Could bitcoin be hacked?

[thejaytiesto]

I've heard that if a group of people controls most of the coins, or transactions, whatever... they could change the bitcoin program, steal etc. How much of this is true and what is the chance that it happens?

EDIT: Yes I was talking about the 51% thing. This thing makes bitcoin look like democracy, which sucks.

Lol since when do democracies work with super majority? Even if someone owns 51% of the mining hash power it means nothing, to actually cause damage you would need way more than that, it's unrealistic and a non issue, at that point the attacker would be making more money by being a good actor to the network than an attacker, there's no incentive to deploy an insane mining attack whatsoever.

[1714913027]

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[tobacco123]

Yes bitcoin can be hack, but it will cost the hacker so much fortune that it will convert the hacker into a believer...

[Fityan]

I've heard that if a group of people controls most of the coins, or transactions, whatever... they could change the bitcoin program, steal etc. How much of this is true and what is the chance that it happens?

EDIT: Yes I was talking about the 51% thing. This thing makes bitcoin look like democracy, which sucks.

techically bitcoin cannot hacked by a program,i think bitcoin have solid code,and its make bitcoin very secure,but human mistake or error can be big problem for bitcoin.

[QuestionQuest]

I've heard that if a group of people controls most of the coins, or transactions, whatever... they could change the bitcoin program, steal etc. How much of this is true and what is the chance that it happens?

EDIT: Yes I was talking about the 51% thing. This thing makes bitcoin look like democracy, which sucks.

techically bitcoin cannot hacked by a program,i think bitcoin have solid code,and its make bitcoin very secure,but human mistake or error can be big problem for bitcoin.

If you run a wallet (whatever online or desktop or commandline or app) with no controll over your peers, then it is possible under some cirumstances even if your device is not compromised! (if your device is infected almost everything can be possible - almost - run a hardware wallet for your big money and small wallets for your fun, business or whatever).

Anyways, I would suggest to choose a wallet with controll over the peers and get yourself informations about the community of a peer.

If you do a sell and you are awaiting the bitcoins the peers will give you the confirmations.
People say its save to send your goods or whatever after 7 confirmations. Some are fine with even 3 or 5. And some are crazy 20+ waiters.

Anyways if 6 of 10 peers you are using are compromised it is possible to fake the informations for you. Remember, you dont have the blockchain on your device with most of the wallets.
Even if you have an own blockchain and using the core, you will use a limited number of peers (or you have to configure some more!)

You are Happy. You received the bitcoin. Giving out your account, data, game whatever. (Haha, the idiot payed me even too much!)
And next morning your wallet is empty again - you now have the real blockchain informations  

You´ve got hacked  

There are even some other options, but then a wallet-server for online wallets has to be hacked first.

But you cannot hack the blockchain or the logical informations behind it.
Well, like you see - the next morning your wallet will be 100% correct again with 0 btc  

[StoreBit]

No, it is false no one can hack your coins from your wallet unless they get access to your bitcoin wallet, as only those who open the wallet can be able to send the coins from there. when you have secured your wallet then don't worry no one will be able to use your coins, you are safe.

[bitcoin-hunter]

No, it is false no one can hack your coins from your wallet unless they get access to your bitcoin wallet, as only those who open the wallet can be able to send the coins from there. when you have secured your wallet then don't worry no one will be able to use your coins, you are safe.

Yeah people are getting afraid thinking that bitcoin can be hacked more easily then any other way. Remember if you protect your coins the same way you protect your money,
hackers won't stand a chance.

[DimensionZ]

Well depends on your definition of hack.

A pool or mega rich farmer can theoretically scheme to try to get 51% of the total hashrate of bitcoins. This would be a scenario where said entity can control transactions as long as he is in power, or simply try to destroy the network with fake transactions which would be very difficult to reverse after that. Many would say that the possibilty of such an attack is very low as said entity would earn so much more by playing nice.

Learn more at https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Weaknesses

That's right but what if someone wants to undermine Bitcoin or drive the price down to the ground? Theoretically a government or a bank consortium could do that of they wish to get rid of Bitcoin if the crypto coin has become too powerful and widespread. I think this is a real threat to the Bitcoin community because this is a weak link which can be broken by someone with the means to do it. The question is not who will profit by mining Bitcoin but who will profit by destroying it completely. I think Bitcoin is a global financial experiment and the people with power are letting it run for now but what if they decide to pull the plug at one point?

[European Central Bank]

Alot of scummy people have been trying to break it for a long time. Nothing much has happened. And if you did wanna harm it then all you have to do is a ton of spam transactions or crater it on an exchange. Easier and quicker.

[n0ne]

Alot of scummy people have been trying to break it for a long time. Nothing much has happened. And if you did wanna harm it then all you have to do is a ton of spam transactions or crater it on an exchange. Easier and quicker.

More people try to be smart by getting others hard earned bitcoins. It is difficult to hack the wallets or transaction network but there are people who hack official networks and demand bitcoin to continue the operations with the network.

[paulino_]

Hi Man, check this topic  "is it possible to hack your bitcoin from your wallet?"

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1424490.0

[Kakmakr]

The media is part to blame for this confusion. The Core protocol <code> be hacked, but the third party services built onto it can be hacked, and the media conveniently confuse the two. The are to lazy to do proper research. Example :
When Mt Gox or Cryptsy got hacked, the media reported about it, as Bitcoin is hacked. This headline attract more attention and they make more money.

Do not believe everything you read in papers or on these uninformed websites. Come to this forum and the informed people will debate the issue and you will get a clearer answer to your questions.

[QuestionQuest]

The media is part to blame for this confusion. The Core protocol <code> be hacked, but the third party services built onto it can be hacked, and the media conveniently confuse the two. The are to lazy to do proper research. Example :
When Mt Gox or Cryptsy got hacked, the media reported about it, as Bitcoin is hacked. This headline attract more attention and they make more money.

Do not believe everything you read in papers or on these uninformed websites. Come to this forum and the informed people will debate the issue and you will get a clearer answer to your questions.

100%
Core is safe
Ways to hack are around the core (apps, code, network etc.) only.

We could maybe ad an "at the moment", because nothing is impossible.
Give me the first quantum computer and we can have a talk about it again  

[Chrismeister]

There is always a manner to steal something. You need to keep your passwords and private things secret
if you don't do that the hackers will be able to hack your bit coins.

[Jemzx00]

I've heard that if a group of people controls most of the coins, or transactions, whatever... they could change the bitcoin program, steal etc. How much of this is true and what is the chance that it happens?

EDIT: Yes I was talking about the 51% thing. This thing makes bitcoin look like democracy, which sucks.

Well this could be true or maybe not since internet is full of lies. But I've already heard some people being hacked using their bitcoin wallet address only and even I don't know how they do this but I don't care about this things since these Hackers would care to my account too since it's poor.

[MaritiJames3]

With these groups of hacker these days they can hack into anything if they really want to. But it is pretty hard because Bitcoin is becoming big and I am sure that they have very good protection.
But if these hackers tried it they would succeed.

[pereira4]

The only thing that can be hacked is the device that you are using to store your Bitcoins, if it's connected to the internet. If you have your device disabled from the internet and encrypted, then you are pretty much safe for life.
As far as hacking the actual network, you have more chances being hit by an asteroid in the face than chances of the Bitcoin network getting hacked.

[cjmoles]

I don't know if a 51% attack would be contemplated by those currently controlling the hashing power because such an event would be detrimental to bitcoin's price.  If such an event were to occur, confidence in the technology would be lost and the price would plummet.  Therefore, there would be no monetary incentive for their effort.  However, if the goal were to crash the price, then I could see some very wealthy entity investing a bunch of resources into hashing power to try and break the chain....It's something to think about, but I don't think we need to worry about those in control of the hashing power at this point....they want to make money and they would lose money if they were to attack the network.

[thend1949]

Bitcoin could be hacked i think theres no system is safe but they difficult to hacked this.. Many tried to hacked this but they dont succeed ..

[Zaun]

Bitcoin itself cannot get hacked, you wallet can be hacked but this would be your own problem and you most likely can also blame yourself for it.
I think a paper wallet is very secure and you will not get hacked for sure.

[Mumbeeptind1963]

Bitcoin itself cannot get hacked, you wallet can be hacked but this would be your own problem and you most likely can also blame yourself for it.
I think a paper wallet is very secure and you will not get hacked for sure.

Yup now the wallet can be hacked but i think in the future they can break the security of bitcoin. Thats possible in the future but if that happen many bitcoin user dont use it so it can make the bitcoin price down if that happen