A ‘Blockchain Bandit’ Is Guessing Private Keys and Scoring Millions
April 24th, 2019Via: Wired:
In the process, and as detailed in a paper they published Tuesday, the researchers not only found that cryptocurrency users have in the last few years stored their crypto treasure with hundreds of easily guessable private keys, but also uncovered what they call a “blockchain bandit.” A single Ethereum account seems to have siphoned off a fortune of 45,000 ether—worth at one point more than $50 million—using those same key-guessing tricks.
“He was doing the same things we were doing, but he went above and beyond,” Bednarek says. “Whoever this guy or these guys are, they’re spending a lot of computing time sniffing for new wallets, watching every transaction, and seeing if they have the key to them.”
