Bitcoin In 2017: Fixin Ta Blow Up

John Newman jnn at synfin.org
Thu Dec 29 10:01:33 PST 2016


On Thu, Dec 29, 2016 at 04:52:45PM +0200, Georgi Guninski wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 29, 2016 at 06:41:14AM -0500, John Newman wrote:
> > Sure, wallet theft is more akin to a heist and could net massive gains if you pick your target well. Is there any malware that actively looks for and steals wallets? I don't know, probably.
> > 
> 
> searching the web for
> 
> bitcoin stealing malware
> 
> returns a lot of results, some are from 2014.
> 
> > Still, with a big enough bot net doing your mining and paying for the wattage i imagine it adds up. I wouldn't mind owning one :)
> > 
> 
> i am not sure mining on a botnet is the best way to profit from it.
> AFAIK, conventional CPUs are not efficient for mining, far worse from
> ASIC/FPGA?? or good video cards. probably the Internet Of Things will
> change this, allowing to install few ASIC miners to the rooted box.

Yeah it seems there is lots of both kinds, and other kinds too. An
interesting summary:

http://bravenewcoin.com/news/bitcoin-stealing-malware-evolves-again/

"A fourth type of bitcoin-thieving malware was recently created. This new
variety hijacks the infected device's Windows clipboard, and
replaces bitcoin addresses as they're copy and pasted.

Trojan.Coinbitclip is the first instance of this new type of attack,
discovered by Symantec on Feb 2nd. It was designed to watch for a
bitcoin address copied using the clipboard, and replaces it with one of
it's own, bypassing any protection from multi-signature and hardware
wallets.

While clipboard hijacking is not a new concept, this is the first time
it has been found replacing bitcoin addresses."


But yes of course you're right general purpose CPUs do not mine nearly
as well as machines with dedicated mining ASICs. Stuff like the people
in Venezuela use (where power is free, but everything else is
unobtainable...).

> 
> > It seems bitcoin is pretty resilient to other attacks on subtle features... although i'm not  that well versed in the subject.
> 
> i am not familiar with bitcoin, but AFAIK it is something like "advanced
> socialism" by design. "consensus" of something like 50+% allows fucking
> up with coins and transactions and there already was a controversy about
> a "corporation of miners" abusing this unless i am mistaken.
> 

-- 
John 


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