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I know it's been said many times before, but we're only going to see a rise in bitcoin thefts. With the price being over $100/coin and you're stealing virtually
by error54 14y ago
I know it's been said many times before, but we're only going to see a rise in bitcoin thefts. With the price being over $100/coin and you're stealing virtually untraceable currency, I'm honestly just surprised that there hasn't been more thefts. I'm sure the security team at Mt. Gox is top notch as they probably have dozens of hack attempts per day.
- emgre 14y agoWhich is going to be a huge limit on sustained value/adoption, for better or worse. Bitcoin's rooted in the community most capable of stealing it.
- nym 14y agoThe bitcoin community spends a ton of time trying to educate people on cold-storage wallets and two-factor authentication for online wallets. MtGox has even given away free YubiKeys in the past to help keep people's accounts secure. Does Chase or BofA anyone else offer that kind of security? :) https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Cold_storage https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Cold_storage https://mtgox.com/press_release_20120215.html https://mtgox.com/press_release_20120215.html
- lhc- 14y agoThe thing is, Chase and BoA are often capable of reversing fraud and catching the people behind it. Bitcoins don't really allow for that sort of restitution.
- tensafefrogs 14y agoBitcoin is not a bank, and does not replace banks. There's nothing stopping anyone from setting up a bank that handles your bitcoin transactions, and therefore can reverse transactions between two parties. Replace "Bitcoin" with "Dollar" and you see how strange your statement is.
- jarek 14y agoI think the issue would be more that bitcoin is philosophically incompatible with services like that. Bitcoin is anonymous, so I could transfer my money to my account at another bank, report fraud, and the bank could never know unless the other bank told them. If the other bank tells them, or you set up a centralized register of transfers or accounts, you're just mirroring the current systems. Bitcoin doesn't have The Man, so there's no motivation not to do so fraudulently - what's the worst that happens if a bank realizes you're trying to defraud them? You've already moved your money elsewhere.
- eli 14y agoYes, they do. https://www.bankofamerica.com/privacy/online-mobile-banking-privacy/safepass.go https://www.bankofamerica.com/privacy/online-mobile-banking-... Chase has a thing where it texts you a code as well.
- codesuela 14y agodont know bout the US but in Germany every bank requires 2FA for transfers
- foobarqux 14y agointeractive brokers has various type of two factor authentication depending on how much money you have stored with them.
- yasth 14y agoEh that is nothing, just imagine when people who have no ability to steal it and thus no awareness of how it might be stolen get pulled in by the hype. Not to mention the costs that security brings, a friend of mine is locked out of what is now $50k worth of bitcoins, just can't remember the password on the encrypted store.
- GigabyteCoin 14y agoI for one believe the barrage of attacks and attempted thefts will inevitably make Bitcoin safer. Just like Google Chrome's pwning contests, eventually nobody will be capable of claiming the prize.
- nym 14y agoGrowing pains.
- ebbv 14y agoIt's not really comparable to Pwn2Own. Pwn2Own's only vector of attack is by finding flaws in the software directly. All of these wallet service companies employ people and many, many successful hacks are performed by exploiting the people involved / mistakes the people make. So while software with enough hardening can eventually get to a state that's quite safe, as long as people are an active part of the security chain, you're going to have valid attack vectors.
- ams6110 14y agoAgreed, people are far easier targets than systems, unless the systems are negligently unsecured.
- makomk 14y agoThere have also been attacks on Bitcoin companies that exploited their hosting company's procedures or lax handling by their employees. Securing this stuff is fundamentally hard.
- jellicle 14y agoHow are attacks on $yourbitcoinservice supposed to make $mynewbitcoinservice safer?
- danielweber 14y agoBecause $mynewbitcoinservice will realize, "whoa, we should make sure we are hack-proof," and then use HTTPS to make sure they are hack-proof.