Re:Bitcoin trojan caught in the wild
by gojomo on Friday June 17, 2011 @02:33AM
(#2664587)
Even 'srm' and similar tools might not work as expected on a solid-state drive with its own firmware and wear-leveling.
It's possible to protect your bitcoin keys from an arbitrarily-later malware incursion... but very hard, in ways even most power-users don't consider.
I like bitcoin. The current sharp edges and tragic mishaps are useful, for now, for learning about a new medium of exchange, which operates on a logic different from almost anything that we could easily analogize to.
If bitcoin or a successor takes off, I suspect carrying large balances will require specially hardened devices – secure VMs inside handhelds, perhaps?
And, a general desire for some recourse against instant irreversible fraudulent transfers might make the 'finalization' of certain transactions dependent on a remote secondary key approving (or failing to cancel) a payment, within a timeframe sufficient to deliver second-channel notification/confirmation.
It's possible to protect your bitcoin keys from an arbitrarily-later malware incursion... but very hard, in ways even most power-users don't consider.
I like bitcoin. The current sharp edges and tragic mishaps are useful, for now, for learning about a new medium of exchange, which operates on a logic different from almost anything that we could easily analogize to.
If bitcoin or a successor takes off, I suspect carrying large balances will require specially hardened devices – secure VMs inside handhelds, perhaps?
And, a general desire for some recourse against instant irreversible fraudulent transfers might make the 'finalization' of certain transactions dependent on a remote secondary key approving (or failing to cancel) a payment, within a timeframe sufficient to deliver second-channel notification/confirmation.