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Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

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Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#421

Post by fisherjeff »

colinmhayes wrote: post #5
danso wrote: post #3

The statement of facts is linked to from the press release, and describes generally how the Feds were able to trace the stolen funds (they found a file listing private keys, after gaining access to the suspect's cloud storage) https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1470186/downl... > The 2017 transfers notwithstanding, the majority of the stolen funds remained in Wallet 1CGA4s from August 2016 until January 3…

$4 billion has got to buy an awful lot of compute time, but still, how did they decrypt the file?

One route would probably be to start with a warrant to search their house in hopes of finding some passwords written down somewhere

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#423

Post by openknot »

not2b wrote: post #370
openknot wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a person is that financially rich but still has to live like a grad student, it seems like the only point of that wealth is to rebel against the legal system. Even if one isn't caught, there's still a loss of freedom to avoid getting caught. I haven't studied criminology, but I alternatively suppose someone who does that just doesn't think that far ahead. This likely also explains why the vast majority of people w…

There's money laundering; have a front business and gradually mix in a bit of the illegal money and pretend it came from the business. That's how mobsters do it.

That's right; your comment brings to mind this scene where the character Saul Goodman explains money laundering in Breaking Bad (this clip is supposedly shown as part of university lectures): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhsUHDJ0BFM

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#424

Post by robbedpeter »

PKop wrote: post #224
bastawhiz wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it practical to convert literal billions of dollars between currencies? And even if you did, wouldn't liquidating it so you can actually spend it on things in the real world prove to be almost impossible? Billions of dollars worth of currency is more than I'd expect most privacy coins to deal with over the course of months.

But in this case, accessing the billions in BTC was impossible too, so for all intents and purposes, that number wasn't real, since it wasn't usable. The question is perhaps what is the most one can use and how to do it. Privacy coins probably play a part in this equation. You maybe could slowly, and methodically convert it out of the privacy coin into a spendable form when needed.

Laundering within the constraints of a public ledger isn't feasible for long periods of time or large amounts of money - the only way to win that game is to be so small nobody cares.

They could have possibly gotten cash from cartels at a steep discount, but that story would probably have ended with a richer cartel and two dead nerds.

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#425

Post by mrkramer »

everybodyknows wrote: post #407
paulpauper wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't unless you chose something stupid like "correct horse battery staple" or "word + word + number". 7 words chosen from 1000 word dictionary password encrypted AES 256 cannot be cracked with existing technology, 8 words impossible with future tech.

Is there any "standard" 1000-word dictionary?

There is for example this https://www.kaggle.com/wjburns/common-password-list-rockyout...

But you can refer to https://hashcat.net/hashcat/

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#426

Post by ncmncm »

everybodyknows wrote: post #407
paulpauper wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't unless you chose something stupid like "correct horse battery staple" or "word + word + number". 7 words chosen from 1000 word dictionary password encrypted AES 256 cannot be cracked with existing technology, 8 words impossible with future tech.

Is there any "standard" 1000-word dictionary?

You wouldn't want to use that one.

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#428

Post by teraflop »

ncmncm wrote: post #418

Quoted post unavailable.

Would you say the Senate Intelligence Committee report, which was released by a committee of 8 Republicans and 7 Democrats, and which found that:

> Russian intelligence services' assault on the integrity of the 2016 U.S. electoral process[,] and Trump and his associates' participation in and enabling of this Russian activity, represents one of the single most grave counterintelligence threats to American national security in the modern era.

was also entirely fabricated by the Clinton campaign?

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#429

Post by ska »

mardifoufs wrote: post #265
d23 wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the standard for our criminal justice system, not for us as individuals. It sounds from the release that the justice department has a boatload of compelling evidence against them.

There's a reason why the criminal justice system operates like that though. The system has been designed like that because it turned that it is a very good idea not to go on witch hunts or to assume guilt if you want a functional society. I'm not defending the person involved here, but it's important to remember that the presumption of innocence isn't just an abstract legal concept instead of a very important part of…

> he presumption of innocence isn't just an abstract legal concept instead of a very important part of the social contract.

I don't think this is in practice true, as a matter of fact rather than an ideal. People don't, in general, behave the same with other people who are currently being prosecuted for a crime.

This certainly doesn't mean (most) people support vigilantism or witch hunts, or even that you assume guilt. However it seems clear the vast majority of people are fine with the idea that you might be "careful" with someone who is suspected of a crime, especially one being actively prosecuted. To the degree that many will claim they have a right to know this is happening, i.e. they will argue that news should be carried on this (although perhaps no editorializing). This absolutely is not the same as presumption of innocence.

Sometimes this is very unfair, obviously. But "the social contract" as it is practised seems to be pretty ok with that.

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#430

Post by plankers »

everybodyknows wrote: post #407
paulpauper wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't unless you chose something stupid like "correct horse battery staple" or "word + word + number". 7 words chosen from 1000 word dictionary password encrypted AES 256 cannot be cracked with existing technology, 8 words impossible with future tech.

Is there any "standard" 1000-word dictionary?

bitcoin developers have taken a crack at it: https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039/bip-003...
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