Stop Using Blockfolio App - Its Calling Home with Too Much Info (+Small Safety Tutorial)

in #bitcoin7 years ago

What is Blockfolio

I have done a review of Blockfolio long ago here if you are not familiar its an app which allows you to track prices of chosen coins and has almost all altcoins you can imagine.

But it also has another neat option - you can add there amounts of coisn you have, price you bought at and it will constantly show you how much your whole coin portfolio is worth, you can check stats of all coins you have and more.

The app looks and works amazing. No doubt in this.

Blockfolio Tracks All Your Moves and Coins

While i knew this app is great i have only used it to track prices, i have never put there single info about my orders or amouns of what i own. Due to years online and 7th year in cryptocurrency (omg.. im so old) ive expected abuse to happen.

I hate tracking of any kind and imagine here you give full info on your net worth to randoms.

Due to todays findin it gets even better - they have over 100 000 downloads and can fully track move of everyone to not only track people but track and predict moves on markets.

The Finds

Website BitcoinErrorLog went by code and all homecalls in the app and found some sneaky things there.

But as i said - its nothing surprising. Possibly after this went public app owners will stop this or mangle it more..
Either way its never good to use such 3rd party apps that track you and trusting them with your money.

How to Stay Safe in Crypto World

  • Obviously - if you dont have key to your coins, they are not yours. Never trust exchanges or webwallets.
  • In Bitcoin a like coins - often change wallets, use new addresses for deposits.
  • Have backups of your keys for coins also outside home.
  • Use VPN and change IPs on it often, i currently use Traceless.
  • Never share your keys with anyone on internet.
  • Add 2FA on exchanges, if they dont have this option.. Dont even use them.

This are the basics to get you started.

Follow, Resteem and VOTE UP @kingscrown creator of http://fuk.io blog for 0day cryptocurrency news and tips!

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Nice post @kingscrown. I feel the same about keeping my private keys to myself. I use blockfolio too! I swear everyone has a motive lol. Thanks for the great post as always. Cheers.
Mark

If you want to continue using it while significantly minimising the risk of hackers taking notice of you, here is a solution for you:
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@blockchainttmft/how-to-use-blockfolio-app-without-risking-losing-your-money

OMG blockfolio... I'm removing you right now... I feel so violated. I freaking loved this app. I was not concerned because i don't put actual tokens on there but this is just sad.

I'm in the same boat.. sepecially since I just re-balanced my holdings ¡Mierda DAMN!

Agree that everyone has a motive. You should always prefer open source project or a paid tool. You can checkout an alternative cryptocurrency portfolio manager like Cointracking which has both free and pad version.

i didn't use yet but info will bring me there.

Also, I've listed a few alternatives on this post. I used to be hooked up on Blockfolio as well. Regardless of how I feel about them, it's always good to have some alternatives !

Hi @oceancoinz, if you want to get rid of the commercial Blockfolio, I have written a simple and straightforward IPython Blockfolio.

Takes advice from 7 year old crypto king and unistalls the app.

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I assumed this was how they were making money, using trade data. I still feel it's a useful app, just be cautious about putting buy and sell info into it.

Yeah, knowing this is only gonna stop me from updating my amounts. I still love the app.

The data provided to them is completely unreliable, anyone could enter $100m in some random coin and completely skew the data. The data is also after trades have been completed, this sort of data would be fairly hard to game.

I agree. I wouldn't necessarily let it worry me. But to be cautious, don't input all details on your blockfolio app. For example, I don't change what exchange I use to what's on my blockfolio that way there is less tracking, in a sense.

Whoaaaa! 😲😲😲
Nice 👍 pass @kingscrown
With the value of crypto and information... I've always suspected this a possibility.

Nothing surprising as you say but still kinda whooaaa wtf right?

Excellent tips and pointers on keeping things locked and tight.
And may I say, congrats on your 7th year in the space 🚀
😉😏😎

Stay well and Steem on kingscrown 🐳!

Blockfolio released a statement regarding this issue an hour ago:
https://www.blockfolio.com/june_30_privacy_statement.html

Good. Maybe they just got caught redhanded. Lol

It seems like a reasonable response. At least they reacted and fixed the major issues.

Are you saying that the data wouldn't be stored in a database on a centralized server anyway? B/c, if so, API calls don't mean anything. You'd be far better to data mine with SQL queries than send some kind of API call from the app itself.

right answer lol

Thanks for the heads-up. I have the Blockfolio app but haven't put any of my transaction info on it yet. Glad I found your post!
Do you know if cryptocompare.com might be doing this too?

I'm actuallying using coincap's app. its helpful!

I think it's safe to say, these kinds of things are rarely ever free. Your data is much more valuable then the cost of an app. READ THE FINE PRINT!

If its free.. you are the product!

Nice find. People in general are way too trusting with their private information. Especially financials is not something one should put in a random app.

Good advice on security too.

it look like fake Blockchain.info

Great post @kingscrown.🐱‍💻
Hope this inspires people to further secure their crypto😎

I would defiantly stay clear from Blockfolio. Burpsuite is a tool used for commonly used for web application penetration testing/hacking activities. A massive red flag

What alternative would you recommended for portfolio management? https://www.cryptocompare.com has a nice one but its not encrypted :(

I would also recommend using a unique password for everything markets, wallets, est. This can all be managed securely with password managers. Also think about running AV scans and auditing the machine you use. Cant be using a insecure machine :P

follow me @shifty0g

Seems like were a little off and they are clearing up the confusion

In order to provide better services and develop business products, we plan to analyze the data on our platform. To date, we have not made use of any of the data in any way. When we do, we will ensure the privacy of our users is a top priority.

Data is associated with device IDs, or hashed values, and is non-personally identifiable.

https://www.blockfolio.com/june_30_privacy_statement.html

Great write-up on this app. You got some good tips that will keep others safe. Been following you for a few days...

Thats not the way we wanna go. Wont use it pal ☢

Thanks a lot..safety first buddy...

A much better alternative to tracking your portfolio and investements is Cointracking.info (referral link). It's also much more advanced than Blockfolio and allows you to do all sorts of analytics on your investments.

Also, I've listed a few alternatives on this post.

Congratulations @kingscrown!
Your post was mentioned in my hit parade in the following category:

  • Upvotes - Ranked 7 with 552 upvotes

I was always a little fearful of using Blockfolio, I instead prefer to use a Google Sheets doc that uses APIs to get the most up to date prices. Here's an instruction article I wrote:

https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@jhcooper7/cryptfolio-the-utterly-amazing-portfolio-management-tool-you-ve-always-needed-coinmarketcap-com-api

Also, I've listed a few alternatives on this post. I used to be hooked up on Blockfolio as well. Regardless of how I feel about them, it's always good to have some alternatives ! I should include your Google Sheet alternative whenever I get the chance (currently uneditable)

Surely by using Google Sheets, you are making your financial data available to Google and possibly others? As the sheet is linked to your Google account, then you are personally identifiable, whereas with Blockfolio you are not. Seems a strange choice if you are worried about privacy.

Perhaps, but I trust Google with that more than some shady app developers. If i log into an exchange using Chrome I'm trusting them with that too, having a few numbers on a sheet isn't the greatest of my concern.

This post received a 1.5% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @kingscrown! For more information, click here!

feel free to check our simple app that works as crypto portfolio, it is very simple and we are not sharing your data, not even with our server, everything you create it will remain on your app.

check the link below:
https://steemit.com/technology/@sarkawt909/all-my-coins-android-app

Thank you for sharing this information. I just started using Blockfolio. Will be cautious what information I put in there

I've just downloaded Blockfolio today and just now came across this post. While reading the post I was thinking, there goes my app that can give me a good overview of bitcoins/altcoins value! Than I saw that Blockfolio came with a fast reaction which took my worries away. Thank God, because I had a long search before finally finding a good app on my phone to give me the right insights. Still have to give it a try, but this post won't keep me from using it.

Also, I've listed a few alternatives on this post. I went through the same you're going on right now, and it wasn't easy finding softwares for this purpose. Good research is always the way to go !

The best Folio app is
an Excell sheet you keep locally at your computer. :)

I have deleted that app two weeks before , I had some other issue, so I removed and not using it more.

Looks at blockfolio app running in the background...

what app would you recommend to use in its replacement?

yea this is what I want to know because blockfolio is extremely useful for me

OK I just thought about it and came up with two solutions:
If you want to continue using it while significantly minimising the risk of hackers taking notice of you, here is a solution for you:
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@blockchainttmft/how-to-use-blockfolio-app-without-risking-losing-your-money

I put up a list of softwares and recommendations on this post. If you'd care to take a look !

yeah they shouldn't be want so much information, cryptocurrency is about completing transactions without any personal info!

Awesome tips. This is really important stuff!

just wants upvotes and didn't read post

You are right bro without keys cryptocurrencies are just like Delicious food in front of you and you cannot eat
🍇🍈🍉🍊🍋🍎🍏🍑🍒🍒🍏🍖🍗🍔🍟🍕🌭🧀🍞🌰🍄🍥🎂🍰🍡🍫🍬🍧🍨🍝🍜🌯🍳🍲🍿🍱🍘🍙🍣🍛🍮🍯🍭🍹🍺🍻

7 years? you must be a billionaire!

How's your crypto portfolio looking? And what are your plans in the near future?

I will give you a follow :)

Thanks man for the info!!!

Thanks for the info! Usually dont trust stuff like this, but had good reviews. What are your thoughts on coin tracker? Similar situation?

Also, I've listed a few alternatives on this post. I give all of them a review. As far as I know coin tracker is fine !

Wow I had no idea about this! I usually swear by Blockfolio and even use it to keep track of the amounts of STEEM and SBD I receive each day from Steemit. But of course, in this day and age, remote surveillance can happen anywhere and on any app. Thanks for raising awareness @kingscrown - I'll be a lot more careful from here on out!

I just heard about blockfolio, I might download it just to track prices myself, I wouldn't feel comfortable letting the world know my net worth in crypto (even though its not much). I like holding crypto offline in cold storage, used to have some paper wallets for ETH but I go really paranoid about it once I started buying a lot. Thanks for info.

Also, I've listed a few alternatives on this post. If you'd care to take a look !

Thanks for the heads up and advice on keeping our info safe.

Once again thanks for the info. The amount of crypto's are exploding so the scope for abuse increases as well. Chur

I've never used Blockfolio, but i'll be sure to be safe if i do. Thanks for the info @kingscrown

nice ))

i will follow you and i hope you will follow me : )

Follow for follow doesn't provide value for anyone. Why not provide some value in your comment and then suggest that someone follows you, give them a good reason to follow you.

Thanks for the info. Appreciated!

I have been addicted to blockfolio the last 2 months. But will stop inserting my worth and actions at this time, cause of the info you just presented. Only use it to monitor the markets, and for "dip-alarms"

If you want to continue using it while significantly minimising the risk of hackers taking notice of you, here is a solution for you:
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@blockchainttmft/how-to-use-blockfolio-app-without-risking-losing-your-money

That was an excellent idea, dividing it by a choosen Order. Nice one

After Wikileaks published the Vault 7 documents it should be clear to all of us, that there are many hackers and even more companies using this backdoor spying on us.

Data sets are the new gold; to know your customer's habits and what he's doing next - means lots of cash for the players who are all in.

Cheers... - Brave New World Order!

wow this is scary stuff but couldn't you input any random number of coins into your folio so how can they verify the integrity of the data

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