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Topic: Newbie question about private and public keys (Read 673 times)

sr. member
Activity: 266
Merit: 257
Enthusiast
January 26, 2014, 03:51:51 PM
#10
I understand your concern, but it isn't something that you need to worry about. Yes there is a private/public key pair according to some cipher, but nobody is going to figure out your private key from your public key.

The biggest threat is people gaining access to your machine/private information through poor security practice (human's are usually the weak link in security). If somebody gets these details through poor security then all they need to do is walk straight through the door to your precious coins.

Stay safe Smiley

Yes, if you have an unencrypted wallet and somebody steals it that's a bummer. Even if encrypted and you use '12345' as a password still not good. I guess you're only as safe as your password is, right?

Cold storage is the solution.
legendary
Activity: 947
Merit: 1042
Hamster ate my bitcoin
This is a good illustration on the problem.
Where is it originally from?

I'm not sure who originally created the image, hopefully someone will enlightens us.
legendary
Activity: 1789
Merit: 1008
Keep it dense, yeah?


That's amazing haha. Of course there is always universally BAD luck Tongue But more than likely there is bad security practice, allowing the bad guy to walk straight in lol.
legendary
Activity: 1789
Merit: 1008
Keep it dense, yeah?
I know this is elementary and can't be done but I couldn't find a satisfactory answer in google, so here it goes:

What prevents somebody from 'guessing' the private key that matches a public key?

Theoretically if someone managed to try and match all combinations of the 256-bit private key between 0x1 and 0xFFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFE BAAE DCE6 AF48 A03B BFD2 5E8C D036 4141 to a public key he would eventually be able spend the bitcoins stored on this account right?

What does it take to see if a private/public key combination is correct? Is this something you check against the bitcoin network or is it a local algorithm?

Thanks!

I understand your concern, but it isn't something that you need to worry about. Yes there is a private/public key pair according to some cipher, but nobody is going to figure out your private key from your public key.

The biggest threat is people gaining access to your machine/private information through poor security practice (human's are usually the weak link in security). If somebody gets these details through poor security then all they need to do is walk straight through the door to your precious coins.

Stay safe Smiley
newbie
Activity: 45
Merit: 0
hero member
Activity: 868
Merit: 1000


This is a good illustration on the problem.
Where is it originally from?
sr. member
Activity: 266
Merit: 257
Enthusiast
Thank you!
legendary
Activity: 947
Merit: 1042
Hamster ate my bitcoin
legendary
Activity: 4542
Merit: 3393
Vile Vixen and Miss Bitcointalk 2021-2023
I don't think you realise just how big the numbers involved really are. Theoretically, if someone managed to try and match all combinations of 256-bit keys, he would need to consume billions of times more energy than an exploding supernova, in which case you've got bigger problems than your bitcoins.
sr. member
Activity: 266
Merit: 257
Enthusiast
I know this is elementary and can't be done but I couldn't find a satisfactory answer in google, so here it goes:

What prevents somebody from 'guessing' the private key that matches a public key?

Theoretically if someone managed to try and match all combinations of the 256-bit private key between 0x1 and 0xFFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFE BAAE DCE6 AF48 A03B BFD2 5E8C D036 4141 to a public key he would eventually be able spend the bitcoins stored on this account right?

What does it take to see if a private/public key combination is correct? Is this something you check against the bitcoin network or is it a local algorithm?

Thanks!
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