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How we recovered $300k of Bitcoin

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Re: How we recovered $300k of Bitcoin

#21

Post by dirtydroog »

sireat wrote: post #5

The author is a very talented applied cryptographer with a very impressive resume (he is looking for new projects). The following CV line stands out however: Google: Software Engineer, Ads Review. June 2014– March 2016. Angular / Java developer on the internal tool used by contractors to review Google ads for policy violations. How did that saying about "brightest minds working on ads" go? I am not blaming the author…

Actually, being involved in ad tech can get you involved in some really cool tech. It's an incredibly fast-paced industry, lots of parallels to HFT.

And yes, everyone in the industry knows that ads don't work, you have all the ad blockers, etc.

Re: How we recovered $300k of Bitcoin

#22

Post by gwbas1c »

tomglynch wrote: post #16
saagarjha wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Back in January of 2016, he had bought around $10K or $15K of Bitcoin and put the keys in an encrypted zip file. Based on the price of Bitcoin back then, it seems like this was about 30-40 Bitcoin?

Was the computer stolen or did he actually forget the password?

From TFA:

> Luckily, he still had the original laptop and knew exactly when the encryption took place.

Re: How we recovered $300k of Bitcoin

#23

Post by saagarjha »

dirtydroog wrote: post #21
sireat wrote: post #5

The author is a very talented applied cryptographer with a very impressive resume (he is looking for new projects). The following CV line stands out however: Google: Software Engineer, Ads Review. June 2014– March 2016. Angular / Java developer on the internal tool used by contractors to review Google ads for policy violations. How did that saying about "brightest minds working on ads" go? I am not blaming the author…

Actually, being involved in ad tech can get you involved in some really cool tech. It's an incredibly fast-paced industry, lots of parallels to HFT. And yes, everyone in the industry knows that ads don't work, you have all the ad blockers, etc.

Why work on something that you know doesn't work and makes the world worse?

Re: How we recovered $300k of Bitcoin

#24

Post by aazaa »

> Recovering the key was usually instantaneous, but to help people feel like they’d gotten their money’s worth, we’d put on a little animated show like a Hollywood hacking scene with lots of random characters that gradually revealed the right password.

and later ...

> I’m currently looking for work in a staff or senior staff engineering or data scientist role. If you’ve got interesting technical analysis or optimization problems, please reach out to me and let’s talk.

I can't help but wonder if this write-up (which is fascinating) may not be one of those little animated shows to help propspective employers feel like they'll get their money's worth.

Re: How we recovered $300k of Bitcoin

#25

Post by Baeocystin »

saagarjha wrote: post #23
dirtydroog wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, being involved in ad tech can get you involved in some really cool tech. It's an incredibly fast-paced industry, lots of parallels to HFT. And yes, everyone in the industry knows that ads don't work, you have all the ad blockers, etc.

Why work on something that you know doesn't work and makes the world worse?

Some people are absolutely OK with that. Some people, it bothers deeply. Same about weapons work, or other engineering tasks of various applicable moralities. We all have to make our choices. I know I've worked on things of minimal value, just because I needed to pay for life. I've switched to other things when able.

Re: How we recovered $300k of Bitcoin

#26

Post by antonzabirko »

aresant wrote: post #7

"I’m currently looking for work in a staff or senior staff engineering or data scientist role. If you’ve got interesting technical analysis or optimization problems, please reach out to me and let’s talk." That is probably the best CV I've ever read by accident. You should broaden your job hunt criteria to technical content marketing - seriously! Very rare to possess the skill to tell a story in an entertaining, appr…

What's different from other CVs? Seems similar to pitches on most personal sites.

Re: How we recovered $300k of Bitcoin

#27

Post by projektfu »

FroshKiller wrote: post #17
hanniabu wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you’ve got interesting technical analysis... FYI, not sure if english is your first language or not but this should be "If you have interesting technical analysis..."

Native American English speaker. "If you've got" like this is perfectly idiomatic.

You’ve got mail! —native English speaker

Re: How we recovered $300k of Bitcoin

#28

Post by qes »

saagarjha wrote: post #14
TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #12

excellent story. can you share the number of bitcoins that were retrieved and how the customer lost the password in the first place?

> Back in January of 2016, he had bought around $10K or $15K of Bitcoin and put the keys in an encrypted zip file. Based on the price of Bitcoin back then, it seems like this was about 30-40 Bitcoin?

About 40 BTC would be in the neighborhood of $300k these days, as well.

Re: How we recovered $300k of Bitcoin

#29

Post by 9nGQluzmnq3M »

antonzabirko wrote: post #26
aresant wrote: post #7

"I’m currently looking for work in a staff or senior staff engineering or data scientist role. If you’ve got interesting technical analysis or optimization problems, please reach out to me and let’s talk." That is probably the best CV I've ever read by accident. You should broaden your job hunt criteria to technical content marketing - seriously! Very rare to possess the skill to tell a story in an entertaining, appr…

What's different from other CVs? Seems similar to pitches on most personal sites.

This "CV" is the embodiment of show, don't tell: it's a lot more convincing than a bullet point saying "experienced cryptographer".

Re: How we recovered $300k of Bitcoin

#30

Post by starpilot »

sireat wrote: post #5

The author is a very talented applied cryptographer with a very impressive resume (he is looking for new projects). The following CV line stands out however: Google: Software Engineer, Ads Review. June 2014– March 2016. Angular / Java developer on the internal tool used by contractors to review Google ads for policy violations. How did that saying about "brightest minds working on ads" go? I am not blaming the author…

I'm starting to consider any company whose revenue primarily comes from ads to be immoral. It's the business of hijacking people's minds. Part of this means stimulating the worst aspects of thinking: addiction, fear, pain, all that ads seek to satisfy.
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