Thursday, January 14, 2021

You Thought You Were Having A Bad Day: Programmer has two password guesses left before losing $266M in Bitcoin

 A German-born programmer in San Francisco has now used up eight of 10 password attempts he has to unlock the hard drive containing the private keys to his Bitcoin wallet, which contains 7,002 Bitcoin (BTC). As of press time, those holdings would be worth $268 million — that is, if only they were accessible.

As a New York Times profile on Jan. 12 outlined, Stefan Thomas uses a hard drive called an IronKey, but lost the paper on which he wrote down the password for the device "years ago." If Thomas fails to remember it, 10 failed guesses will result in the drive encrypting its contents forever. He has, so far, tried eight guesses with no luck. 

Ouch.




14 comments:

  1. Heck, I should feel sorry for this nitwit? I can't even remember the 4 digits of my debit card to access my bank account that holds a "low 3-figure" fortune.

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  2. I hate passwords, to many of them. What a relief you don't need one to get into the riches of eternal life in heaven.

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  3. The other day someone asked for my phone number and I couldn't remember it. But some how I still remember the phone number we had when I was a kid 50-60 years ago. Chapel 92701.
    Yes, chapel.

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  4. Tell him to try PelosisIceCream.

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  5. I ask myself what I'd do if I had two guesses to get or lose my $268 million.
    Hypnosis?

    What a situation to be in!

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    Replies
    1. That's actually a pretty good idea. I bet it would work on me because I always try to do easy to remember codes which I always forget.

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  6. ghostsniperJanuary 14, 2021 at 8:45 AM

    TUxedo 1-6209 ...but sometimes I have to open my mobile phone to recall what it's number is!

    Yup, I'm also old enough to pre-date area codes (I remember when it was almost a mark of status if your company had a WAN) and zip codes (although they had "zones"), as well as the "new" state postal code abbreviations.
    Older than dirt? Fer shur. : )

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  7. Which is why my retirement is wadding up in an old coffee can and buried in the backyard. There's no limit to the number of holes I can dig if I forget exactly where it was.

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  8. My mattress is starting to get a little lumpy.

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