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Researchers crack 11-year-old password, recover $3 million in bitcoin (arstechnica.com)

submitted 6 months ago by boem to c/technology

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

"Two years ago when “Michael,” an owner of cryptocurrency, contacted Joe Grand to help recover access to about $2 million worth of bitcoin he stored in encrypted format on his computer, Grand turned him down.

Michael, who is based in Europe and asked to remain anonymous, stored the cryptocurrency in a password-protected digital wallet. He generated a password using the RoboForm password manager and stored that password in a file encrypted with a tool called TrueCrypt. At some point, that file got corrupted, and Michael lost access to the 20-character password he had generated to secure his 43.6 BTC (worth a total of about 4,000 euros, or $5,300, in 2013). Michael used the RoboForm password manager to generate the password but did not store it in his manager. He worried that someone would hack his computer and obtain the password."

The password was forgotten and he asked 2 famous hackers for help, who took a fee and gave the wallet back to Michael. So, ownership is sort of loosely defined at this point. Sure, Michael probably had legal rights to it, but it held no actual value until taken by somebody else.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

If I lose to key to my vault, and require a locksmith to enter… does my vault hold no value until I can enter it? Of course not, the contents is still there.

I get where you’re going, but really it makes no sense. The value (or as close to value as we are willing to put on crypto) was always there. Whether or not someone was able to get into it doesn’t change the fact that it’s there.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

If a vault buried somewhere you don't remember is unearthed by experts decades later, I would argue it isn't yours.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Forgetting the password is more akin to losing the key. You dont forget where the blockchain is.