Bitcoin Forum

Brothers in Crypto,

I wanted you all to be aware that we have a financial terrorist among us attempting to extort money from myself and likewise further damage the crypto-currency movement, of which we are all passionately involved. This individual’s goal is no doubt targeting all of us in that their actions add further reasons towards preventing our achieving global acceptance.

I am speaking to you as a common member of this movement in the spirit of open and honest communication towards allowing you to understand what has transpired against us.

As many of you may remember, a few months ago our remote servers were under constant attack and resulted in the eMunie website and forum being taken offline on a few occasions. Soon after these attacks the assailants gained access to several online services I control, and most certainly had some form of access to 1 or more machines on my home network and also our remote servers.

Resulting from these coordinated breaches, the assailant made off with over 600 BTC from my own personal BTC wallets and accounts, as well as a sizable amount from of our pre-launch fundraising activities.

Additionally some old backups of the eMunie source code were downloaded and will probably surface on the internet soon after this announcement. This source code is not compatible to any current eMunie code base and is mainly older prototype code, thankfully I had switched backup requirements some time before this attack and thus many of the functions that give eMunie it's edge are still safe.

Extensive time, effort and resources has been expended to understand how these attacks may have been possible, and to track down the offenders whereabouts. Unfortunately at this time, the identity of the thief can not be ascertained with 100% confidence, but I hope in light of recent renewed activity on their part and with help of the community maybe assisting in the search, we can identify the thief and exert some justice.

With regards to the possibility of further attacks, after this event all network infrastructure was changed with revised security methods and a change of service providers where required. These efforts included fortifying my home network and the machines that run within it, including additional internal and external proxy systems between myself and the internet. A second local network that I now use for development and the storage of sensitive information is also in place and connects via an on demand only internet connection when absolutely required.

The methods employed to gain access to remote and local systems are most likely a possibility of 2 which I will detail more in another report, the summary of which, and affected systems is below:

The systems/accounts that were affected were my personal Gmail account (which possibly linked as a backup to my ancient personal Hotmail account) as well as multiple wallets across many reputable online trading services.

Our hosting panel for some remote systems was also breached, as security there is not particularly as great as it should be for a large ISP. I believe this was the primary entry point to gain access to my home systems, with some malicious code planted and a mechanism to transfer upon next login to my home machines. From my home machines it was only a matter of time before access to pretty much everything was possible. At no point did any of the protection on these home machines indicate any virus, trojan or the sort, and considering the complexity of the hack (and how well any evidence of activity was removed) it was certainly an attacker/s of "professional" caliber and likely some custom software made to do that specific job.

No passwords for any of these accounts were kept in any electronic medium so that method was not employed to compromise them. I can only surmise that initially they gained access through the use of "Security Questions" to reset the passwords on less secure accounts, which due to my public profile and online history would not be that difficult to breach.

Based on this revised security implementation the thief is now unable to gain access to any services or accounts, and have noted recent extensive activity since the theft which is clearly such an attempt. As such, he now finds himself having to move towards extortion for further financial rewards by threatening to go public with his prior actions in an attempt to damage our reputation within the crypto-world.

As I stand by my own word and moral character I have personally covered the loss of all eMunie funds so that that the impact to our operations and activities are completely and absolutely unaffected. This was a decision I made personally as I wanted to take the time to ensure there was no loss of momentum for our project development, as well as to allow me time to begin an investigation towards discovering who this person was.

Since the attack and theft, over 300 BTC has been requested in refunds for various reasons to numerous investors, all of which have been returned without incident from my own pocket. I have ensured to keep a steady amount of funds available to be able to purchase BTC as and when required to meet these demands, aside from the occasional delay in purchasing BTC in mass amounts, all refunds have been honored. With that in mind, I would be grateful if perhaps those of you that requested refunds and received them could stand forward and state as such, providing that it does not cause you any ill consequences by doing so.

In light of this news, I am fully aware that many of you will decide to reclaim your investments too, and no ill regard will be taken against you should that be your wish. I am at present in process of repurchasing large amounts of Bitcoin in anticipation, to cover any individuals that might feel they want to be refunded from the project at this time and they can be assured that their initial contributions are still completely valid and secure. I do request, however, that if you wish to leave the project you would have a modest amount of patience for this effort, as acquiring large amounts of Bitcoin, with bank held fiat funding is not a speedy process and can take some time.

Frankly, I am personally disgusted by such a move as I have always strived to maintain a high moral character and reputation with regards to the ideals of the crypto-community. We receive enough mockery from the mainstream press and other communities already for our efforts here and these events only serve to fuel that mockery further. Accordingly, any damage to our collective reputation only serves to weaken our combined efforts to change the face of global financial services.

It is no secret that both myself and the eMunie project have been the target of many attacks over the past year, we have been mocked, laughed at, my personal status and morals have been wrongly brought to question, endless scathing personal insults, and numerous minor disruptions many times, all of which have been overcome and will continue to be so.

I outright refuse to yield to these attempts to halt the vision that is eMunie, and regardless of the outcome from this event, I will not be deterred from completing the goal which I have set. Be it with community support or none at all, eMunie will be a success and I will do whatever it takes to ensure that becomes fact.

TO THE THIEF:

Your original attack was smart, well coordinated and perfectly executed, you obviously took your time and tested for cracks, committing your attack when I was at my most occupied with other matters holding my attention. However, you should have stayed happy with your ill gotten gains, as your recent secondary attacks have not been quite so well played and you have let sheer greed get the better of you.

My trail to you had all but gone cold, and I was in the position of simply having to take the hit and allow spilt milk be just that. Alas, for you, your recent efforts and attempted extortion have done nothing more than to put into motion my forced hand. You called my bluff, I never bluff.....

What awaits you is an existence where you dare not raise your head above water, for the fear of someone, somewhere waiting with a golden axe. I am a calculated man with resources, who can be cunning when needs to be, and I will use all resources that I have to track you down, and I will start with those gold axe's.

I am going to put a bounty on your "head", the 40BTC that you attempted to extort from me. In addition to that, this bounty will increase over time, indefinitely, each week by 1 Bitcoin. This will continue until such a time that reliable information is provided that leads to you, results in your capture and full wrath of the law brought against you, or that the bounty amount is so high, rewards pledged for America's most wanted seem insulting.

By that point I imagine internet bounty hunters finding your whereabouts are the least of your worries.

Checkmate!

You have 2 options:

1. Return the stolen Bitcoins, in full, within 2 weeks. After this period, the bounty will never be lifted and negotiations of any sort are impossible.
2. Run & hide, well, and forever.


If anyone wishes to aid in the search for this financial terrorist then I will be collecting the newest information I have so far and will be publishing these details once the immediate hysteria has calmed, to aid in their eventual identification. I will also be placing the 40BTC bounty into a reputable escrow provider over the next week or so, the timeline of which purely depends on how much BTC I need to purchase to fulfill investment refunds, as that is of course my #1 priority.

Additionally if anyone has suggestions of ways I may not have been aware to attempt to track down this individual, please let me know also.

Finally, to all that have shown me support and faith, I can only offer my sincerest apologies and humbly ask that you do not allow this event to distort your perception of my character and intent. Responsibility of those funds is solely mine and I will carry that responsibility regardless, my vigilance in protecting them was simply not enough and I will pay the cost of that loss without complaint.

- Dan Hughes

For the record, none of the Founders, or any other individual associated with eMunie knew of this event prior to today!

Original Link to Attached PDF containing this text:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fkhh875u9zokfba/Announcement Of BTC Theft.pdf (https://www.dropbox.com/s/fkhh875u9zokfba/Announcement Of BTC Theft.pdf)

Events such as these are a sad reality of the world we live in as managing security is a never-ending battle we all fight daily.

However, I can personally state that I am, and will continue to be, a loyal and dedicated member of this project. From my 6 months of communications on this project as well as from several in-person 1-on-1 meetings with Dan I have never once found him to be anything but an individual of the highest moral character and ideals. As someone with an above-average net worth it was inevitable that some low-life would eventually target him personally as this event demonstrates.

I am deeply saddened for the financial toll this has taken upon him personally, but I would hope anyone reading this would appreciate how his actions in response to the event only further serve as a supreme and unquestionable example for how much integrity he truly possesses. How many other thefts of this magnitude were mitigated from the victim's own wallet? None that I'm aware of. The fact that he has personally guaranteed the funds previously provided by all contributors is just another reason why I will remain a vocal and dedicated follower.

The primary reason I stay here is actually because of a core ethics I maintain with my investments which can be stated simply as:

Invest in "People", not "Products"

Accordingly, I can find no better investment than the one I place in Dan and his unwavering commitment to this project.

The theft is a setback, but it doesn't endanger the eMunie project. No investor money has been lost, as Dan has covered all losses from his personal fundings. Kudos to him for that.

It does not matter how much time you spent securing your web server and desktop computers, there is always the possibity for a hacker to enter a system by using some software vulnerability. OpenSSL, web servers, and web browsers have tons of bugs that are often not fixed for months or even years.

Keyloggers are the usual attack weapon, and we have been thinking about alternate eMunie wallets that can be optionally not only tied to a password (that can be easily stolen), but also to hardware devices (not a trivial issue, because if a hardware becomes unusable by electronic defects you would loose your funds).

I'm confident eMunie will be the next step in achieving improved computer security. It will not disallow theft alltogether, but make it more difficult to steal compared to current systems like BTC.

Can i politely ask if you were running Windows?

i mean , don't feel bad most ATM run XP...

so...

sorry for you loss, but remember when i attended your forum and filled you guys in a bit?

Emuni is a bold project i will still invest something in it once i have ironed out the details and can see its specifics - ** edit and when it is open source in a common language.

-----------------------

To Dan

The problem that i think emuni is suffering from is the - "one man source issue" , now i don't want you to take that the wrong way, but you have put so much hard work into this you obviously feel that you will not be compensated duly if it is not done this way, let me tell you.

you are wrong Dan.

these filth only live in dark places such as close source, you have to step into the light Dan, you should have built the basic structure, and then spread work out to community keep it open source and in a common language.

in this way attackers that see these systems as a threat, at best can what?  make cheap copies ? troll you forum ? with a product in the environment constant new members will come along, this is why one guy telling the truth can uproot a 1000 mindless religo weirdo bots. 

if you love your work, give it away like light, these dim idiots don't like light.

the world will replay you Dan. 

“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.”
― Charles Darwin

Hear Hear!

I couldn't agree more. Bad things can, and do, happen. The judge of a man's character (which is all that truly matters) is how he responds to the events that affect him. Dan's response to this situation only serves to strengthen my commitment.

Well this is really unfortunate however I believe in Dan and will keep my investments with the eMunie project.

Post wallet address.

+1

Go Dan, many are behind you even more due to your steadfastness and fortitude in the face of naysayers, attackers, and second-guessers and how you have chosen to respond professionally.

They still paper money. they still electronic money, they still crypto...

There was a really cool punishment for stealing - cutting hands off. We should bring it back.

Looks like someone is pulling a Baritus here.  If this was actually legit, you would have posted the wallet address.

This is a sad post to read... it affects all of the cryptocoins... not just this one person...

I haven't followed eMunie to much, though I was ready to invest once it was out of beta.  Regardless, this type of news always sickens me to have to hear and I offer my deepest sense of solidarity.

I hope the best for you, Fuserleer, your supporters.  This type of news only weakens the image of cryptographic currencies and, in turn, hurts all of us.  I hope that justice is served effectively and swiftly against those who have stolen these funds.

Quote clipped because tldr -- don't need anything beyond this last part anyway.

THE REALITY: OP is too stupid to manage other individual's funds.

OP'S REALITY: it's the thief's fault for taking advantage of this.

NEXT STEP? Run crying to big brother I guess; you're not ready for Bitcoin.

Were you guys also using the Usagi Backup Method (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=631605.0;all)?

OP is personally coughing up the stolen funds and you people are still trolling? C'mon.

Be careful of the finger you point at someone as there are 3 other fingers pointed back at yourself.


https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=395761.msg6254498#msg6254498 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=395761.msg6254498#msg6254498)
April 16, 2014
Who is "the real Daniel P Barron?"
I can prove I am who I claim to be; that is, the user in question regarding this loss of BTC.

LOL; alright let's do this.

Those were my funds (not investors).

It was an amount I could afford to lose (because I knew counterparty is sketchy new software).

The funds were lost due to a bug in the aforementioned sketchy software, which I helped them discover and fix.


Any other points you want to make? Maybe try scanning through my twitter history; I'm much more active on there. http://twitter.com/danielpbarron (http://twitter.com/danielpbarron)

LOL. Just speaking for myself here, but other eMunie founders might see this the same: we have some great piece of software to work on. No need to waste our time with your boring twitter account. May I invite you to read the really interesting stuff? Go to forum.emunie.com

I see. So because he lost 0.385 BTC of his own money due to a bug in the CounterParty wallet (it seems), he's not allowed to criticise someone incapable of properly securing HUNDREDS of Bitcoins? I see.

Just pointing out that one should be cautious when throwing stones if you live in a glass house.

By that I mean that malicious theft can occur to ANYONE.  If you think for 1 second that you are totally 100% secure then you are completely and utterly living in a delusion.  The best anyone can possibly hope for is to achieve a relative balance between safety and paranoia.  

Find me one solution that you claim is 100% secure and I (or others here) will provide at least 1 way that it is not foolproof.

It's just the greatest irony...
But I've owned 7 figures in bank deposits, broker accounts, real estate, cars, tech equipment, etc...
And the ONLY thing I worry about being FUCKING STOLEN is Bitcoin.

What's wrong with this picture?

I know we had our differences but this is truly shitty news, greed can be a great motivator. Hope you are able to track down the thief.

Sidenote: this is way I have changed my view on anonymous txs, too much of this kind of thing goes on and anonymous txs would make it impossible to follow.

Thank you for the kind words MrVegas.

As for the viewpoint on anonymous txs, I guess we'll just have to respectfully agree to disagree.  ;) Effectively, anything can be used for both beneficial and nefarious activities.  Guns kill people, but also protect families.  You can cut meat with a knife, or use it as a weapon.  The overarching analysis must be in favor of the benefits to society outweighing the detrimental usage.   As such, I see (in our current climate of Govt. spying) that the pendulum has swung in favor of needing greater anonymous utility.

Cordially,
Peachy

Its a hard lesson to learn, but significant amounts of bitcoin like this should be in cold storage..

Were these funds not in cold storage?

I'm sorry for your loss but you can't now expect a hacker come to you admit the crime and give you the coins back i bet he anonymised himself good enought for you not to be able to trace him down.

Worth noting: A similar situation occurred within the past 30 days:
http://www.coindesk.com/how-roger-ver-hacked-what-he-did-stop-it/ (http://www.coindesk.com/how-roger-ver-hacked-what-he-did-stop-it/)

It is difficult to read such a lengthy Bruno style post. Can u please rephrase your view in short ?

I tweet about #Bitcoin and The #Bible, with the intention of exposing frauds; there are many who advocate, but few understand.
Westbrook, Connecticut
danielpbarron.com
Joined March 2009



Tell me about the bible.

Well, he belongs to the few who understands the bible. Even if he "advocates" to you, you won't understand. Bible is one thing that defies logic. So no one will ever understand it except him who believes in it to understand.

yes that makes perfect sense , now i completely understand.

would the bible say you could judge if i can understand something or not ?

This is a very sad news.

In his understanding it has to be a big yes! Because mere mortals like us will never quite get it in the first place. :-)

You must believe the entire thing (Matthew 4:4). If you are sincerely interested in learning about The Bible (and more specifically, the false teachers to avoid), you should check out http://atruechurch.info/ (http://atruechurch.info/). The author of the articles on that site can explain this topic much better than I can.

You have to believe the entire Bible; you don't necessarily have to know it all, or even understand it all.

Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.

now i do understand so that's just the profile of a damaged person.  no problem, unless of course someone decides to give people like that access to advanced police state technology, so they can mindlessly do their bidding for them in "gods" name.

of course. in the field of infinite expanding information equal and opposite reaction tend to find equilibrium however.

i will point again to the wider world for a reference, but you could find many in many places , i'm sure  : )

Dan read my first post-

Wow, this is a huge loss for emunie.  I'm wondering when they are actually going to release this project, it's been in development for over a year and people are obviously losing faith and interest.

I hope you find your thief . And for 40 btc if wish i was a hacker so i could try find him!!!

Err, sad news, eMunie is promising, I hope you will be able to continue the project  :-\. As my brother said some days ago with Sharexcoin scam, Bitcoin is like the far west, traps and stealers are everywhere...

Oh come on...

This must be a joke.

... a bad one.

dan did an mtgox...

Check out the services section of BTCTalk, there is some professional Dox'ers that might be able to help you nab this guy.

Here are some:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=640382.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=259736.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=591738.0

Also might want to check out 4chan. I know that Anon has some slick Dox'ers that are for hire,  40BTC might be enough to get them working.

Fuserleer,

The eMunie forums have been broken for some time.  The website has not been update in months.  The IRC Channel is empty.

Please provide an update on the eMunie project.  People who are invested in the project deserve it.

Forums working for alot of people.

Correct, there was no hacking. Dan simply took the bitcoins and ran away. I knew something like this was going to happen, and I've warned others to not invest into eMunie prior to this, it was just an elaborate scam. Even the way he typed, he felt so forceful in trying to get others to believe in "what he was doing".

If you read up on Dan's past, you'd see he made a living off of scamming people. This is very sad to see.....Wow.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=411366.0

That thread shows how Dan used to scam others for a living.

Please read the OP before spreading misinformation. Dan replaced all of the stolen BTC with his own money and gives out refunds to investors who request it.


That thread shows how some guy tries to discredit Dan using manipulation and false information. Please read through the whole thread instead of blindly believing the OP.

The issue is that if you're not logged in than  you get a 500 error.  Also on some pages it appears that none of the topics have been updated when that is not true.