Blockchain as a signaling network for “dark deeds”

[davis196]

And here came to me the thought - and whether blockchain is not used to transmit “signals” for, for example, coordination of actions of some people, organizations, ..... Inexpensive, undetectable, and really anonymous !
For example, a wallet is created, which is monitored by a group of people. And they know - if the wallet appears for example 200924 satoshi - then on September 20, 24 that we do something previously planned. Or it's not noticeable at all - 117 satoshis arrived, so we do what we planned on September 20, 24. And if 319 satoshis - then “cancel and go away” until the next transaction, which will carry corrective/informational data. To monitor such transactions, and most importantly to analyze - JUST IMPOSSIBLE !

If a group of people decided to use the blockchain for such "signals", then nobody and nothing can stop them.
The "signaling" system you are describing seems too secretive and weird. Encrypted text messages exist for years, why this secret group wouldn't just use encrypted text messages? Agencies like CIA and Mossad exist for a reason. They use spies to infiltrate such suspicious groups and gather information about the way they communicate. I'm not an expert in espionage, so I can't share any information about this process.
Anyway, the blockchain is a tool and it can be used for both good deeds and bad deeds, just like social media or the internet in general.

[Reatim]

Every technology comes with its challenges and blockchain technology is no exception.

I don’t think anything is inherently evil. For example, with the creation of AI we can’t deny that it has its own benefits and has made a lot of our lives easier and more convenient however it is also being used for very dangerous and harmful things.

It’s not the about tool but the one who holds it. As long as there are people who are willing to do bad things, blockchain and other things can and will be used for the worse.

I will not accept is thinking that blockchain technology was created for only bad purposes as some people think or that because  some bad players use Bitcoin too therefore is for such purpose mainly. Even fiat system is being used for all the wrong purposes which Bitcoin is being accused of.

It doesn’t make any sense that bitcoin is being stereotyped as something used by criminals when fiat is also used the same way. They just don’t know it. There’s always bad and good sides in everything and it’s obvious that some people just don’t want to acknowledge the benefits bitcoin and the blockchain system offers.

[Lucius]

~snip~
It doesn’t make any sense that bitcoin is being stereotyped as something used by criminals when fiat is also used the same way. They just don’t know it. There’s always bad and good sides in everything and it’s obvious that some people just don’t want to acknowledge the benefits bitcoin and the blockchain system offers.

From your and my perspective (and the majority on this forum) it makes no sense, but if you were to put yourself in the position of those in power who are doing everything in their power to control the world, then for them any decentralization is a problem that needs to be faced. All these agendas against BTC that exist are not the product of some ordinary people who for some reason do not like BTC, but come from the centers of power whose only obsession is to control everything around them.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

What ever happens, Bitcoin will not still exit the space, it has received tons attacks in the past and up till date, it still gets more attacks, therefore there is nothing new that has not been tried before. The way to stop of such from happening and only way to prevent Bitcoin transaction from going on is if the internet is being brought down because if only the government decides to bring down Bitcoin or crypto for any of these reasons that you have started, they only reduced the increase of the problem they are fighting but they didn't eliminate it totally.

[SickDayIn]

For example, a wallet is created, which is monitored by a group of people. And they know - if the wallet appears for example 200924 satoshi - then on September 20, 24 that we do something previously planned. Or it's not noticeable at all - 117 satoshis arrived, so we do what we planned on September 20, 24. And if 319 satoshis - then “cancel and go away” until the next transaction, which will carry corrective/informational data.

You refer to the satoshi balance of a Bitcoin address being used to direct people to make decisions/actions.

I recall an article from 2021 where a botnet was discovered which was using the satoshi balance of a Bitcoin address to generate an IPv4 address to direct traffic to the Command & Control (C2) server.
Article: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/02/crooks-use-the-bitcoin-blockchain-to-protect-their-botnets-from-takedown/

"The botnet observed by Akamai stored the backup server IP address in the two most recent transactions posted to 1Hf2CKoVDyPj7dNn3vgTeFMgDqVvbVNZQq, a bitcoin wallet address selected by the operators. The most recent transaction provided the third and fourth octets, while the second most recent transaction provided the first and second octets.

The octets are encoded in the transaction as a “Satoshi value,” which is one hundred millionth of a bitcoin (0.00000001 BTC) and currently the smallest unit of the bitcoin currency that can be recorded on the blockchain. To decode the IP address, the botnet malware converts each Satoshi value into a hexadecimal representation. The representation is then broken up into two bytes, with each one being converted to its corresponding integer."

The malware used a bash script to convert the Satoshi value balance to the IPv4 address, however for easier reading this has been converted to Python here:


The Satoshi values in the two most recent wallet transactions are 6957 and 36305. When converted, the IP address is: 209.141.45.27

More detailed blog post here: https://www.akamai.com/blog/security/bitcoins--blockchains--and-botnets

[Bitcoin Smith]

FYI they don't need to use Bitcoin network at all, they can create their own tools like OpenSSL in python to encrypt and decrypt a message that no one can decode it other than the person who are supposed to be.

And this way you mentioned it's too complicated and how they can send other messages like that needs alphabets instead of numerical and it's a long one, I don't think they will be ready to send 20 decimal numbers to convey a message that only 20 strings long.

[DrBeer]

For example, a wallet is created, which is monitored by a group of people. And they know - if the wallet appears for example 200924 satoshi - then on September 20, 24 that we do something previously planned. Or it's not noticeable at all - 117 satoshis arrived, so we do what we planned on September 20, 24. And if 319 satoshis - then “cancel and go away” until the next transaction, which will carry corrective/informational data.

You refer to the satoshi balance of a Bitcoin address being used to direct people to make decisions/actions.

I recall an article from 2021 where a botnet was discovered which was using the satoshi balance of a Bitcoin address to generate an IPv4 address to direct traffic to the Command & Control (C2) server.
Article: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/02/crooks-use-the-bitcoin-blockchain-to-protect-their-botnets-from-takedown/

"The botnet observed by Akamai stored the backup server IP address in the two most recent transactions posted to 1Hf2CKoVDyPj7dNn3vgTeFMgDqVvbVNZQq, a bitcoin wallet address selected by the operators. The most recent transaction provided the third and fourth octets, while the second most recent transaction provided the first and second octets.

The octets are encoded in the transaction as a “Satoshi value,” which is one hundred millionth of a bitcoin (0.00000001 BTC) and currently the smallest unit of the bitcoin currency that can be recorded on the blockchain. To decode the IP address, the botnet malware converts each Satoshi value into a hexadecimal representation. The representation is then broken up into two bytes, with each one being converted to its corresponding integer."

The malware used a bash script to convert the Satoshi value balance to the IPv4 address, however for easier reading this has been converted to Python here:

The Satoshi values in the two most recent wallet transactions are 6957 and 36305. When converted, the IP address is: 209.141.45.27

More detailed blog post here: https://www.akamai.com/blog/security/bitcoins--blockchains--and-botnets

So there were attempts, and quite cunning, although narrowly focused ! I can only assume that in the Bitcoin network it is used less often, because of the high commission, and possible delays. But I cited the Bitcoin blockchain as an example !

[Silberman]

FYI they don't need to use Bitcoin network at all, they can create their own tools like OpenSSL in python to encrypt and decrypt a message that no one can decode it other than the person who are supposed to be.

And this way you mentioned it's too complicated and how they can send other messages like that needs alphabets instead of numerical and it's a long one, I don't think they will be ready to send 20 decimal numbers to convey a message that only 20 strings long.

If people would like to try they may do it anyway, however there is not really much of a point to do this, as many criminals are surprisingly open about their activities on the many different social networks, and those that may like to transmit messages to others while making sure no one can understand what they are saying, already have many technologies available to them that could allow them to achieve just that, so if that happened I would have to question the reasons for anyone doing this.

[NotATether]

What if the blockchain of bitcoin or other mass cryptocurrencies are used as a “signaling network” and to organize the interaction of not very good things, not very good people ? Could this affect cryptocurrencies in general ? And won't blockchain technology be on the verge of total control, if not extinction?

You mean like malware? It's already doing that on some other blockchains but not on Bitcoin, because that's too expensive for storage.

The C2 (command and control server) can use it to relay messages to the infected computers assuming that the virus has some sort of parser to retrieve and filter all that information. But it will leave behind a trace that can let security people take down the C2.

As far as demonstrations and protests go however, I never heard of such a thing.

[DrBeer]

What if the blockchain of bitcoin or other mass cryptocurrencies are used as a “signaling network” and to organize the interaction of not very good things, not very good people ? Could this affect cryptocurrencies in general ? And won't blockchain technology be on the verge of total control, if not extinction?

You mean like malware? It's already doing that on some other blockchains but not on Bitcoin, because that's too expensive for storage.

The C2 (command and control server) can use it to relay messages to the infected computers assuming that the virus has some sort of parser to retrieve and filter all that information. But it will leave behind a trace that can let security people take down the C2.

As far as demonstrations and protests go however, I never heard of such a thing.

Bitcoin, in my question, is just as an example. I am well aware that there are high commissions and often slow speed. But there are plenty of other blockchains. And it is very easy to build such a signaling network there. The software that will monitor it will be extremely simple and not suspicious - it just needs to periodically check the wallet balance and/or transactions on a certain wallet. And such traffic can be generated by a huge amount of software

[SickDayIn]

For example, a wallet is created, which is monitored by a group of people. And they know - if the wallet appears for example 200924 satoshi - then on September 20, 24 that we do something previously planned. Or it's not noticeable at all - 117 satoshis arrived, so we do what we planned on September 20, 24. And if 319 satoshis - then “cancel and go away” until the next transaction, which will carry corrective/informational data.

You refer to the satoshi balance of a Bitcoin address being used to direct people to make decisions/actions.

I recall an article from 2021 where a botnet was discovered which was using the satoshi balance of a Bitcoin address to generate an IPv4 address to direct traffic to the Command & Control (C2) server.
Article: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/02/crooks-use-the-bitcoin-blockchain-to-protect-their-botnets-from-takedown/

"The botnet observed by Akamai stored the backup server IP address in the two most recent transactions posted to 1Hf2CKoVDyPj7dNn3vgTeFMgDqVvbVNZQq, a bitcoin wallet address selected by the operators. The most recent transaction provided the third and fourth octets, while the second most recent transaction provided the first and second octets.

The octets are encoded in the transaction as a “Satoshi value,” which is one hundred millionth of a bitcoin (0.00000001 BTC) and currently the smallest unit of the bitcoin currency that can be recorded on the blockchain. To decode the IP address, the botnet malware converts each Satoshi value into a hexadecimal representation. The representation is then broken up into two bytes, with each one being converted to its corresponding integer."

The malware used a bash script to convert the Satoshi value balance to the IPv4 address, however for easier reading this has been converted to Python here:

The Satoshi values in the two most recent wallet transactions are 6957 and 36305. When converted, the IP address is: 209.141.45.27

More detailed blog post here: https://www.akamai.com/blog/security/bitcoins--blockchains--and-botnets

So there were attempts, and quite cunning, although narrowly focused ! I can only assume that in the Bitcoin network it is used less often, because of the high commission, and possible delays. But I cited the Bitcoin blockchain as an example !

Yes you're right, and given the high fees of Bitcoin today converted to fiat, this would probably not be as feasible. However, I am sure smart contracts of token coins could be used for similiar purposes at a must lower cost.

[Outhue]

This make me remember Saito, a alt project that want to be like Bitcoin, it has this decentralised encryption SMS ability that you can use to text others without anyone knowing on the block chain, I said to myself then, that this won't survive, just because of this ability alone makes it a bigger threat vs all other crypto projects.

The centralised world won't want this to survive, because of possible criminal activities, the thing is if you want to build a decentralised project make it open source, code viewable, it makes it less suspicious, if anyone on here is a leader of a country, would you want such to exist? Terror attacks is real and with a strong communication channel it will be a harder battle to win.

The fact remains that nothing in this world is free from bad actors, there are many great innovations today that bad actors use to carry out their attacks, it doesn't matter if it's centralised or decentralised, closed source or open source, criminals will always use anything available.