Crypto Criminals

[steve_bank]

I thought one of main reasons for developing crypto currency was to prevent this.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/09/politics/north-korean-crypto-hackers-crackdown/index.html

A team of South Korean spies and American private investigators quietly gathered at the South Korean intelligence service in January, just days after North Korea fired three ballistic missiles into the sea.

For months, they’d been tracking $100 million stolen from a California cryptocurrency firm named Harmony, waiting for North Korean hackers to move the stolen crypto into accounts that could eventually be converted to dollars or Chinese yuan, hard currency that could fund the country’s illegal missile program.

When the moment came, the spies and sleuths — working out of a government office in a city, Pangyo, known as South Korea’s Silicon Valley — would have only a few minutes to help seize the money before it could be laundered to safety through a series of accounts and rendered untouchable.

Finally, in late January, the hackers moved a fraction of their loot to a cryptocurrency account pegged to the dollar, temporarily relinquishing control of it. The spies and investigators pounced, flagging the transaction to US law enforcement officials standing by to freeze the money.

 

[Jarhyn]

I thought one of main reasons for developing crypto currency was to prevent this.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/09/politics/north-korean-crypto-hackers-crackdown/index.html

A team of South Korean spies and American private investigators quietly gathered at the South Korean intelligence service in January, just days after North Korea fired three ballistic missiles into the sea.

For months, they’d been tracking $100 million stolen from a California cryptocurrency firm named Harmony, waiting for North Korean hackers to move the stolen crypto into accounts that could eventually be converted to dollars or Chinese yuan, hard currency that could fund the country’s illegal missile program.

When the moment came, the spies and sleuths — working out of a government office in a city, Pangyo, known as South Korea’s Silicon Valley — would have only a few minutes to help seize the money before it could be laundered to safety through a series of accounts and rendered untouchable.

Finally, in late January, the hackers moved a fraction of their loot to a cryptocurrency account pegged to the dollar, temporarily relinquishing control of it. The spies and investigators pounced, flagging the transaction to US law enforcement officials standing by to freeze the money.

The reason the thefts work is a function of the Blockchain being discussed.

Crypto thefts happen in a couple ways, but mostly it focuses password theft and contract loopholing.

The issue is that some dumbasses put a hundred million dollars in a single wallet and then expect people to not attack the high value target.

 

[jonatha]

The issue is that some dumbasses put a hundred million dollars in a single wallet and then expect people to not attack the high value target.

The quote suggests that the actual error was moving the money to a crypto exchange that was subject to regulators' diktat...

 

[Jarhyn]

The issue is that some dumbasses put a hundred million dollars in a single wallet and then expect people to not attack the high value target.

The quote suggests that the actual error was moving the money to a crypto exchange that was subject to regulators' diktat...

Both are sources of theft, yes.

The thefts in the past on the ETH and BTC blockchains are as I described, however. Or just straight up thefts of access.

One technology that can tend to overcome the single wallet vulnerability issue is a concept called "multisig", wherein multiple certificates have to sign a pending transaction to cause anything to happen on it. If the signatories are on systems that are not on the same network or systems, then that's not an issue anyway.

The bigger issue is the ETH chain, because it allows users to get cheeky with contracts, and a contract is only as sound as the logic of the idiot who designed it.

Shits wild west over on ETH with the NFTs and cross-blockchain systems...