What is crypto dusting?
Dusting in the crypto industry refers to an unidentified source trying to attack a wallet holder by sending a small trace amount, mostly a few dollars, called dust. However, sometimes the amount can be a lot of coins/tokens sent to numerous wallets. This attack is made in order to trace these addresses with the aim of “un-masking” or identifying the wallet holder. Dust can be found on most public blockchains such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin, among others.
Why do dusting attacks happen?
Dusting attacks are done by large groups of cybercriminals trying to identify and remove the anonymity of wallet holders. Normally this attack targets larger holding wallets of specific or various coins but smaller wallets are also targeted. However, dusting attacks can be made by a branch of the government like the tax or law enforcement agency in order to link a person or group of people to an address. This specifically targets gangs in a larger criminal network involved in things like money laundering, dealings of contraband, or tax evasion.
Dusting also occurs when mass dust is sent to random wallets to stress test the network since a large amount of throughput on the network uses high bandwidth. This is essentially a stress test of the network, which is also regarded as spamming the system. Therefore, do not fret if you receive some dust since it is not a bad thing most of the time.
Should you be concerned about dusting attacks?
If you are not a whale (individuals with large crypto holdings) or living in an area with personal safety or security concerns and political instability, dust attacks are simply an annoyance and not a real problem. Crypto dust sent to your wallet doesn’t give access to your funds. New wallet platforms have implemented stringent privacy measures, which have eliminated the common concerns of crypto dusting.
