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Topic: Some questions I didn't find in the FAQ (Read 1091 times)

newbie
Activity: 2
Merit: 0
May 11, 2011, 05:57:11 PM
#3
Thanks for the quick reply! Smiley
sr. member
Activity: 406
Merit: 256
Hi,

I am new here and I also am impressed by this new currency. I hope it will become a global standard soon Wink

Meanwhile, I still have some concerns. Could someone please address some of these concerns?
My apologies if these questions already have been asked previously.

1. The RSA security may be state of the art today but what this may not be the case in the (far) future.
Encyptions from the past are not strong anymore today (i.e. the enigma code in WW2).
Maybe we will all get a superfast computer in say 30 years.
So imagine that the RSA security in the future is broken somehow.
Does the system collapse then?
Is the system then immediately adoptable to a higher level of security?


2.
Although the system itself may be rock solid, what about the client application itself?
The client is running with an open port 8333 to my PC, the application connects to an IRC channel and connects to multiple nodes.
What if there is a vulnerability and this gets abused by a hacker. I assume the hacker could then install malware or even worse, steal my purse?

3.
Imagine the government decides to join the network and uses the fastest supercomputer(s) on the planet to mine for coins.
Are they then able to influence and destabilize the system?

4.
Imagine a receiver is fooling with me and he says he didn't receive my payment. He could say that I have used the wrong address.
Because of the anonimity of the addresses there is no way to tell who owns an address.
How can I prove that I really payed to him, if I have for instance to go to a a court?

Thanks and keep up the good work!


1. Bitcoin can just move to a new crypto algorithm, whatever is best at the time. It can easily be done preemptively as well.

2. Possible, though given that the software is relatively minimal and is reviewed by lots of people, that doesn't seem likely- it is a concern though.

3. If they have over 50% of the hashing power, yes, some attacks are possible. But I doubt all the governments in the world have more hashing power than the people of the world.

4. Whatever medium he used to transfer the address to you, it is his responsibility to get it right, and you can check that you actually sent the coins to the address he was told.
newbie
Activity: 2
Merit: 0
Hi,

I am new here and I also am impressed by this new currency. I hope it will become a global standard soon Wink

Meanwhile, I still have some concerns. Could someone please address some of these concerns?
My apologies if these questions already have been asked previously.

1. The RSA security may be state of the art today but what this may not be the case in the (far) future.
Encryptions from the past are not strong anymore today (i.e. the enigma code in WW2).
Maybe we will all get a superfast computer in say 30 years.
So imagine that the RSA security in the future is broken somehow.
Does the system collapse then?
Is the system then immediately adoptable to a higher level of security?

2.
Although the system itself may be rock solid, what about the client application itself?
The client is running with an open port 8333 to my PC, the application connects to an IRC channel and connects to multiple nodes.
What if there is a vulnerability and this gets abused by a hacker. I assume the hacker could then install malware or even worse, steal my purse?

3.
Imagine the government decides to join the network and uses the fastest supercomputer(s) on the planet to mine for coins.
Are they then able to influence and destabilize the system?

4.
Imagine a receiver is fooling with me and he says he didn't receive my payment. He could say that I have used the wrong address.
Because of the anonimity of the addresses there is no way to tell who owns an address.
How can I prove that I really payed to him, if I have for instance to go to a a court?

Thanks and keep up the good work!
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