How To Protect Your Coinbase {MUST READ} Most Important Know

Save Your Coinbase

Sep 20, 2017

   

While Coinbase takes extensive security measures to ensure your account is as safe as possible, there are some additional steps that we strongly recommend you take to help protect your account from unauthorized access.  We also have account types specifically designed for protecting your funds - read more about Vault accounts here.

Customer Support

Coinbase staff will never ask for your password, 2-factor authentication codes, or other login credentials. We will never ask you to install remote login or remote support software on your computer.

If anyone claiming to be associated with Coinbase Support requests this information, immediately notify trust@coinbase.com.

Password

Use a complex and unique password that is not shared or similar to those used on any other websites. These guidelines provide some information about what makes a strong password. It's also a good idea to change your password periodically (about every 3 months) and use a completely new password each time.

Also, never disclose your password to anyone. A Coinbase employee will NEVER ask for your password.

2-Factor Authentication

Take advantage of the 2-factor authentication (2FA) services we offer, either an extra SMS login code, or a TOTP app like Google Authenticator. This can be enabled on your Security page by adding Authenticator or a phone number. You can also enable 2-factor authentication codes when sending as an extra security measure.

TOTP apps are considerably more secure than SMS for 2FA codes, since they are tied to a specific physical device, not a phone number, which could be compromised in a phone porting attack.

If your email provider offers this functionality, consider adding 2FA to the email address you use to log in to Coinbase. Do not use VOIP, Google Voice, or other phone providers that send you 2FA messages via email to the address you use to log in to Coinbase.

Email

Your email address is one of the most important connections between you and your Coinbase account! Make sure it is secure! https://haveibeenpwned.com/ * can be used to see whether your email address has ever been compromised in a 3rd party data breach. If so, create a new email address to use with your Coinbase account. You can update the email address on your account at https://www.coinbase.com/settings.

Do not use the same password on your email account that you do on your Coinbase account. If your email provider offers it, activate 2-factor authentication (2FA) on your email account to add an extra layer of security.

Bookmark https://www.coinbase.com/

Bookmark https://www.coinbase.com/ in your browser, and only ever use this link to access the website. Be sure to check for the "lock" symbol appearing in your browser's address bar when you access Coinbase which indicates that your connection is secure. If this symbol is not present, double check the URL.

IP Activity

You can check the IP login activity and verified devices on your account anytime by signing-in and visiting this page:https://www.coinbase.com/settings/security_settings

3rd Party Applications

Practice due diligence when enabling any 3rd party applications to access your account, or when enabling and sharing your API key.  By default these features are turned off, and are only used in more advanced situations.  It's possible to see any 3rd party apps which have permission to use your account on this page:https://www.coinbase.com/settings/security_settings





You can also see whether API access enabled and set further API restrictions on this page:https://www.coinbase.com/settings/api

*Coinbase is not affiliated with haveibeenpwned.com and makes no representations about its products or services. Use at your own discretion.