|
Title: Newbie question about private and public keys Post by: iraszl on January 25, 2014, 10:56:04 PM I know this is elementary and can't be done but I couldn't find a satisfactory answer in google, so here it goes:
What prevents somebody from 'guessing' the private key that matches a public key? Theoretically if someone managed to try and match all combinations of the 256-bit private key between 0x1 and 0xFFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFE BAAE DCE6 AF48 A03B BFD2 5E8C D036 4141 to a public key he would eventually be able spend the bitcoins stored on this account right? What does it take to see if a private/public key combination is correct? Is this something you check against the bitcoin network or is it a local algorithm? Thanks! Title: Re: Newbie question about private and public keys Post by: Foxpup on January 26, 2014, 01:27:23 AM I don't think you realise just how big the numbers involved really are. Theoretically, if someone managed to try and match all combinations of 256-bit keys, he would need to consume billions of times more energy than an exploding supernova (http://everything2.com/title/Thermodynamics+limits+on+cryptanalysis), in which case you've got bigger problems than your bitcoins.
Title: Re: Newbie question about private and public keys Post by: yogi on January 26, 2014, 01:45:34 AM Title: Re: Newbie question about private and public keys Post by: iraszl on January 26, 2014, 02:46:48 AM Thank you!
Title: Re: Newbie question about private and public keys Post by: Sonny on January 26, 2014, 09:46:50 AM This is a good illustration on the problem. Where is it originally from? Title: Re: Newbie question about private and public keys Post by: cz_miner on January 26, 2014, 12:36:22 PM Excellent pic! Will print it out and put in my office.
Title: Re: Newbie question about private and public keys Post by: Cryptopher on January 26, 2014, 03:45:23 PM I know this is elementary and can't be done but I couldn't find a satisfactory answer in google, so here it goes: What prevents somebody from 'guessing' the private key that matches a public key? Theoretically if someone managed to try and match all combinations of the 256-bit private key between 0x1 and 0xFFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFE BAAE DCE6 AF48 A03B BFD2 5E8C D036 4141 to a public key he would eventually be able spend the bitcoins stored on this account right? What does it take to see if a private/public key combination is correct? Is this something you check against the bitcoin network or is it a local algorithm? Thanks! I understand your concern, but it isn't something that you need to worry about. Yes there is a private/public key pair according to some cipher, but nobody is going to figure out your private key from your public key. The biggest threat is people gaining access to your machine/private information through poor security practice (human's are usually the weak link in security). If somebody gets these details through poor security then all they need to do is walk straight through the door to your precious coins. Stay safe :) Title: Re: Newbie question about private and public keys Post by: Cryptopher on January 26, 2014, 03:48:08 PM That's amazing haha. Of course there is always universally BAD luck :P But more than likely there is bad security practice, allowing the bad guy to walk straight in lol. Title: Re: Newbie question about private and public keys Post by: yogi on January 26, 2014, 04:48:51 PM This is a good illustration on the problem. Where is it originally from? I'm not sure who originally created the image, hopefully someone will enlightens us. Title: Re: Newbie question about private and public keys Post by: iraszl on January 26, 2014, 08:51:51 PM I understand your concern, but it isn't something that you need to worry about. Yes there is a private/public key pair according to some cipher, but nobody is going to figure out your private key from your public key. The biggest threat is people gaining access to your machine/private information through poor security practice (human's are usually the weak link in security). If somebody gets these details through poor security then all they need to do is walk straight through the door to your precious coins. Stay safe :) Yes, if you have an unencrypted wallet and somebody steals it that's a bummer. Even if encrypted and you use '12345' as a password still not good. I guess you're only as safe as your password is, right? Cold storage is the solution. |
