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Computer compromise leads to theft of bitcoins valued at $500,000 USD

forum.bitcoin.org

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Re: Computer compromise leads to theft of bitcoins valued at $500,000 USD

#81

Post by recoiledsnake »

Ixiaus wrote: post #70
astrodust wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing I find more dangerous than that is anyone with your wallet.dat file can go and do whatever with your account. There really should be additional checks. Having to sign your transfer requests and allow people to impose a voluntary delay on their transactions to allow time for cancellation would help significantly.

My wallet is on an IronKey - in order for me to use it I have to plug it in and decrypt it. I also backup my wallet on a NAS server but the wallet is encrypted with GPG. Gotta protect your data!!

And it's simple to run a keylogger after a brower/flash/pdf/java exploit to grab your password, isn't it? Not even admin/root access is needed.

Re: Computer compromise leads to theft of bitcoins valued at $500,000 USD

#82

Post by nickik »

berberich wrote: post #55
cheez wrote: post #37

Third sentence: > If only the wallet file was encrypted on the HD. Yep. Anyone who doesn't do this is stupid.

I haven't used Bitcoin, so this is an honest question - Why doesn't the software encrypt the wallet automatically?

Bitcoin is a Thesis of one Guy. Its great in many ways but in terms of Softwaredesing and Engeniering at least the Client sucks. I've the Auther had knew it would be blowing up like this he would probebly have build something better.

Its Open Source and you can interact via JSON so it would be that hard to build a good client that does this kind of stuff.

Re: Computer compromise leads to theft of bitcoins valued at $500,000 USD

#83

Post by stipes »

lukejduncan wrote: post #51

BitCoin has an analog in cash. Yes, it's anonymous but there are things you simply dont do with it.

The design of BitCoin only includes very weak anonymity. A medium-to-large scale network analysis could most likely break any anonymity people thought they had.

Re: Computer compromise leads to theft of bitcoins valued at $500,000 USD

#84

Post by timbowhite »

recoiledsnake wrote: post #65
timbowhite wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Banks also inflate the money supply using fractional reserve banking, effectively diminishing the value of every other dollar in active currency. If you think that is honest behavior, then bury all your money for 10 years and then try to spend it. Suprise! You've been robbed. If I'm not mistaken, there is an eventual limit on the amount of bitcoins that can ever be created.

>If you think that is honest behavior, then bury all your money for 10 years and then try to spend it. Suprise! You've been robbed. That does induce people to spend,invest or save(savings in banks are loaned out to others by the banks) which drives the economy. The problem with bitcoin right now is that it's being thought of an investment to hold on to, instead of a currency that must be exchanged for goods. Imagine…

> instead of a currency that must be exchanged for goods.

My prediction is the bitcoin market will correct itself, as markets without interference do. Bitcoins are intrinsically worthless, like the USD, unless it can be exchange for goods/services.

> Imagine if the dollar was appreciating in value big time every week and month.

As long as a central banking authority (Federal Reserve) can legally make dollars from thin air, this will never happen.

Re: Computer compromise leads to theft of bitcoins valued at $500,000 USD

#85

Post by BoppreH »

cheez wrote: post #37

Third sentence: > If only the wallet file was encrypted on the HD. Yep. Anyone who doesn't do this is stupid.

Could a hacker move the file somewhere else and ask for ransom?

If so, that's a lot easier to deal with than losing everything outright, but not risk proof.

Re: Computer compromise leads to theft of bitcoins valued at $500,000 USD

#87

Post by cosgroveb »

mrcharles wrote: post #44

Correct me if I'm wrong, but given the P2P nature of bitcoin, wouldn't it effectively give someone interested in malicious activity a list of target IP addresses? In theory he could set up his own P2P, watch for large transactions, and then he has an ip running a bitcoin client who (potentially) has a large wallet. Then it's just a matter of running common exploits (or new ones, if you have them) in order to access t…

Also: this is the perfect crime for those so inclined to do this. What authorities are going to give a damn about your missing Bitcoins?

Re: Computer compromise leads to theft of bitcoins valued at $500,000 USD

#88

Post by hugh3 »

ch0wn wrote: post #61
tybris wrote: post #20

I now understand that BitCoin is actually an experiment to teach people basic economics and why many of today's rules and institutions (e.g., banks) exist. Sorry for criticizing it. BitCoin is an awesome educational tool.

Bitcoin is not money on the bank, but cash. If your wallet is stolen, the bank will not refund you, either. You can, however, go to the police and that is what the victim here is doing as well. There is, of course, a much lower chance of catching the thief than there would be with real cash.

Yep, which is why if you have $500K you keep it in the bank and not in your wallet. (Err, not that $500K would fit in your wallet, but anyway...)

Bitcoin has no "bank" equivalent.

Re: Computer compromise leads to theft of bitcoins valued at $500,000 USD

#89

Post by recoiledsnake »

timbowhite wrote: post #84
recoiledsnake wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If you think that is honest behavior, then bury all your money for 10 years and then try to spend it. Suprise! You've been robbed. That does induce people to spend,invest or save(savings in banks are loaned out to others by the banks) which drives the economy. The problem with bitcoin right now is that it's being thought of an investment to hold on to, instead of a currency that must be exchanged for goods. Imagine…

> instead of a currency that must be exchanged for goods. My prediction is the bitcoin market will correct itself, as markets without interference do. Bitcoins are intrinsically worthless, like the USD, unless it can be exchange for goods/services. > Imagine if the dollar was appreciating in value big time every week and month. As long as a central banking authority (Federal Reserve) can legally make dollars from thi…

The problem is that people are using BitCoin as a 'Get Rich Quick' scheme instead of a currency. While this does drive adoption, some lives may be destroyed on the way because of market manipulation by malicious parties. How many legitimate transactions are happening compared to transactions with an intent to hoard BitCoins for future gains?

Re: Computer compromise leads to theft of bitcoins valued at $500,000 USD

#90

Post by sp332 »

gravitronic wrote: post #13

http://blockexplorer.com/address/176LRX4WRWD5LWDMbhr94ptb2MW... That's the account record of the address that supposedly stole the huge amount of bitcoin. The maximum balance I see it have is 400 blocks. Is it missing from the record or is a bitcoin block larger than 1 BTC?

A BTC "block" is currently 50 BTC, I think.
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