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I have. I kept about $500 worth of bitcoin, as an unencrypted wallet.dat file, on my gaming PC in which I sometimes run untrusted executables. One day, I got a

by dannyw 4y ago

I have. I kept about $500 worth of bitcoin, as an unencrypted wallet.dat file, on my gaming PC in which I sometimes run untrusted executables. One day, I got a notification the coins have been moved. After realising it wasn't a false positive, I immediately disconnected and imaged the PC, and sure enough, deep investigation found malware. Small price to pay, as it alerted me to rotate all passwords and sessions, and alert the community about the compromised executable. To this day, I keep some crypto on every device I use. If not breached, it doesn't cost me anything. I even have a paper wallet in my physical wallet.

Scoundreller 4y ago
I like this so much!!!! (Partly because I think I've suggested a couple times here a long time ago to hold some bitcoin private keys in your "most secure" code/dir/whatever and monitor if they go missing, but I'm probably not the 1st to think about it as a bounty) Do you know if the $500 was moved 'automatedly' or by a human? If the former, makes you wonder if $0.01 would do it. (I guess network fees don't matter since you'd still see it pending on the block chain and that's good enough)
Nevermark 4y ago
You are literally paying hackers to out their presence. This is just a brilliant principle: Provide some low hanging, easy to identify, inexpensive fruit for thieves, to protect higher hanging fruit. It could be used instead of more formal rewards for encouraging white hackers to report vulnerabilities: just let everyone know your outer ring of security has a wallet. Even if more sophisticated hackers would skip the wallet, you are much more likely to find out vulnerabilities if hackers of all shades know there is honey for the taking.
- maxbond 4y ago
  This is, sincerely, the first time I've heard a use case for cryptoassets and thought, yeah, that's something real, useful, and which cryptoassets are uniquely suited for.
neilv 4y ago
Leaving canary crypto is a great idea. It's related to a home security tactic I heard of: keeping a "pocket change" tray visible on a table just inside your front door, with coins and a few bills. The theory being that, if a burglar sees it, they'll probably at least grab the bills. When you enter, if the bills are missing, there might be a burglar still in the house.

by dannyw 4y ago

Scoundreller 4y ago

I like this so much!!!! (Partly because I think I've suggested a couple times here a long time ago to hold some bitcoin private keys in your "most secure" code/dir/whatever and monitor if they go missing, but I'm probably not the 1st to think about it as a bounty) Do you know if the $500 was moved 'automatedly' or by a human? If the former, makes you wonder if $0.01 would do it. (I guess network fees don't matter since you'd still see it pending on the block chain and that's good enough)

Nevermark 4y ago

You are literally paying hackers to out their presence. This is just a brilliant principle: Provide some low hanging, easy to identify, inexpensive fruit for thieves, to protect higher hanging fruit. It could be used instead of more formal rewards for encouraging white hackers to report vulnerabilities: just let everyone know your outer ring of security has a wallet. Even if more sophisticated hackers would skip the wallet, you are much more likely to find out vulnerabilities if hackers of all shades know there is honey for the taking.

maxbond 4y ago
This is, sincerely, the first time I've heard a use case for cryptoassets and thought, yeah, that's something real, useful, and which cryptoassets are uniquely suited for.

neilv 4y ago

Leaving canary crypto is a great idea. It's related to a home security tactic I heard of: keeping a "pocket change" tray visible on a table just inside your front door, with coins and a few bills. The theory being that, if a burglar sees it, they'll probably at least grab the bills. When you enter, if the bills are missing, there might be a burglar still in the house.