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Bitcoin Is Easily hacked: Complete List of Cryptocurrency Hacks [2011-2018] – Chapter[2.9] R[23]

Can you hack cash aka paper currency? Of course you can’t, same is the case with Bitcoin protocol. You can’t hack electronic cash but you can rob a bank or an exchange. Similarly you can’t hack the bitcoin algorithm but you can hack the digital banks (wallets) and exchanges.

The important question to ask here is: Which one is more vulnerable when it comes to security of your wealth: Cash or Bitcoin?

The answer is: Bitcoin is surely the most vulnerable currency ever made in history!

To rob a bank, you need to put your life in danger, team up with a group of robbers and take up guns and explosives but to rob a Bitcoin wallet, you just need a good laptop!
Believe it or not! Just as I was writing, I discovered that on Jan 26, 2018, one of Japan’s largest Tokyo-based digital currency exchange CoinCheck had been hacked, resulting in the theft of $534 million worth of NEM, and making it the biggest cryptocurrency theft in history far bigger than that of MTGOX where $450 million were stolen.

This proves how secure digital currency is. Bitcoin users are undoubtedly constantly subject to theft, scams, and frauds, which is made easier thanks to Bitcoin’s structure and lack of regulation.

Just to give you a bird-view of the popular bitcoin hacks and other cryptocurrency hacks from 2011-2018, I have created the table below to show you the so-called security aspect of cryptocurrencies with facts and figures.

Note: A crypto service is anything that involves cryptocurrencies. It can be a wallet, exchange, marketplace, ICO or even an Investment firm.

Complete List of Cryptocurrency Hacks (2011-2018):

Date Crypto Service Attack Type Coins Stolen Value (USD) 2018
July KICKICO (ICO) Security breach KICK $8,000,000 2018
July Bancor
(Decentralized
Exchange) Security breach Ether $12,000,000 2018
June Bithumb
(Exchange) Security breach alt coins $30,000,000 2018
June Coinrail
(Exchange) Security breach alt coins $40,000,000 2018
April Foxbit
(Exchange) Security breach 58 BTC $540,000 2018
April CoinSecure
(Exchange) Security breach 438 BTC $3,300,000 2018
Feb BitGrail
(Exchange) Security breach 17,000,000 NANO $195,000,000 2018
Jan CoinCheck
(Exchange) Security breach 523,000,000 NEM $534,000,000 2017 Dec NiceHash(Marketplace) Security breach 4,736 BTC $62,000,000 2017
Nov Optioment
(Investment Firm) Scam/Pyramid 12,000 BTC $116,000,000 2017 Nov Bitcoin Gold (Wallet) Scam/Inside Job x*x BTC $3,300,000 2017 Aug Enigma (ICO) Security breach 1,500 ETH $500,000 2017 Jul Parity multisig (Wallet) Security breach 153,037 ETH $32,000,000 2017 Jul CoinDash (ICO) Security breach x*x ETH $7,000,000 2017 Jul Veritaseum (Wallet) Security breach 36,000 VERI $8,000,000 2016 Aug Bitfinex (Exchange) User wallets/
Inside job 119,756 BTC $72,000,000 2016 Jul Steemit (Social Site) User accounts multi cryptos $85,000 2016
June DAO (Smart Contract) Security Breach 3.6 million ETH $50,000,000 2016 May Gatecoin (Exchange) hot wallet/
Security breach 250 BTC + 185,000 ETH $2,000,000 2016 Mar ShapeShift (Exchange) inside job 557 BTC $230,000 2016 Mar Cointrader
(Exchange) hot wallet/
Security breach 81 BTC $33,600 2015 Feb Bter (Exchange) cold wallet/
Inside job 7,170 BTC $1,750,000 2015 Feb Exco.in (Exchange) cold wallet/
Inside job 2,000 BTC $488,145 2015 Feb Kipcoin (Exchange) cold wallet/
Inside job 3,000 BTC $690,000 2015 Feb 796 (Exchange) cold wallet/
Inside job 1,000 BTC $230,000 2015 Jan Bitstamp (Exchange) hot wallet/
Security breach 18,866 BTC $5,263,614 2014 Dec Blockchain.info (Wallet) user wallets (bug, R values) 267 BTC $101,000 2014 Dec Mintpal (Exchange) inside job 3,894 BTC $3,208,412 2014 July Cryptsy (Exchange) inside job 13,000 BTC + 300,000 LTC $9,580,000 2014 Mar Flexcoin (Wallet) hot wallet/
Security breach 1,000 BTC $738,240 2014 Mar CryptoRush (Exchange) cold wallet/
Inside job 950 BTC $782,641 2014 Feb Mt.gox (Exchange) hot & cold wallets/
Inside job 850,000 BTC $450,000,000 2013 Dec Blockchain.info (Wallet) 2-factor authentication breach 800 BTC $800,000 2013 Nov Inputs.io (Wallet) cold wallet/
Inside job 4,100 BTC $4,370,000 2013 Nov BIPS (Wallet) cold wallet/
Inside job 1,200 BTC $1,200,000 2013 Nov PicoStocks (Exchange) cold wallet/
Inside job 6,000 BTC $6,009,397 2012 Sep Bitfloor (Exchange) hot wallet/
Security breach 24,000 BTC $250,000 2012 May Bitcoinica (Exchange) hot wallet/
Security breach 18,000 BTC $88,200 2012 Mar Linode (Webhosting) inside job 46,703 BTC $228,845 2011 Oct Bitcoin7 (Exchange) inside job 5,000 BTC $25,000

My calculator got stuck/hanged when I tried adding up the total amount of money stolen from bitcoin and ethereum community. Wonder if there is any other example of such vulnerable and bogus currency ever created in mankind’s history.

New security bugs are introduced every day and people are not that responsive to keep themselves updated with security breaches and install patches provided on emergency basis by Microsoft.

Meltdown and Spectre are some latest vulnerabilities that are considered as a serious threat to Bitcoin wallets and exchanges. According to these vulnerabilities’ discoverers:

“These hardware vulnerabilities allow programs to steal data which is currently processed on the computer. While programs are typically not permitted to read data from other programs, a malicious program can exploit Meltdown and Spectre to get hold of secrets stored in the memory of other running programs. This might include your passwords stored in a password manager or browser, your personal photos, emails, instant messages and even business-critical documents.”

Vulnerabilities such as Meltdown and spectre could easily be used to steal your passwords stored on a hot wallet or exchange. No matter how encrypted the wallet be, they provide little to no protection against such hacks. According to CoinKorea post:

“The biggest problem is that if an attacker exploits the vulnerability, it can not be blocked by encryption or vaccination.”

Such bugs will never stop coming and the hackers will always be one step ahead of security agencies in introducing new ways. WannaCry Ransomware attack is the recent example which affected more than 300,000 computers, across 150 countries, causing a loss of billions of dollars. And all that happened within a duration of just 4 days!

If a currency is solely based on technology then it is undoubtedly the most vulnerable bogus currency ever created. The next time someone screams “Bitcoin is invincible and can never be hacked!”. Show them this list!

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