I just lost 1,400 BTC

Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by nemothekid on Monday August 31, 2020 @02:23PM (#24334384)

As far as I can understand

1. The user had 1,400 BTC in an old wallet using this software

2. An old version of the software was vulnerable to phishing

3. The user attempted to use the software, and was phished

4. Massive payday for the scammers

Really unfortunate - and goes to show with software you manage yourself you need to be diligent about making sure it's updated. For all the shit coinbase gets, it's difficult to lose your coins in this manner.

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by brianwawok on Monday August 31, 2020 @02:30PM (#24334480)

Also, I think it's just the reason that crypto-currency will fail.

If you trick me into an ACH transfer of 16 million, there will

a) Trigger some random human based audits at my bank before the money can leave (likely involve some phone calls)

b) Have actual recourse, like court orders to hold the funds at the other bank

c) Take some amount of time to happen, to allow for A & B

It's not perfect, and it has bugs.. but I would never store actual money of value in crypto anything.

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by pvg on Monday August 31, 2020 @04:46PM (#24335761)

If you trick me into an ACH transfer of 16 million, there will

Fun recent case - Citibank claims they fatfingered $900 million over:

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-08-25/citigr...

And they're having some trouble getting all of it back although the commentaries suggest that they (eventually) will.

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by brianwawok on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @03:49PM (#24346208)

Yah, and this case is a lot different than someone hacked it. If it has been "hacked" it would have been a different story. More like a complex legal case + fatfinger.

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by BTCOG on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @11:08AM (#24342606)

Naysayers consistently say that "It will fail," without realizing the chain continues to work regardless of your faith or mainstream uses. It works, it will continue to work. It works via satellite and radio. It's unstoppable like BitTorrent. It is decentralized. Faith or not, Bitcoin is not going to fail and it works perfectly as intended.

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by lgregg on Monday August 31, 2020 @02:35PM (#24334539)

This is exactly the reason why I don’t use crypto currencies.

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by swyx on Monday August 31, 2020 @02:36PM (#24334545)

unless a bank wouldnt serve you, like for sizable parts of the economy.

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by throwaway43234 on Monday August 31, 2020 @02:39PM (#24334585)

Good reason to pull all crypto into fiat ASAP, store it in a real bank (or really, diversify it - user said that was the "vast vast majority" of their savings, that should never be all in one asset), and report it as other income on your taxes.

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by eanzenberg on Monday August 31, 2020 @02:37PM (#24334561)

Sizable, like 2%?

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by eanzenberg on Monday August 31, 2020 @02:40PM (#24334602)

I looked it up. 6% of Americans don’t have a bank account. Doesn’t say whether they could go ahead and get one, or they choose not to.

Sizable?

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by soco on Monday August 31, 2020 @02:59PM (#24334785)

Correct me please if I'm wrong, but I'd say most of those folks not served by a bank wouldn't have the skills to manage bitcoins either.

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by brianwawok on Monday August 31, 2020 @03:49PM (#24335267)

The 6% of people without bank accounts are often the least wealthy, more sick part of our population (basically, the people that need protected).

They do NOT have the technical skill to manage a bitcoin wallet. If anything it points even MORE to why we should not use crypto.

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by blaser-waffle on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @12:37PM (#24343616)

Is this 6% of all USA-ians, or 6% of adults?

I don't expect most 10 year olds to have chequing accounts, and if we're talking about about all Americans I'm honestly surprised it's not higher, taking into account da yout, those who are mentally/physically infirm, and those folks who just don't trust banking.

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[dead]

Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by dang on Monday August 31, 2020 @04:46PM (#24335771)

Would you please start respecting the site guidelines? We've cut you a ton of slack and given you a ton of warnings. If you keep violating them, such as by posting unsubstantive and/or flamebait comments, we're going to have to ban you.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I mean, seriously:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24213951

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23717834

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22815833

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19872246

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16703618

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16314542 ("we've warned you about this several times before")

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15265824

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14918125

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12756676

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12554500

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11812475

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by swyx on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @04:57PM (#24346969)

wow, you're very tolerant dang. i woulda hit the banhammer the 3rd or 4th time.

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by brianwawok on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @09:28AM (#24341509)

Did not see deleting post between this and mine, was real confused what I did...

Keep up the good work dang

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by pvg on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @11:24AM (#24342792)

The comment was flagged dead, not deleted. You can turn on 'showdead' in your settings to see dead comments.

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by dang on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @02:15PM (#24344908)

Sorry about that! This confusion has come up before, and it's a really bad one when it hits. Can you suggest anything that would have made the situation clear to you in the first place?

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by diggernet on Thursday September 03, 2020 @06:11PM (#24369469)

Coming in late here, but addressing your target by name would probably add a lot of clarity in these cases.

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by eastbayjake on Monday August 31, 2020 @02:29PM (#24334462)

It was my understanding that the user had installed a version of the Electrum wallet that was not from the official source at electrum.org. (But agree - it was really difficult to identify the core issue from this string of GitHub comments.)

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by crtasm on Monday August 31, 2020 @04:37PM (#24335681)

They were running an old official version which has a serious issue allowing the full node servers it connects to to pop up a message. e.g. "You need to upgrade - click here" - that led to the malware.

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by nodesocket on Monday August 31, 2020 @09:26PM (#24337616)

And there is no way to track down the node server that popped up this malicious message? Take it offline?

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by fluffything on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @05:31AM (#24339948)

Yes, electrum.org maintains a blacklist. That won't stop a phisher that just made 16 million dollars though. Spawning a new server costs cents.

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by Ansil849 on Monday August 31, 2020 @02:27PM (#24334435)

> For all the shit coinbase gets, it's difficult to lose your coins in this manner.

Aside from U2F, Coinbase offers TOTP and SMS-based 2FA, both of which are vulnerable to phishing. So no, Coinbase is not immune to losing coins in this manner. If Coinbase wanted to prevent being vulnerable to phishing they would i) only allow U2F 2FA, and ii) make U2F mandatory for all accounts.

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by nemothekid on Monday August 31, 2020 @04:42PM (#24335727)

1. AFACT the user was phished in a manner that was specific to this platform. It's not really comparable to clicking a nasty link in an email. Whether you chose to use U2F or TOTP, the risks is upfront. The user in this case was running official software - there was no URL to check.

2. The vector of the attack isn't important. The user ultimately lost his coins because he wasn't running the latest version of the software. He could have have easily lost his shirt from an RCE. That is much more difficult on a managed SaaS platform.

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by nodesocket on Monday August 31, 2020 @02:40PM (#24334595)

How do we confirm this actually happened? Perhaps I am being cynical, but people have been know to embellish and lie on the internet before? Shouldn't we be able to follow these funds on the ledger?

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by Hackbraten on Monday August 31, 2020 @03:19PM (#24334998)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24334393

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Re:I just lost 1,400 BTC by arcticbull on Monday August 31, 2020 @02:33PM (#24334518)

Ah I remember when my bank app had a bug and someone stole $15 million dollars from me then when I asked for help they said not your keys not your dollars. Such is life!

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