Bitcoin Forum

Can a computer virus similar to stuxnet threaten Bitcoin security by targetting large mining farms?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g0pi4J8auQ

Very rarely do i hear that viruses can attack the security of bitcoin wallets, especially in large mining, miners usually have prepared the security of the mining farm

Lol, if they can get into Iranian nuclear facilities, you can bet that they can just as easily bypass the security of large scale mining farms.
Sure they could do that, but for what sort of incentive? Is it about shutting down mining operations or about stealing funds?

I'm not even sure if something on the scale of Stuxnet could be developed without the support of a nation.

What exactly can a virus do to a mining farm though? Shut down operations? For what reason? They certainly can't make money out of it, and compromising Bitcoin security can't be advantageous for anyone. Stuxnet probably had massive resources behind it which can't be replicated by a bunch of hobbyists.

Anyway, it could be an inconvenience in the short term, but thanks to Bitcoin's decentralized and distributed nature, there is no single point that can bring the system down.

any attack (viral/hacker) will just shut down the operations of a mining firm, at max, they might steal some crypto that is not yet transfered to any wallet - what else it can do?

Take out competing mining farms and drive them out of business.

Possible, very possible in the near future! State Backed Cyber Hackers might use it to damage enemy mining firms!

Yes and some have already reverse engineered and altered it.




The operators of the facility probably heard the noise. But there's a reason the centrifuges kept getting attacked. The Stuxnet virus made the computers display the centrifuges as running normally from previously recorded data, but the centrifuges were actually spinning higher than what the computers displayed.

H-ant (https://www.bitcoinlinux.com/2019/01/24/new-malware-attacks-hold-asic-miners-to-ransom/) sounded pretty nasty.

Similar to ransomware like Peyta (https://www.networkworld.com/article/3069990/petya-ransomware-is-now-double-the-trouble.html) from 2016, H-ant would render your rigs useless unless you paid the ransom. However, H-ant was more vicious because it was capable of shutting off the fan and destroying Ant miner machines. Another option for victims was to further spread H-ant if they chose not to pay the ransom.

As for threatening the security of Bitcoin, I think this is unlikely. Mining is distributed enough that even a large coordinated attack would be incredibly difficult and costly to pull off. Once the network realized something was wrong, miners would band together and try to stabilize the hash rate.

yes, very much possible! virus and hackers - a nasty combination!

Don't you guys follow the news? There already is a ransomware virus targeting bitcoin asic machines in china. They have to pay or it will spread throughout their farm

This is the first time I've heard of such a virus, but still everything is possible in our digital world.I would not be surprised if such viruses are already in mining farms.The most important question is how to protect mining farms from such a virus and with what.The question is really very serious.