Bitcoin Forum

They have stolen bitcoins from my official Bitcoin wallet.
Wallet had the password (about 30 characters)
Last time I've entered the password at least 6 months ago.
I installed Windows 10 in October.
Kaspersky Internet Security says no viruses.
https://blockchain.info/address/15ESHhWuNfqMEQPXWexGb9kK1J53brWksL
What do you think thinks about this? The system is so full of holes?

(Russian version is here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1278586.0  )

official wallet?

After seeing his russian thread(translated) I believe he is talking about blockchain.info ,and that OP is heckin not the official wallet.
Well the discussion on the russian thread was pretty much about blockchain.info.

Bitcoin core 10.2

There is no official Bitcoin wallet, the reference client is Bitcoin Core if that is what you meant.

The coins were sent away in an hour after the payment was first received. You did not have any Bitcoins when you typed the password 6 months ago and hence it would be possible that a script was designed to transfer your coins away once a payment was detected. It could also have been compromised when your wallet was first installed. It looks like the address sent to was a mixer and hence it wouldn't be possible to tell who stole it. Antiviruses aren't 100% accurate and it is possible for them to miss kinds of virus infections.

Did you download the core version from the official website? That would be the single most important thing to do to prevent this kind of theft.

You could also run some other anti virus to be absolutely sure. I don't think windows 10 is the problem here, else a lot more people would have been having problems with this and microsoft would be biting some serious dust right now.

Yes, I've downloaded it from the official website.
The have stolen the bitcoins from my other wallet located at other desktop with other password too :(

How I can insert the picture here?

Did you use any of the password in any other places? E.g. Bitcointalk, Gmail?

You can insert a picture by going to imgur.com, upload and post the link to the image here. Newbies cannot directly post pictures.

I was considering to invest in Bitcoins but seems like it is not secure.
Is there any method to protect bitcoins from a robber.
31 Bitcoins ($ 12,090.07) What a huge amount of loss to Edward.

I've seen a few key loggers that are almost invisible to most anti virus.  With any serious amount of btc I recommend cold storage.  In this case it would be too little too late obviously.

Do you mean that someone sent all of your BTC from your wallet? Or they stole your private key? Or Both?
Oops, I'm sorry. I didn't see that you give a link to the transaction
So the hacker sent your Bitcoin, right?

Your system is definately compromised. Best thing might actually be to do a clean install and get a new set of private keys.

What ever you do, do not touch your keys ever again, the hacker will always have access to them.

It indicates that he will never get his bitcoins back again?
He can't complain regarding the issue to somebody?

The chances of him getting those back are slim to none.

There is always the possibility that it was someone close to him that had physical access to his pc at some point.

Yes there is! For such a huge amount, OP should have used paper wallets or have bought a hardware wallet like a Bitcoin Trezor. Any of these two combinations is perfectly safe and should be used for anything over 7-8 coins in my opinion.

OP sorry for your loss by the way!

Your system is compromised. Either that or someone had access to your computer physically.

Use a cold wallet (paper wallet) or Trezor. Nobody can hack a piece of paper and I heard good things about trezor :)

Nobody can hack a piece of paper but they can hack the medium which is used to sign the transaction. Hardware wallets or an offline computer(raspberry pi) is a much better alternative. Even Ledger wallet is good enough.

[/quote]
Your system is compromised. Either that or someone had access to your computer physically.

Use a cold wallet (paper wallet) or Trezor. Nobody can hack a piece of paper and I heard good things about trezor :)
[/quote]
Nobody can hack a piece of paper but they can hack the medium which is used to sign the transaction. Hardware wallets or an offline computer(raspberry pi) is a much better alternative. Even Ledger wallet is good enough.
[/quote]
quote author=virtualx link=topic=1279319.msg13172084#msg13172084 date=1449476416]
Your system is compromised. Either that or someone had access to your computer physically.

Use a cold wallet (paper wallet) or Trezor. Nobody can hack a piece of paper and I heard good things about trezor :)
[/quote]
Last time I've entered the password many mounth ago.
Nobody has offline access to my laptop and my desktop and nobody knows my passwords (they were different)
After manipulations the 2-and wallet is decrypted now.
The laptop very often is offline. Sometimes I update the bitcoin core.
http://tinypic.com/r/ddsw0/9

it is best to avoid windows 10 right now, but i don't think this is the case, of the first hacking attempt from microsoft, so it most likely that you were infected

you visited a shady website or probably downloaded something malicious, in other words it's your fault

What about the passwords?
I've never entered them on Windows 10

Someone with physical access to your machines?  Or wouldn't be the first time

but you can't check if click some waste link about download of some java script or php code that can record your action in this pc?
have you tried to scan you computer with another Anti virus? It should be a better way to check if it is clean!

You had quite a considerable amount. Have you ever revealed how many bitcoins you have publicly, on any forum for example? This would make you a much easier target. Hackers would be able to target you by your IP address.

The truth of the matter is that these Bitcoin targeting malwares are and will be more and more numerous in the future.

Nobody has offline access to my laptop and my desktop and nobody knows my passwords (they were different)

Did you pirate Fallout 4?

http://mobile.geek.com/latest/258724-fallout-4-pirate-gets-instant-karma-when-his-bitcoins-are-stolen?origref=

Using cold storage and paper wallets is the only real protection. Also, some of online wallets offer insurance option, I like that too.

rootkit maybe? your system was already infected long time ago, and the hacker waited for a big amount? it is certainly possible

Who is they? By the tone of your message I think you should have never invested in Bitcoin. I'm sorry for your loss but if you know what you are doing your coins are 99% safe.
I'm sorry ed_war_d, no one is going to refund you.

Was your wallet encrypted? Someone found your private key, this is the only way to make transactions on the blockchain. guessing a bitcoin private key is impossible. The question is how the attacker found the key. I think the computer has a rookit or trojan.

As long as you don't port forward everything, there is no risk of you getting attack by your IP address. Vulnerabilities may be possible but I haven't heard of any for Windows that is this critical.
Certainly what I'm thinking too. The hacker might have gained control of the private key and run checks every x minutes to transfer the Bitcoins.

Time to read the topic.

I've made clean installation of Windows 2-3 times since I've entered the passwords last time.
I hope the  investigation of this case can improve the Bitcoin world and can prevent such incidents in future

Did u use any external devices (usb) which were used on the (maybe) compromised system after the clean installation?
Or did you only use new usb sticks / no at all?

If your going to get BTC again.. get a hardware wallet and initalize it on a linux distrib.

Using windows was your down fall imo.

Did you transfer any BTC to any address controlled by the private keys in question before this? Or was this the first time you sent BTC to this wallet?

If it was the first time actually using that wallet, it seems likely your private keys were already compromised before you reinstalled your OS. So how secure was your setup before you installed Windows 10? Were you using that laptop for anything other than running a Bitcoin client? When you first installed the client, how confident can you be your system was clean at that time?

first of all i am sorry for the lost. but did anybody here asked op to sign a message to prove the ownership of the address? it's important right to claim that the address is really owned by op. and after that we can go discussing this . no offense op okay  ;)

How did you store the password for the wallet?


No, why? They can hardly reclaim the coins with a signed message. I dont see how that matters at all.

I had the 1st wallet. Then when the sum of bitcoins was pretty big I've made the new one (about 3 years ago). I've transfered the bitcoins to the new wallet 1 time and keep them there. For the new bitcoins I've used the new wallet.

I think he means to say that we should first actually get some proof that OP's wallet was indeed hacked and he is not just wasting everyone's time with wild speculation as to how his wallet might've been hacked

I've not understood you pretty well. English is not my native language

Its not important I think. Just someone wants you to proof that you have been stolen. E.g. with a signed message -> https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=990345.0

How did you store the password?

really sorry to hear these stories, i myself have lost bitcoins to theives and it is gutting, keep the chin up mate.   would love to know who you believe they are?  and also in the futre my dont keep all you bitcoin at one address, and with a haul that size it should def be in cold storage.

all the best

there are some nasty bios virus, that cannot be removed with a simple format c/secure erase, they are rare, yes, but it may be your case

basically your pc is still infected no matter what you do, unless you change the motherboard

It ain't just limited to desktop based wallets guys...
Even I am seeing some login attempts in my blockchain.info account that I currently have...
I don't know who the hell tries to attempt to login in my account there, but I get a code from Blockchain everyday because I have enabled 2-Factor Authentication...

So, beware these days guys, there ain't anything called "SAFE" in terms of wallets for bitcoins...
The only best thing I believe are paper wallets...

Sounds like your wallet identifier leaked. Lets try to stay on topic though, shall we?

The wallet is from the official website

I've splitted them to 2 different wallet on 2 different computers

31 BTC, oh my... I would go crazy if that would be me. Technology is getting better and better but  the other way around for the security of the users.

With Bitcoin you are the boss! That not only means you are in charge, but that you must work. Bitcoin security is no better than your security. If used correctly it is miles above the bank's security system. However if you do not protect your private key then no other methods matter.  

I don't know how this happened to you, but someone must have gotten that key. Consider who else has access to your computer. Think about where you store your private key. This breach may not involve malware at all. Also, Think about a more secure OS like Linux.

Sorry to hear about your loss.  

Look at the picture from my 2nd wallet:
http://tinypic.com/r/ddsw0/9
There is no address in transaction. The label "нeдocтyпнo" means "no acsess"
It seems it's pretty strange

The isn't a bitcoin issue, this is a computer security issue.  If you can't secure the computer, nothing that the bitcoin developers do will help stop it.

If you can't secure Windows, use Linux or OS X or any number of other OSs.  And use them ONLY offline.  Or use a paper wallet.  Or a hardware wallet. 

Sorry for the loss.

Possibly a password theft if your password is too easy to guess (several words you always use) but in order to steal your coins, the hacker must also have access to your private key. In fact there is no 100% sure way to make sure that no one else have your private key unless it is generated by you manually and kept offline secretly

The entropy in core client should be strong enough to avoid key collision, but the key should be generated offline and kept offline most of the time

The passwords were about 30 simbols and didn't contain whole words
I've never entered the passwords for many mounthes

What proofs you would like to get?

It is possible that your private key is already stolen before you set the password. For example, some Trojan has been installed before you install the core client, and they constantly searching for the wallet.dat file on your c drive. Once found, they immediately send the wallet to the hacker, and that is before you even set the password

In this case why they didn't steal it 3  years ago?

so, this is your problem. sorry for your loss..

No information about the transaction? That is strange. You did a lot of things right, using the long password with no words. That rules out guessing your password. You are using good anti-malware. That makes malware a little less likely.
If you wrote the password in a document or on a slip of paper you may want to check the security on that document. It may also be worth asking yourself "who else knows I have bitcoins and has access to this computer"?
What a bummer. Can blockchain.info give you a Tx ID? That may give some more information.  

Do not use windows 10... We have been problems example in working place with windows 10  :-X -Normal use like infra etc
If you must use windows 10, install all updates what it offers to install.  :-X
I tried to use bitcoin core win10, i went to workplace to home Hybrid Kernel has been collapsed totally and file system!

First aid to computer: https://www.f-secure.com/fi_FI/web/home_fi/online-scanner -Proud to be Finnish  8)  ;D
http://www.surfright.nl/en/hitmanpro

I think it was this in the first message:

https://blockchain.info/address/15ESHhWuNfqMEQPXWexGb9kK1J53brWksL

Oh thanks, I see it now. Not that knowing the this is going to be enough.

Agreed.  Somehow, someone got the private keys and took control of them.  Hard to get them back.

Oh no, that is lot of money RUR/USD. Ruble even more value then Dollars  :-\

Just to be clear:

The new wallet is the one that has this address in it:
https://blockchain.info/address/15ESHhWuNfqMEQPXWexGb9kK1J53brWksL
correct?

And you created this wallet 3 years ago. You did not transfer anything to this new wallet until November 4th, 2014. Correct?

If that's the case, it seems your keys have been compromised some time over the last 3 years, and the thief likely just waited for something to be transferred to an address controlled by those keys. This would, to me, suggest an automated system to check a number of compromised keys for new BTC, which in turn would suggest a relatively widespread virus of some sort being how your keys got stolen.

In this case nobody can be sure his bitcoins are safe.
Cool wallet on the paper is a good thing, but...
You make new wallet and write it on paper and put 1 btc into. After 1 year you will need put another 1 btc there, but you will not shure has your wallet the 1st 1 btc or not for some reason.
You'll need to synchronize core to be sure the your wallet has the 1st 1 btc.
If you are not sure it is a not very good idea to put your other 1 btc

It's a good practice to note down the address (Not the private key!) your long-term storage coins are held at. That way, you can check the BTC is still there on blockchain.info or any other block explorer site with no risk of compromising your private keys.

The real issue is making sure your private keys stay safe in the first place. For sums like you unfortunately lost, you need to be quite careful. Using a freshly created linux USB to create your wallet, and generating the keys offline, writing them on paper and then wiping the USB boot disk should be a pretty good solution. If you want to run a Bitcoin client and intend to ever send BTC to a wallet on that client, you should have a computer completely set aside for that purpose, in a safe space. Do not run a bitcoin client on your day-to-day computer. I wouldn't trust anything other than a fresh install of an OS to run a client on. Preferably a fresh computer as well, if you're feeling paranoid enough about rootkits etc.

Sorry for your loss. I wish we could help, but it's probably all gone now. If you still have BTC elsewhere, make sure to secure them very well.

God fined you for using that crap. ;)

Microsoft stole them

The only secure way to use Bitcoin Core is with Armory in cold storage mode. Needs two computers though. If your private keys are not permanently offline you are ripe to be a victim of malware sooner or later. Get a Ledger hardware wallet for $20.

The best way is to ensure that it is safe is probably to generate it offline and make multiple copies of it. When you spend it, send the change to another newly generated address from the offline computer.

You don't need to use Bitcoin Core to make a cold wallet. Electrum with a raspberry pi would be sufficient. Put the transaction info into the USB drive, go to your offline raspberry pi to sign it and broadcast it on your online computer. All activities on your Bitcoin address can be tracked easily using a block explorer. All the activities are recorded there and it is easy to check the balance with only your address.