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Bitcoin extends losses after U.S. seizes most of Colonial ransom

cnbc.com

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Re: Bitcoin extends losses after U.S. seizes most of Colonial ransom

#61

Post by Shacklz »

bredren wrote: post #35
baby wrote: post #25

More detail on how they managed to get access to that password/private key? Edit: I found the bitcoin address https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/bc1q7eqww9dmm9p48hx5y...

If it was not hacked then I believe the implication is that the key was cracked. Presumably, via brute force capability of unknown nature or a weakness in Bitcoin not known at this time.

I think this is more a case of "What actually happend": https://xkcd.com/538/

Re: Bitcoin extends losses after U.S. seizes most of Colonial ransom

#62

Post by Taek »

walexander wrote: post #52
baby wrote: post #25

More detail on how they managed to get access to that password/private key? Edit: I found the bitcoin address https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/bc1q7eqww9dmm9p48hx5y...

The most plausible theory I've heard is that the attackers used a BTC tumbler that was a honeypot controlled by feds. But who knows, maybe the FBI has a quantum computer we don't know about.

Seems unlikely that the FBI sitting on a way to break ECDSA would use it to recover $2 million. Much more likely that there was a tumbler or exchange that they were able to link to the attacker and use to seize funds. Maybe they even have backdoors in some popular crypto wallets.

Re: Bitcoin extends losses after U.S. seizes most of Colonial ransom

#63

Post by bdcravens »

TameAntelope wrote: post #34
jerf wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but chanting that at every correlation you see is a great way to never learn from anything. To be honest it's a bit hard to believe this reporting has nothing to do with the price dropping ~10%, given that one of BitCoin's big parts of its value prop is precisely supposed to be that governments can't do this.

I... genuinely am confused. What is it here that a government isn't supposed to be able to do?

If you keep your key secure, government can't seize your assets, as they can with a bank.

Re: Bitcoin extends losses after U.S. seizes most of Colonial ransom

#64

Post by devonbleak »

mypastself wrote: post #4

I find it amusing how all the news reports gloss over the fact that the FBI somehow got access to the wallet’s private key. I’m also wondering why the hackers didn’t request payment in a currency that’s more difficult to trace.

Yeah the "follow the money" line from the FBI felt like a red herring. Yes you can follow the money through the addresses but it's not like they include routing numbers to tell you which bank manager to go convince to cooperate. Feels like Darkside got sloppy and left their private key unencrypted on their payment server which got seized/compromised.

Re: Bitcoin extends losses after U.S. seizes most of Colonial ransom

#65

Post by dehrmann »

bredren wrote: post #35
baby wrote: post #25

More detail on how they managed to get access to that password/private key? Edit: I found the bitcoin address https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/bc1q7eqww9dmm9p48hx5y...

If it was not hacked then I believe the implication is that the key was cracked. Presumably, via brute force capability of unknown nature or a weakness in Bitcoin not known at this time.

As others have pointed out in another post, you don't reveal that you've broken an important cryptographic algorithm over $2M.

Re: Bitcoin extends losses after U.S. seizes most of Colonial ransom

#67

Post by Black101 »

jorblumesea wrote: post #41

Did anyone really believe BTC was "untraceable"? You can literally trace every transaction. This feels like ignorance on the hand of BTC investors.

If they would have the bitcoin sent to a self-hosted wallet, the FBI probably never have known who received them, unless they cash them recklessly.

Re: Bitcoin extends losses after U.S. seizes most of Colonial ransom

#68

Post by paulpauper »

tome wrote: post #44
bredren wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it was not hacked then I believe the implication is that the key was cracked. Presumably, via brute force capability of unknown nature or a weakness in Bitcoin not known at this time.

> If it was not hacked then I believe the implication is that the key was cracked. Is anyone here willing to say they believe the key was cracked? Seems extremely implausible to me.

It can be cracked if the keypair generator process is faulty. Some wallets have been known to be vulnerable due to poor rng implementation

Re: Bitcoin extends losses after U.S. seizes most of Colonial ransom

#69

Post by thinkmassive »

baby wrote: post #25

More detail on how they managed to get access to that password/private key? Edit: I found the bitcoin address https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/bc1q7eqww9dmm9p48hx5y...

Some educated guesses from ErgoBTC in this thread: https://twitter.com/ErgoBTC/status/1402277984212557836

Re: Bitcoin extends losses after U.S. seizes most of Colonial ransom

#70

Post by vmception »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #55
derefr wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's that BTC is easier to get victims to buy without oversight. There are Bitcoin ATMs. Buying Bitcoin from an ATM is like sending money via Western Union, but without the teller there to spot someone looking like they're under duress. As for anonymity on the receiving end: the BTC can always just be exchanged for a more anonymous currency like Monero. You might think that'd require the criminal to KYC to a…

KYC?

Client identification information that banks and brokerages are required to collect.
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