Lost And Found: Hackers Successfully Access Decade-Old Bitcoin Wallet, Retrieve $3 Million
May 30 2024 - 8:00PM
NEWSBTC
In an extraordinary turn of events, two hackers have successfully
cracked the long-forgotten password of a digital wallet, leading to
the recovery of approximately $2 million worth of Bitcoin
(BTC). Lost Bitcoin Fortune Unlocked As reported by Wired,
the story began in 2013 when an individual known by the alias
“Michael” securely stored his Bitcoin holdings in a
password-protected digital wallet. Unfortunately, over time, he
lost access to the wallet due to a corrupted file containing the
20-character password generated using the RoboForm password
manager. Despite his efforts to prioritize security, Michael’s
concerns about potential hacking led him to refrain from storing
the password in his manager, inadvertently locking himself out of
his fortune. Related Reading: Ethereum Hovering Above $3,700 As
Mega Whales Accumulate: $4,900 Incoming? Enter Joe Grand, a
renowned electrical engineer and hardware hacker, popularly known
as “Kingpin.” In 2022, Grand gained recognition for aiding another
cryptocurrency wallet owner in recovering $2 million worth of
digital assets after forgetting the PIN to his Trezor wallet. Since
then, numerous individuals have approached Grand seeking his
expertise, but he selectively chooses his projects. Michael
initially approached Grand two years ago, seeking assistance in
recovering his lost Bitcoin. However, due to the unique challenges
posed by a software-based wallet, Grand declined the request.
Nonetheless, Michael persisted, and last June, Grand agreed to give
it another shot, teaming up with a fellow hacker named Bruno from
Germany. Months of reverse engineering led Grand and Bruno to a
significant breakthrough. They discovered a flaw in the
pseudo-random number generator used by the RoboForm program, which
was employed by Michael in 2013. The flaw tied the generated
passwords to the date and time on the user’s computer, making them
predictable. Armed with this knowledge, the hackers devised a plan
to exploit the flaw and crack the password. The major hurdle in
this process was Michael’s inability to recall the exact date when
the password was generated. However, armed with the knowledge that
Bitcoin had been moved into the wallet for the first time on April
14, 2013, Grand and Bruno configured RoboForm to generate passwords
within a specific time frame, utilizing the parameters used by
Michael. From Forgotten To Found Despite initial failed attempts,
Grand and Bruno persisted, adjusting the time frame and parameters
until they finally struck gold. On November 15, 2023, they
discovered the correct password—20 characters long and generated on
May 15, 2013. The long-lost Bitcoin treasure was finally within
Michael’s grasp. However, the report notes that the successful
recovery of Michael’s assets raises concerns about password
security, particularly for users who generated passwords using
earlier versions of RoboForm. While Siber Systems, the
company behind RoboForm, claims to have fixed the flaw in 2015,
questions remain about the vulnerability of older passwords. Grand
stresses the importance of understanding the improvements made to
password generation in newer versions. Related Reading: Lil
Pump-And-Dump: SEC Issues Warning As More Musicians Dump Their
Memecoins Having access to his Bitcoin once again, Michael
experienced a stroke of luck. He waited for the value of Bitcoin to
rise before selling a portion of his newfound fortune. With 30 BTC
currently valued at $3 million, Michael eagerly anticipates the
potential for even greater returns as he aims for a future surge to
$100,000 per coin. As of press time, the largest cryptocurrency on
the market is trading at $68,200, consolidating for the past week
below the key $70,000 threshold that is crucial to BTC’s uptrend
prospects. Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from
TradingView.com
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