Bitcoin Forum

So yeah , It seems like a group associated with the NSA has been hacked "Equation-group" => http://fossbytes.com/nsa-hacked-by-shadow-brokers-equation-group/


Here are my three scenarios :

1. Satoshi Nakamoto is NSA and he is going to pay the 1 million Bitcoin.
2. NSA will buy 1 million Bitcoin and give us a nice increase in the price.
3. NSA won't do shit . (which is the thing likely to happen in this case)

this is very interesting indeed, to see NSA getting hacked! wow


this is mostly funny than being a true scenario.
and why would satoshi nakamoto be NSA? what are your reasons for thinking that. if he were bitcoin would have had some backdoor in its code I assure you.


and what makes you think they don't already own 1 million bitcoins? ;D


I doubt that they even pay the hackers because of the bad publicity of it. NSA is not a small company (like that hospital that was hacked a while ago) to get hacked and pay the hackers to make it go away.
it is the freaking National Security Agency they can not just pay the hackers off :D

normally when a federal agency is involved, nobody will pay any ransom....
and we are talking about NSA: they could reach "anyone" so it's only a matter of time ;) for this group of hackers.

They (NSA) also allegedly left a back door in Microsoft computers running the secure boot firmware that was found by a security annalist.  I also read it might also affect some full disk encryption programs. The worst part is they can't close it. If you own a MS phone or tablet Secure boot can't be disabled leaving you vulnerable to attack.

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If the hackers were after money they would have sold these tools already to the highest bidder. With each passing day they are worth less and less.  It's more likely this was a warning to the US government to back the fuck off. ("We have your toys and if we release them everyone will know you've been attacking your own citizens and allies with these tools. So back the fuck off or else! ")

The government will say that to the public indeed. "We don't pay ransom to terrorists", but you don't know what happens behind closed doors and guess what, bitcoin makes dealing with them suddenly quite easy. Saying stuff and actions are a completely different thing.

Then again, I don't believe the NSA will ever pay the hackers. They will more likely focus all their efforts to rehack the hackers or something or figure out who they are somehow if they left even the slightest trace.

Especially absurd ransoms like 1 million bitcoin are almost impossible to be met (there is not enough liquid bitcoin to get this at a "normal" price). 

even they pay the hacker doesn't guarantee that the hacker won't delete the files or even they'll keep it up to do another hacking,paying the hackers mean NSA supporting the hacker to keep up with their shady activities and it's not good at all,the hackers will buy more advanced tools to hack like a good specification computer or even making a group with the money

You've got the wrong end of the stick. They aren't blackmailing the NSA, they are selling the tech. Well, according to what little is currently known, but that is the gist of their 1million bitcoin reference.

first,i think the hacker is such a genius that could hack the NSA's security even it's an organization backed up by the government especially one of the stronger countries or just say one of the biggest,by selling these stuff,i guess they're just only seeking for a problem,the government will try to find them,maybe they will have so many money if they succesfully selling those stuff but think again about the risk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKKHSAE1gIs

It doesn't make it easy since the amount is big honestly , I mean how could the NSA buy that amount (assuming that they don't have it already) without no one knowing about ? they could make it silently but It will take them some time to get that amount.

In the other hand , even If they manage to get that amount I'm pretty sure hackers will say that NSA paid them so It's impossible to be done "behind the scenes" .


They could sell them for sure but I don't think they will get half billion for it so that's why they are looking for NSA to buy it back.
As for the warning , both Wikileaks & Edward Snowden made everyone on the world understand that U.S government spy on everyone so I don't think we would need more proof for that.

It seems that nowadays nobody is safe from hacking anymore. Even the agencies that you think are unhackable are being targeted left and right. Maybe they are trying to make a statement by doing that. If what they want is money, they could target big financial institutions instead, although information is really something that could command a good price.

I prefer 3, the group may be a joke, i mean they spread fake news. But 2nd choice is the best for us. BTC huge pump 

That's just pure nonsense

I highly doubt that, and it would be really hard to purchase 1 million Bitcoin in a short amount of time (especially without pushing the price insanely high).

Let's see how this one unfolds.

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I don't see why this is bad publicity for Bitcoin. When someone demands a ransom to be paid in dollars, nobody bats an eye. When someone demands a ransom to be paid in Bitcoin, everyone loses their mind.

i'm sure the media make it,bitcoin as for now already marked as a bad things by few dumb people and they keep spreading to their nearest people
it's such a double standard by media,when criminal uses dollars it's very common and not the currency's mistake,but when criminal uses bitcoin,it's bitcoin's mistake even bitcoin don't have brain and can't spend itself

If that is true,it is a good news as bitcoin will rise above $1000 for sure

I doubt if it is even true.There Is no official word on it and it could just be a rumour

I guess they have already paid 1 Million : https://blockexplorer.com/address/1MFXYK1XucKFfhPhW9HDHD3vsM9BKey4qm

Check out the above link! I am not sure if it is true or not!

It is obvious that the media (or the people backing it anyway) tends to use this for manipulative purposes. However, that does not mean that we need to succumb to that. This does not paint a bad image for Bitcoin; if it did, it could have been a set-up all along anyways.

You obviously have no idea what you're talking about. That blockchain explorer is showing false information, it should be:
Total Received: ~ 122,482 BTC. This has been confirmed on Blockchain.info and blocktrail. In addition to that, we are talking about ~14k transactions that have likely nothing to do with this incident. Even if the total received was 1 million BTC, that still does not mean that 1 Million BTC was there (someone could inflate this number).

As Lauda pointed out, this wrong data is displayed due to a bug in blockexplorer. Check blockchain.info:

https://blockchain.info/address/1MFXYK1XucKFfhPhW9HDHD3vsM9BKey4qm

Most probably, this wallet belongs to some mining group, and you can see regular payments being done for the past many months.

If they were in fact hacked, they could simply post a bounty for $10 Million to anyone who can point out where the hackers are, and deploy the black helicopters.

We're not talking about the local police department.

If this is a genuine hack then they'll treat it like a training exercise and go after them.

You can bet your ass that no money is gonna change hands.

Hackers are not stupid either; they know what the NSA is capable of. I'm pretty sure that by now those documents are in the hands of different people, and If the hackers get caught, documents will be released (If the hackers don't really seek or care about the money).
If all they care about is money , then once they are caught they will make a deal with the government to keep their mouth shut.

hackers selling hacker tools.

hmm

sales pitch
Q: how do they make themselves look good and worthy of such a price.
A: say they got the tools from the NSA and use that publicity to cause drama and get some free advertising.

4. NSA hack the hackers, destroy evidence.
5. NSA has already hacked the hackers (we're all 0wned down to the hardware), just pinpoint them and destroy evidence.
6. NSA say meh, hackers don't disclose a bit, everyone forgets.

All publicity is good publicity. Who cares if its some hackers wanting to get some BTC out of it? More and more people are starting to hate the NSA anyway. Snowden has a ton of followers in Twitter and he is turning into a likeable figure amongst the mainstream media.

If something has single point of failure and is connected to the internet then sooner or later it will be hacked. That is why banks and financial institutions are so interested in blockchain tech.
They think that it will diminish their loses caused by money stolen by hackers. Personally I think that private blockchains are a dead end and nothing more that glorified databases.

These hackers are acting totally unreasonable. If they ask for less, something like $10 million in BTC they would already got it. But no one will gonna pay them 1 million BTC.

The NSA won't do shit.

The Bitcoin address the hackers take auction offers in has only been sent 1.629 BTC.

https://blockchain.info/address/19BY2XCgbDe6WtTVbTyzM9eR3LYr6VitWK

It's never going to get the full million Bitcoins, so the hackers will keep the chump change in that address without releasing any more files.

All news is good news for bitcoin, they day it is never mentioned again is the day i am selling up, cause its over  ;D

There's something strange about the recent addresses sending money to that Bitcoin address the hackers take auction offers in. Someone has been generating vanity addresses to write the words of a pop song in them.

https://blockchain.info/address/19BY2XCgbDe6WtTVbTyzM9eR3LYr6VitWK

These are the most recent addresses in the same order as blockchain.info shows them.

1never9kNNkr27UseZSHnaEHg1z8v3Mbb
1gonnaV3MFNjymS4RGvUbHACstiS8aSYz
1giveGEk184Gwep2KT4UBPTcE9oqWzCVR
1youKBMLEohsexdZtkvnTzHnc4iU7Ffty
1upAbpBEWQ467QNT7i4vBMVPzSfQ3sqoQ
1never9kNNkr27UseZSHnaEHg1z8v3Mbb
1gonnaV3MFNjymS4RGvUbHACstiS8aSYz
11etAyypstpXLQpTgoYmYzT8M2foBSBe1
1youKBMLEohsexdZtkvnTzHnc4iU7Ffty
1downAsBbRQcBfUj8rgQomqhRsNFf1jMo

Lol nice scenario to assume.
We're all hoping whatever to do with NSA, it can be a good affect for bitcoin.

the bitcoin was developed by the NSA, the hacker has found a way to convert any BTC address  for a private key, so if the NSA will not pay ransom the secret of BTC will be unveiled and that is everyone who will lose and much more the NSA; and the hacker is only one NSA agent who have participated in the development of BTC.

Like you said it is unlikely than tNational Securi=ty would pay the ransom. It would expose them as weak and trivial compared to hackers. They are more likely to try and find the hackers rather than pay the 1 million Bitcoin.

:)

7. This is a political stunt to stop or regulate a wild currency that is just getting out of control and can't be stopped any other way.

If Satoshi's dormant wallets starts to move funds will that increase the demand for BTC or will that cause a collapse. My feelings are mixed on that one.

I do not think the NSA will do something like pay the hackers. That will only fund their group and they will encourage them to do more hacking. The most likely move for them is to look for the hackers and they should be scared. So the hackers right now has to options, hide and be offline forever or use those tools stolen to do more hacks.

My bet would on the fact the NSA doesn't do shit.  ::)

This is some Mr. Robot shit going on right here right now :o

How life imitates that show. ;)

this is mostly bad for NSA not for bitcoin, they have been hacked and hackers are only receiving their payment that way as they have been receiving payments in the form of fiat in unmarked bills


wow, that is anice find.

I certainly wouldn't put it past them to do this.

And if it wasn't them doing it to themselves, the actual hackers will be caught. It's just a matter of time. I admire their ability but they picked the wrong entity to mess with.

I have a few of my own

The NSA doesn't get hacked unless it wants to. Think of it like this:  show weakness when you are strong.
Don't ever be surprised if the sweet old lunch lady isn't an Informant
NSA doesn't buy anything they take it by manipulation.
NSA is always doing shit whether it be small or large, they have been operating a LONG time before being called the NSA

*doubt this news is going to increase the price to anything noticeable*

If Bitcoin can avoid the bullshit that's strapped to it? It will go higher by 100 by end of the year.  Then hold around for a little while. Then go up by another 100 and hold for a little.  That's my free advice  ;D We can visit this post at a later date and see

the bitcoin was developed by the NSA,

I have no proof, but, I agree a little with what you said.  Although, people claim, BTC cannot be traced, I'm confident it can be traced in other ways, not just by the wallet addresses.

If anyone thinks NSA doesn't read this forum and others like it they should think twice  :o

P1 training op

get me 3 humpty dumpty's

some ex military cutout's

and a coffee

you are overthinking the power of NSA, every system in the world has weaknesses. there is nothing perfect to be found anywhere.


yeah there are ways to do a blockchain analysis and come to a conclusion about where the coins went but it is not 100% and has a huge margin of error.

what are the "other ways" you have in mind?

NSA won't do anything, they let the hackers spread whatever files and information they got for all they care. NSA is a big company and can protect themselves and may divert the information given after all they've been doing it since time. NSA will just deny anything or will create their own explanation of everything being leaked.

It might be a hint from the NSA that it will never stop hunting the hackers down. The hackers have probably bitten off more than they can chew, they couldn't have picked a worse target than the NSA. That organisation never forgets, or lets anything drop.

It would be a quite childish reaction for such an organization. At least that's not what I would expect from someone who feels capable of effectively solving the case in his/her favor. Threats are mostly exclaimed by those who feel (momentarily) powerless to engage in effective remedy for perceived injustice.

Of course it will be very interesting to see how this will end. Interestingly the main stream media still remain relatively silent regarding the case...

Finally I don't think it will be bad publicity for Bitcoin. The NSA is among the least popular organizations and associated with severe violations of civil rights - especially in foreign countries. The fact that Bitcoin payments are requested only shows that Bitcoin is valuable and can be used like cash.

ya.ya.yo!

hahaha thats funny, though it is a bad that such stuff is actually happening, it is really not good for the image of the bitcoins to be honest

An update posted one hour ago :

Bitcoin appears to be moving from a seized wallet to the Shadow Brokers auction, raising suspicions that the US government is potentially bidding to prevent stolen NSA exploits and tools from ending up in the wrong hands -- again.


I don't think It's anything confirmed though

http://www.zdnet.com/article/seized-silk-road-bitcoin-used-to-fund-shadowbrokers-exploit-auction/

Don't overestimate the NSA/underestimate the hackers.

That's usually what happens in these events. The media spins something else that goes viral and makes the average Joe forget about it. Remember Panama Papers? Barely anyone is talking about those (at least from what I can gather).

You're overestimating their power.

This statement is very irrational. There is no system that isn't hackable.

Nonsense. The same would apply for every other currency, especially dollar which is used for most illicit actions.

There seems to be a lot of people in this thread that think the NSA is ran by aliens or superhumans.

I think that the third one will happen, I don't think they will spend half a billion of dollars paying the hackers, but they will modify the tools and the websites or backdoors in order that those tools that hackers own now will not work, otherwise they will pay but not 1 million bitcoin.

it is definitely possible :D bitcoin always get a lot of negative publicity to be honest so nsa hack wont be too bad

Hack the wrong people and bodies will quickly add up,look at the Clinton Foundation.

Think we are well into the phase of nothing being safe and it being best to think you have been compromised.
It should be a interesting war between so many different factions that are not even tied to a Country,as well as those that are.

NSA seem to have made some big blunders as of late and think they could be in for a shakeup.

This guy was from the same firm as Snowden and was arrested in August..

What do they think of something like NSA? They know nothing?
No one will spend 1 million BTC for an exploit. We don't even know if that is legit.

They won't do anything. Private tools were leaked? Just ask major companies to make more backdoors or even - use the existing backdoors to make more.

Proves that nothing is safe.

I'm still having trouble seeing how this is bad publicity for bitcoin. They could have asked for half a billion USD in unmarked bills just the same. If anything it shows that it is possible that a group could be created to watch the watchmen. If I'm already being spied on, it doesn't bother me in the least that someone stole from the spies.

This is the guy who hack NSA? http://nypost.com/2016/10/05/nsa-contractor-arrested-in-hacking-plot/

I think he wanted to say that this us bad publicist for Bitcoin because recently it is often connected to similar cases. Of course they could have asked for US dollars but Bitcoin is stil harder to trace and bad is that this way people get the feeling Bitcoin is ideal currency for criminals. So we stil have to work to move this prejudice from Bitcoin.
And to answer the question I don't think this will influence on Bitcoin price.

I'm not speaking from the bitcoin community standpoint when I say "Bad publicity" for Bitcoin , I'm more speaking about how the governments or the media will talk about it. Asking for cash will just make them vulnerable and they will get caught for sure.

lol bitcoin is based in bad publicity, it's like 10 ponzi, hack, silk road, misinformation for every 1 good thing and well, the business are going "well"...

about the OP, for sure option 3, they just don't give a f*ck.

You clearly haven't even read the post, they were not asking for 1 million in Bitcoin, it was an auction.
If they got 1 million BTC in total, they would make those files public.