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Man Has Only Two Password Guesses Left to Recover $236M in Bitcoin

9 points by doubler 6y ago

throw03172019 6y ago
Which wallet imposes this type of password restriction? I can see exchanges having something like this but a wallet stored on computer?
- TigeriusKirk 6y ago
  It's not the wallet, it's the hard drive encryption. The original article would be a better link, it gives the details. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/technology/bitcoin-passwords-wallets-fortunes.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/technology/bitcoin-passwo...
gambiting 6y ago
I just don't understand. If there really is $236M on the line then services of any company that could unlock it would be worth any asking price. I'm sure there exists someone willing to take the challenge for a big enough slice of it. There's cybersecurity companies everywhere. Maybe let me put it this way - he has basically unlimited money to do this. At that "price point" you could hire the best specialists in the world to crack this.
- piracy1 6y ago
  IDK, maybe ironkey is just really secure. I knew someone who worked at a nuclear research facility for a major defense contractor and they used them. If the US gave them the green light I bet you they had the NSA poke at it.
  - gambiting 6y ago
    Sure, but there are companies like the Israeli NSO which apparently has cracked the uncrackable iPhone secure enclave, I can't believe that for the right amount of money they wouldn't take a stab at it, or at least try to figure out a way to have unlimited password tries for this guy. Idk, maybe I'm being naive.
    - curryst 6y ago
      Well, to be clear, they'd be working on contingency. Unless this guy is otherwise wealthy, he probably won't have a million dollars laying around to give them. I wouldn't hold my breath on companies willing to work on contingency to break a piece of crypto the US government uses. Not that the government is particularly competent at this, but it's a reasonable bar. Plus there will almost certainly be legal issues stemming from cracking devices the government uses.
paxys 6y ago
I remember when Bitcoin first blew up (price reached a few hundred I think?) everyone I knew claimed that they bought a bunch at a few cents but forgot the password/reformatted their hard drive/gave it away.
ChrisArchitect 6y ago
further discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25746240 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25746240
Stierlitz 6y ago
How to remember a password. Use the first and last letter of each word from a quotation, discarding two letter and single letter words. aeshs fdsae meado rlele rdwhsp
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

9 points by doubler 6y ago

throw03172019 6y ago

Which wallet imposes this type of password restriction? I can see exchanges having something like this but a wallet stored on computer?

TigeriusKirk 6y ago
It's not the wallet, it's the hard drive encryption. The original article would be a better link, it gives the details. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/technology/bitcoin-passwords-wallets-fortunes.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/technology/bitcoin-passwo...

gambiting 6y ago

I just don't understand. If there really is $236M on the line then services of any company that could unlock it would be worth any asking price. I'm sure there exists someone willing to take the challenge for a big enough slice of it. There's cybersecurity companies everywhere. Maybe let me put it this way - he has basically unlimited money to do this. At that "price point" you could hire the best specialists in the world to crack this.

piracy1 6y ago
IDK, maybe ironkey is just really secure. I knew someone who worked at a nuclear research facility for a major defense contractor and they used them. If the US gave them the green light I bet you they had the NSA poke at it.
- gambiting 6y ago
  Sure, but there are companies like the Israeli NSO which apparently has cracked the uncrackable iPhone secure enclave, I can't believe that for the right amount of money they wouldn't take a stab at it, or at least try to figure out a way to have unlimited password tries for this guy. Idk, maybe I'm being naive.
  - curryst 6y ago
    Well, to be clear, they'd be working on contingency. Unless this guy is otherwise wealthy, he probably won't have a million dollars laying around to give them. I wouldn't hold my breath on companies willing to work on contingency to break a piece of crypto the US government uses. Not that the government is particularly competent at this, but it's a reasonable bar. Plus there will almost certainly be legal issues stemming from cracking devices the government uses.

paxys 6y ago

I remember when Bitcoin first blew up (price reached a few hundred I think?) everyone I knew claimed that they bought a bunch at a few cents but forgot the password/reformatted their hard drive/gave it away.

ChrisArchitect 6y ago

further discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25746240 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25746240

Stierlitz 6y ago

How to remember a password. Use the first and last letter of each word from a quotation, discarding two letter and single letter words. aeshs fdsae meado rlele rdwhsp

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]