Just Try and Steal Cryptocurrency from Space, Hackers

[vipgelsi]

Just Try and Steal Cryptocurrency from Space, Hackers

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/solarcoin-spacebelt-satellites-cold-storage-hackers-cryptocurrency-in-space

[European Central Bank]

not sure I've heard of solarcoin before and where does the 5 billion dollar valuation come from? there must be an easier way than shooting your coin into space. but it's very cool all the same.

[xhomerx10]

"...when the funds are needed, the satellite will communicate with a base station on Earth, via a secure link. "

 Sounds like a rudimentary internet with VPN.

Also, why use a satellite when the distance from New York to Paris is sixty times the distance from earth to the satellite and once could use a single private telephone line via secure link between Paris and New York...
ah! Maybe I'm missing the big picture here?  I guess Paris isn't desolate enough to be considered safe.... yet


 

[RodeoX]

"...when the funds are needed, the satellite will communicate with a base station on Earth, via a secure link. "

 Sounds like a rudimentary internet with VPN.
...

Ah, there's the attack vector then. 

[unamis76]

This has many problems, I found some reading through the article, maybe there are more.

First one is:

and when the funds are needed, the satellite will communicate with a base station on Earth, via a secure link.

There's your vulnerability.

Second one is in the article straight away: social engineering and/or inside jobs.

Third problem:

“The customer’s premises [are] equipped with small antenna—pointing directly to space,”

So this is how you make communication... But where are the funds for these antennas?

Maybe they come from the fourth problem:

Billions of digital coins were minted before the coin’s launch and put away to be distributed as a reward to solar power users over the next 40 years

A premine in hands of the devs... Where have we seen this...

I don't think their main plan will have much success.

[amacar2]

False information is given in the article

worth around $5 billion USD at half a cent each

When i checked https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/solarcoin/ its merely 7 cents so they have actually hyped the total worth of the coin.

Idea seem nice but that will not make those tens of billions of coins sent there unusable so basically those coins will be large premined coin owned by a corporation. I think we don't need another centralized alt.

[European Central Bank]

I think we don't need another centralized alt.

I think that side of things is just starting to get warmed up. we're gonna see loads of bandwagon jumping with every possible crappy angle. we ain't seen nothing yet.

[franky1]

guys its just a pump and dump coin trying to grab some fiat before running off..

this topic belongs in the altcoin category

[iGotSpots]

That machine is not in any way air gapped as stated. If anything, this shows the lack of confidence in how talented some people here are

[c789]

Satellites have been hacked before, and they will be hacked again. They've only mitigated the physical security risks (aside from an astronaut just happening to pop in for some "maintenance" with a rubber ducky of sorts).