Is it possible to "Hack" a known bitcoin address?

[barbara44]

This must be a very hard lesson, but learning from a tragedy. OP's friend may RIP.
I just worry, because I am also not sharing anything about my bitcoin savings with my family members. At least for this reason, we must educate our family members about bitcoins.

[Viyamore]

We can't never hack it ,it is one of the best features/advantage of bitcoins .
Maybe one of his family knows it ,confront her wife to know if they know what does his husband frequently used passwords .
Your friend maybe saves his password to a files on laptop or on mobile phone .
Anything that connected to him may be a clue for that one for sure he will not remember all his passwords and accounts he will write or type it down in a secure place.

A lesson for us .

I agree chief to chief Naidray
That was the only way ,now i also realize to share my passwords or codes on my personal account or wrote it on a booklet which only me and my close family member knows it .it will be helpful in case of emergency .We are saving money and spending on investments  for our own family then we should share it as we don't know what will happen someone knows ,or where to you right your passwords and important informations.

[Hoor]

i have no idea about this because i am not a hacker but may be possible because there so much expert hackers who can hack any kind of address.

[Sarthak]

An address cannot be reverse engineered to get the private key. So, there is no way you would know your friend's private key if you know his address.

However, you can search for text files in your friends laptops/computer or any other device and see if he has stored his private key or his wallet's password in a text file.
You can also brute-force the password if you have the wallet.dat file.

[equator]

The only option left is you have to consult with their family and explain them about the situation and tell them that how much helpfull it will be if they are able to get all the details about the wallet. Other then that their is no other way of recovering the wallet with the help of address it is highly impossible, but if in future any new source comes that cannot be said.

And it is a good lesson for all of us who are using bitcoin should keep the records of all details of our work in any means of way which is suitable to you, so that if in future any thing happens they can get help through that saved details about the hardwork what you are doing now for their family. They should get the benefit of their loved ones who are working hard for them.

[Sarthak]

i have no idea about this because i am not a hacker but may be possible because there so much expert hackers who can hack any kind of address.

I don't know where you saw so many expert hackers who can hack any kind of address. Hacking private key by reverse engineering is not possible unless you break the encryption algorithms used and breaking encryption algorithms are thought to be impossible as of today.

[marleybobthedog]

Almost impossible because bitcoin transaction only happens when public key and private key match. Sop it's almost impossible to hack a wallet even with super computer it will take years to decrypt the wallet.

[springgers]

You can hack it by bruteforcing it with GPUs, but good luck ! It should take a few thousand years :/...

That's the true, maybe in 521421512 years you can find the key...
You can make a test doing a personalized btc address... 6 digits takes a lot of time... imagine all address...

That's a point to think, write the keys/passwords and put in some safe box or bank or something like that...

[Velkro]

you cant hack bitcoins away from an address from the bitcoin network side. (its why people trust bitcoin)

but your friend obviously had a computer or phone to send transactions.
so gaining access to that device is something you should talk to his family about.

This one, you could recover them through computer.
No chance to do it with any other method.

[Zadicar]

you cant hack bitcoins away from an address from the bitcoin network side. (its why people trust bitcoin)

but your friend obviously had a computer or phone to send transactions.
so gaining access to that device is something you should talk to his family about.

This one, you could recover them through computer.
No chance to do it with any other method.

Agree, this  method would  possibly work or find some  left behind passwords from his pc or mobile , bruteforcing  wallet addresses/ wallets would  be  impossible as of now since no one  could  ever do that and thats  the  good  thing about bitcoin thats why be sure  to keep passwords and  keys . Feel sad about the situation of his friend though.

[machinek20]

As i know there is no single way to hack bitcoin wallet, because they used a very strong password encryptor, i think the best way is to search the password in the computer or any place, without that there is no chance of hacking it

[mindrust]

Since practice>theory, practically impossible = impossible.

I disagree with this and think that it is false. The definition of impossible is:

something that cannot happen.

What we are talking about here is something possible, but improbable:

improbable = something that can happen, but its probability is comparatively low, but not zero.

Given enough time, a collision can/will happen.

Enough time that even all of the human lives combined wouldn't be enough. We live in a practical world. Sorry about that.

[Hirose UK]

Does he have an encrypted wallet.dat file on his computer? if it's the case the password is probably a phone number, his ID, or something similar. maybe his daughter's birthdays.
He probably left the password written somewhere in the house, search inside books for a piece of paper. most people don't solely rely on their memory for such valuable things.

yeah, if he has a lot of bitcoins, I think he would save the password, private key, etc in a safe place. just check his device he used to open the wallet or ask the family where he used to spend his time working, probably he saved a note there.

[Lauda]

Enough time that even all of the human lives combined wouldn't be enough. We live in a practical world. Sorry about that.

The lifespan of a human is irrelevant for a definition of something. While we may never live to see that day come, it is possible, just not probable.

yeah, if he has a lot of bitcoins, I think he would save the password, private key, etc in a safe place.

No, not really. Just because the may or may not have a fair amount of money, that does not mean that they're going to properly secure it.

[johnnyyash]

No problem at all.  Your friends private key in on this website right here:

directory.io

You can just go there, get the key, and then transfer the bitcoins.

I feel nervous, if oneday satoshi's 1 million coin would be hacked, the bitcoin price will plummet.

Same here too...truly agree with you

[mindrust]

Enough time that even all of the human lives combined wouldn't be enough. We live in a practical world. Sorry about that.

The lifespan of a human is irrelevant for a definition of something. While we may never live to see that day come, it is possible, just not probable.

Disagreed.

[purebitco]

This must be a very hard lesson, but learning from a tragedy. OP's friend may RIP.
I just worry, because I am also not sharing anything about my bitcoin savings with my family members. At least for this reason, we must educate our family members about bitcoins.

it is definitely impossible to hack an address if it was a cold storage, its the easiest question i think

[outatime1]

I don't think you can hack an address because there are so many combinations of characters. You would just have to get extremely lucky to guess the private key. If you know that your friend used clues to make the private key, then you could have a shot at it.

[airsounds]

This must be a very hard lesson, but learning from a tragedy. OP's friend may RIP.
I just worry, because I am also not sharing anything about my bitcoin savings with my family members. At least for this reason, we must educate our family members about bitcoins.

but i think it is impossible to hack the address because you would need nasa computers for that and even with that it would take ages

[Doamader]

I hope he had left something hidden into the computer or cellphone about those passwords, but this might happen with anyone here, soo thats why we need to share or left something writed about where are our coins and passwords, away from the computer.