Stop saying “hacked” and “hackers” in poor context—it’s a FUD factory

Hey all, I want to draw some attention to a certain piece of our terminology in this sub and in many other related subs. In my opinion, the word “hack” is being misused to such an extent that it is causing unnecessary FUD among less educated crypto investors and enthusiasts.

As far as I know, this will be a pretty original post in this sub cause I don’t see the distinction being drawn really ever. But it bugs me and I think it should bug you too. It’s not an acute problem or worse now than any other time, it’s just a chronic thing that I see on a regular basis.

There are a lot of posts in this sub and others, pretty frequently, about wallet security. More specifically, there are frequently posts about people who had their wallets “hacked.”

We need to make something very clear—yes, “hacking” means using a computer to gain unauthorized access to data. However, I think the term is being broadly misused. When misused in the context of crypto, it is a FUD machine.

Virtually none, if any, of the stories containing the word “hack” and “hacker” actually involve an instance of a wallet being “hacked” in the colloquial sense—brute force, back door, bug exploit, malware, etc. Although when hacking does occur, I would say it is usually a malware attack.

It almost always is an instance of phishing. I know I sound like a loser for splitting this hair, but it’s important. Noobs need to be better informed about the difference. We go out of our way to tell people about seed security and for good reason. But whenever a breach occurs, the word “hack” gets thrown around and it’s extremely easy for noobs to think their assets are just one stroke of bad luck from having their helpless wallet fall prey to a talented “hacker.” In reality, wallets are extremely secure on their own.

I personally don’t know of any verified account of a wallet actually being hacked. If you do, I know I would like to hear about it and I assume others would too. I’m not being sarcastic I really would like to know. I’m curious about the details of malware attacks in particular because as far as I know it’s the only viable way to actually hack a wallet. Is that the case?

Let’s have conversation below about the encryption strength of crypto wallets and what it would take to actually hack a wallet.

Again, there are not hacks happening left and right. But there is plenty of successful phishing going on.

Edit: yes, I am aware that hacking is an umbrella term for a variety of activities, including phishing. My point is that a cross-section of IT-literate people are familiar with that fact, whereas most people are not so savvy. The term “hacking” popularly conveys a meaning that is not consistent with the specific definition—generally speaking hacking is interpreted by most as forceful access to data without permission. Once again, I am aware that’s not what it means by definition. But if you will agree for a moment that this is a meaning popularly attributed to the term, then it’s easy to understand my point. Recognizing social engineering for what it is, a cooperative interaction, better informs the average user of not only their personal role in wallet security, but of the real prevalence of what they understand to be “hacking.” It better demonstrates brute force attacks are neither viable means of accessing a wallet, nor most fraudsters’ method of choice. Which brings us back to my thesis—the meaning most popularly associated with the term produces an irrational amount of FUD relative to how likely it is to actually happen.

Why use the broadest term for something that is predominately something much more specific anyway? It serves no one—whereas specificity serves everyone.