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Topic: bitcoins hacked (Read 1220 times)

full member
Activity: 196
Merit: 100
Another block in the wall
November 11, 2012, 06:59:27 PM
#12
Why is bitcoins the new target for hackers ? perhaps it shows how much value bitcoins holds these days compare to other e-currency such as liberty reserve etc ..

Bitcoin was created by hackers for hackers. Scammers are a different set of folks.

 
vip
Activity: 980
Merit: 1001
November 11, 2012, 06:28:39 AM
#11
Why is bitcoins the new target for hackers ? perhaps it shows how much value bitcoins holds these days compare to other e-currency such as liberty reserve etc ..
because they have value
look around in the world, stuff of value gets stolen/hacked for all the time...
newbie
Activity: 39
Merit: 0
November 11, 2012, 02:59:45 AM
#10
i thought all bitcoins must always be on the network, and accounts are all on the network on the Internet. my idea was have a wallet on a flashdrive was actually just a password on the flashdrive to access the account that is inevitably on the network. i guess i am wrong?

how elso can certain websites tell your exactly how many Bitcoins are available at any given time???

Also, there are no "accounts". There are just addresses and keys.
hero member
Activity: 651
Merit: 501
My PGP Key: 92C7689C
November 11, 2012, 02:48:36 AM
#9
i thought all bitcoins must always be on the network, and accounts are all on the network on the Internet. my idea was have a wallet on a flashdrive was actually just a password on the flashdrive to access the account that is inevitably on the network. i guess i am wrong?

Think of the wallet as something like one of those programs that stores all of your passwords. It stores addresses (which have some amount of bitcoins associated with them) and their corresponding private keys (which let you spend whatever bitcoins you have). You can receive bitcoins at an address not in your wallet; you just need to add that address's private key when you want to spend whatever you receive. So long as you have a copy of all of your private keys, you could wipe out your wallet and not lose anything.
full member
Activity: 168
Merit: 100
November 11, 2012, 02:43:58 AM
#8
so it is literally impossible to hack it? people can't still hack the address even though you personally keep it on a flashdrive? i need to look into this more i guess Wink

but i find it pretty hard to believe that its impossible to hack someones bitcoins when the address is offline, although i undoubtedly believe it would be significantly more difficult...

i don't know much about hacking, but i would think if a hack could get into some some company or universities remote access into a massive amount of computer during their closed hours they could just get a bunch of computers mining bitcoins... i know a typical computer can't mine many coins without expensive equipment, but if you have 1000's of computers mining at once wouldn't that be equal to using some kind of minirig from BFL to mine--plus you wouldn't have to pay for the electricity or if you end up frying a bunch of CPUs.

this seems easier to me, but i'm not a hacker so idk... but i would think if you could get a keylogger on a admin computer you could get access to the remote access they already have in the network.
newbie
Activity: 39
Merit: 0
November 11, 2012, 02:29:16 AM
#7
i thought all bitcoins must always be on the network, and accounts are all on the network on the Internet. my idea was have a wallet on a flashdrive was actually just a password on the flashdrive to access the account that is inevitably on the network. i guess i am wrong?

how elso can certain websites tell your exactly how many Bitcoins are available at any given time???
Two important facts.

  • Wallets don't hold bitcoins. Bitcoins are "stored" in the blockchain. A wallet contains addresses and keys that allow you to spend the bitcoins owned by addresses.
  • All transactions are recorded in the block chain. If anyone wants to know how much BTC an address owns, they just add up all the transactions for that address.

Though storing the wallet on an encrypted flash drive is more secure than storing your wallet on your computer, it is still possible to be hacked because there are times when your computer has direct access to your wallet.. An offline wallet (using Armory) is even more secure because the connection between your computer and your wallet is you physically carrying data from one to the other.
full member
Activity: 168
Merit: 100
November 11, 2012, 02:08:13 AM
#6
i thought all bitcoins must always be on the network, and accounts are all on the network on the Internet. my idea was have a wallet on a flashdrive was actually just a password on the flashdrive to access the account that is inevitably on the network. i guess i am wrong?

how elso can certain websites tell your exactly how many Bitcoins are available at any given time???
sr. member
Activity: 336
Merit: 250
November 10, 2012, 11:52:00 PM
#5
because people are too lazy to use offline wallets  Smiley

If you are too lazy to use offline wallets you can loose all your bitcoins.
sr. member
Activity: 336
Merit: 250
November 10, 2012, 11:50:51 PM
#4
Why is bitcoins the new target for hackers ? perhaps it shows how much value bitcoins holds these days compare to other e-currency such as liberty reserve etc ..

Bitcoin cannot be a target for hackers as long as people use offline wallets.
newbie
Activity: 29
Merit: 0
November 10, 2012, 04:42:24 PM
#3
because people are too lazy to use offline wallets  Smiley
legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 1042
Death to enemies!
November 10, 2012, 01:12:43 PM
#2
Because they are fast to transfer, easy to obfuscate and cannot be seized by anyone.
newbie
Activity: 4
Merit: 0
November 10, 2012, 12:40:53 PM
#1
Why is bitcoins the new target for hackers ? perhaps it shows how much value bitcoins holds these days compare to other e-currency such as liberty reserve etc ..
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