus wallet. Anybody that's not you won't be able to open your wallet, even if they have your unlocked phone!
🔢 Use a Custom Passcode in Your Wallet
Your Zelus wallet also has a "Custom Passcode" feature. To enable this feature, you'll set a six-digit passcode that will be required each time you open your wallet. You can use this instead of biometric authentication - or, you can use both a custom passcode and biometric authentication for extra security. The settings for this can be found in your security settings on the Hub screen:
Once this is set, you'll be prompted for your passcode every time you open the Zelus app!
Note that if you choose to enable both biometric authentication and a custom passcode, you will be required to complete both authentication methods when you're opening your wallet. This is extra secure but might be a little bit inconvenient.
🔗 Use WalletConnect Carefully
WalletConnect is a protocol that allows you to connect your wallet to Dapps like Uniswap, Opensea, and more! Once you connect to a Dapp, the Dapp can request that you approve transactions to send NFTs and coins, approve other addresses to use your asset, and more.
It is very important to make sure that you are only connecting to Dapps that you trust! Malicious Dapps can ask you to approve transactions that will drain funds or NFTs from your wallet, so always make sure that you are using the real version of your Dapp!
Zelus is in the process of building an integration that will show you what actions a WalletConnect transaction will trigger - be on the lookout for this enhanced security feature in the near future!
🌐 Be Cautious with Public Wi-Fi
While we'd like to tell you to avoid using public Wi-Fi altogether, we know that that isn't necessarily realistic - but you should never use your cryptocurrency wallet when you're connected to public Wi-Fi! Wi-Fi networks without a password, or that ask you to enter a password in a browser, instead of a device prompt - such as hotel Wi-Fi, airport Wi-Fi, and coffee shop Wi-Fi is much less secure that your Wi-Fi network at home.
It's generally a best practice to avoid using public Wi-Fi for any sensitive browsing activities - for example, logging into your bank online, or sending & receiving sensitive documents.
📱 Configure your Device's Security Settings
Chances are, your phone will let you set a passcode and/or require biometric authentication to unlock your device. We recommend enabling this setting and configuring a relatively short screen-auto-lock timer. This will prevent you from accidentally leaving your phone unlocked!
Configuring a passcode and/or biometrics for your phone and from inside your Zelus app will give you an extra layer of security! Doing so makes it much harder for a would-be wallet thief to steal your crypto!
It's important never to leave your phone unlocked and walk away from it. If it's out of arm's reach, make sure it's locked!
Conclusion
In this article, we've covered a number of ways that you can make sure your wallet, and the funds contained within, are safe! Here's the quick recap:
Never share your secret recovery phrase with anybody. Write it down, and keep it somewhere safe.
Enable biometric authentication and/or a custom passcode in your wallet's security settings. Anybody who tries to open your wallet will be prevented until they successfully authenticate.
Enable your device's security settings! Your phone will let you set a passcode and/or biometrics to unlock the phone, and a screen lock timer - we recommend using these features.
Be careful when using WalletConnect! Connected Dapps can ask you to approve transactions to transfer funds, so only use Dapps that you trust completely!
Avoid public Wi-Fi.
Follow these simple steps, and your wallet is much more secure! Have questions? Reach out to us! Send an email to help@zelus.io, or contact us from the chat widget on your Zelus Wallet's "Hub" screen.
Please note that for your security, Zelus Wallet has been built such that Zelus is unable to recover a lost secret recovery phrase, unlock custom passcodes, or recover funds that have been sent out of your wallet.