The story that withdraws from an Italian who said he was kidnapped and tortured for weeks inside a high -end Manhattan town house By kidnappers looking for his Bitcoin highlights a dark corner of the cryptocurrency world: the threat of thieves’ violence in search of digital active ingredients.
The alleged flight attempt is known as a “key attack”. It is a name popularized by an online comic This has made fun of the ease with which high -tech security can be canceled by hitting someone with a key until they abandon passwords.
The key attacks are increasing thanks in part to the passage of cryptocurrency in consumer finance, said Phil Ariss of the Crypto, Trm Labs tracing company in a recent blog job.
“The criminal groups already comfortable with the use of violence to achieve their goals were always likely to migrate to the crypto,” said Ariss.
Some of the key characteristics of the crypto help to explain why rich people who hold many digital assets can be ripe targets for such attacks.
The draw
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin offer traders total control of their funds without the need for a bank or an authorization from a government to buy it, sell or maintain it. The compromise is that if the funds are lost or stolen, there can be no way to recover them.
Autonomy is a key philosophy of crypto. The security and control of its private keys, which are like passwords used to access its cryptographic participations, is considered a sacro-saint among many in the cryptographic community. A popular motto is “not your keys, not your pieces”.
Blockchain transactions, the technology that feeds cryptocurrencies, are permanent. And unlike species, jewelry, gold or other value articles, thieves do not need to transport the stolen crypto. In a few clicks, huge amounts of wealth can be transferred from one address to another.
In the case of New York, where two people have been charged, many details have not yet released, including the value of the bitcoin that the victim had.
Crypto flights
The flying of cryptocurrency is almost as old as cryptocurrency itself, but it is generally done by piracy. It is believed that the North Korean Pirates of the State would have stolen billions of dollars of crypto in recent years.
In response to the threat of hacking, holders of a large quantity of crypto often try to keep their private keys outside the Internet and stored in what are called “cold wallets”. Used properly, such portfolios can even defeat the most sophisticated and determined hackers.
But they cannot overcome thieves who force a victim to abandon their password to access their wallets and move money.
The case in New York is the last in a series of high -level key attacks. Several took place in France, where thieves cut the finger of an cryptographic executive.
Mitigation
Experts suggest several ways to mitigate threats to key attacks, in particular using portfolios that require several approvals before any transaction.
Perhaps the most common individuals for cryptocurrencies try to prevent key attacks is to try to remain anonymous. Using nicknames and cartoons of cartoons in social media accounts is common in the cryptographic community, even among the main leaders of popular companies.
