Topic: BTC-E.COM NICE RECOVERY FROM THE HACK! =) - page 3. (Read 51029 times)

No reason we cant have financial insurance with bitcoin, put in perspective of the East India Company, Lloyds insurance and pirates on the high seas there isn't a whole lot in the difference.

No reason we cant have financial insurance with bitcoin, put in perspective of the East India Company, Lloyds insurance and pirates on the high seas there isn't a whole lot in the difference.

I'm no expert, but I don't think it was "guessed" or "dictionary attacked" because it wasn't that kind of password. An API key would just be a random string, like a btc address. (like "wE7rtGvs19EImfY5")

This worries me.
Have they figure out how the password leaked?

It definitely was not brute-forced. In the best case, it was "guessed" or "dictionary attacked" if it was not random enough, and then changing it should be enough. But if it has leaked (what I find most likely), and BTC-e doesn't know how it leaked, then the same thing may just happen again.

The platform should not resume its operations before understanding what happened and taking measures for it not to happen again. At least Liberty Reserves deposits and withdraws should be temporarily closed, since that's what leaked.

This worries me.
Have they figure out how the password leaked?

It definitely was not brute-forced. In the best case, it was "guessed" or "dictionary attacked" if it was not random enough, and then changing it should be enough. But if it has leaked (what I find most likely), and BTC-e doesn't know how it leaked, then the same thing may just happen again.

The platform should not resume its operations before understanding what happened and taking measures for it not to happen again. At least Liberty Reserves deposits and withdraws should be temporarily closed, since that's what leaked.

Insuring willful failure only disrupts progress and growth. Deposit insurance will hopefully disappear one day.

The platform should not resume its operations before understanding what happened and taking measures for it not to happen again. At least Liberty Reserves deposits and withdraws should be temporarily closed, since that's what leaked.

Trading has resumed: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=96912.0;topicseen

Modern day deposit insurance is a moral hazard that only exists because the ability to print fiat from nothing exists.

Since bitcoins can't just be created out of thin air, I think it would be very difficult to insure them.

runeks, I think there's a lot of confusion around here about things like securities, obligations, commodities, currency, money, etc.  You're addressing a nuance that I don't think most people grasp, because a year and half ago I know I didn't.  But I appreciate your effort.  People like you helped me better understand these things.

Modern day deposit insurance is a moral hazard that only exists because the ability to print fiat from nothing exists.

Since bitcoins can't just be created out of thin air, I think it would be very difficult to insure them.

Why do you say so?
I see a demand for deposit insurance in bitcoin world. If nobody has offered that yet is probably because nobody has the skills and money to start one, or those who eventually have the skills (and money) are not aware, or do not believe in, such demand. In any case, this may change.

No. Because these numbers I have on my computer are actually exchangeable for something. The numbers on btc-e.com are not.

I imagine that will change very quickly. But if this is the case then you are completely correct, a balance at btc-e.com is a sort of money, just not as widely accepted as bitcoins.

I guess my basic point was that it is an error to view as equivalent bitcoins and a bitcoin balance on an exchange. They are not equivalent. Bitcoinica is, perhaps, a better example of this than BTC-E.

The bitcoins you have right now are also not money, if you define it that way. They are numbers on your computer.

Also, BTC-E codes were accepted by companies before the hack. These people are (or were) willing to exchange BTC-E codes.

Hoвocти / Trade is stopped

16:04 31.07.12 from support
Dear users of the Exchange Btc-e.com

The exchange is not going to close. We will refund all losses from our reserves.

Neither the servers nor the database were compromised. There were no SQL injections.

At 04:07 MSK (GMT+4) our LR API Secret Key was compromised. It's 16 uppercase, lowercase letters and digits. They may have bruteforced it for long.

Using the key the hacker imitated LR deposits from many accounts and bought up Bitcoins, Namecoins and Litecoins.

We lost our daily volume, approx. 4500 BTC. The attacker couldn't withdraw more
as most BTC were distributed over several offline wallets.

At 10:30 we restored the database to the state it was at 04:00, right before the attack. All trades after 4:00 are reverted.

People who attempted withdrawals before 04:00 MSK will get their funds withdrawn later today.

For people who deposited BTC, LTC and NMC after 04:00 MSK the funds will be put to their balances before market opens.
We are working on the scripts for this.

If you deposited USD after 04:00 MSK you should send us your login, amount and payment system used by email or PM.

Our plan:

1. The trade will be disabled until we restore the balances to the point before market crash.

2. After that, the trade and deposit/withdrawal will be back on, approx. within 1-2 days.

Icq - 610112128
Skype - btc-e.support
E-mail - [email protected]

That's not what an obligation is. Just because something only has value (to you) if people are willing to exchange it for something doesn't make it an obligation. No obligation has been entered into by anyone.

No, for practical purposes, the bitcoins you have at BTC-e right now are not money. They are numbers on a website called btc-e.com.

Money is an obligation in the sense that it only has value if people pay you back for it.

I don't like how people tell others that the deposits aren't money, because for practical purposes they are. They aren't risk-free though, but nothing is.