Brute force private key tool?

[kokojie]

Is there a tool that is able to brute force the private key, given a full Bitcoin address? I know it's nearly impossible, but want to try just for fun.

[Mavi]

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=25804.0

I know it's nearly impossible

definitely impossible.

[oleganza]

There is no such tool because you won't iterate even a slightest portion of the keyspace in your lifetime. There is nothing to play with.

[coastermonger]

The closest thing you're looking for is a vanity address miner.  Such generators will generate a private key based on the desired public address.  Usually specifying the first 1-8 characters is done, but adding each additional character increases the time it will take to find a match exponentially.  

If I want to find the private key for an address that  starts with 1coas it might take a few minutes
If I want to find the private key for an address that starts with 1coaster it might take a few hours/days
If I want to find the private key for an address that starts with 1coastermonger I might as well give up because it will be years/decades
If I want to find the private key for the address 1933phfhK3ZgFQNLGSDXvqCn32k2buXY8a, which contains 111,111 bitcoins, it will take so much time that you will experience the heat death of the universe before finding a match.  Even directing all of the bitcoin network's hashing power to this effort would be fruitless.

[wabber]

Is there a tool that is able to brute force the private key, given a full Bitcoin address? I know it's nearly impossible, but want to try just for fun.

That's the problem, people can't even imagine how unlikely it is to find the correct private key without knowing anything about it except the public key(no shortcuts in the algorithm etc.). It's safe to replace the word "unlikely" by "impossible" in this case without altering the sense.

Thinking about low probabilities:

Take your pen and let it fall of your desk. While falling the pen will convert its potential energy to kinetic energy. The air in your room will absorb some of that energy and the rest will be absorbed by your floor when the pen impacts. Now in theory it's possible that the molecules surrounding your pen while it lays on the ground are all moving up and therefore pushing the pen up. But considering the amount of molecules it's very very unlikely one would even say impossible to happen(actually it's so unlikely that the 2nd law of thermodynamics even forbids it). It's much more likely that some molecules from above push it down and some from underneath push it up, same goes for right and left -> it won't move.
Now what would you tell someone who asks to borrow your video camera to film the pen 24/7 to see when it will fly back on the desk because it's theoretically possible?

Don't try to brute force it. Just wait until some bird's shit on your car takes the form of the private key.

[fran2k]

Don't try to brute force it. Just wait until some bird's shit on your car takes the form of the private key.

Jajajaja, this would be at least a few orders of magnitude more probable.

[Pumpkin]

Sorry, just not possible mathematically

[peapodamus]

Impossible, but if you want to give it a shot, just use vanitygen and specify a full bitcoin address as the search pattern!
EDIT: I see now that someone already posted this

[brotz]

Sorry, just not possible mathematically

Of course it is possible mathematically.

Just calculate all 2^256 possible private keys.

Problem is, it takes 4374632717895743580924578342947135648937456945487362587195637892 years.

[fran2k]

Sorry, just not possible mathematically

Of course it is possible mathematically.

Just calculate all 2^256 possible private keys.

Problem is, it takes 4374632717895743580924578342947135648937456945487362587195637892 years.

The big difference between impossible and improbable. If I just could connect via SSH to the future...

[dancupid]

Sorry, just not possible mathematically

Of course it is possible mathematically.

Just calculate all 2^256 possible private keys.

Problem is, it takes 4374632717895743580924578342947135648937456945487362587195637892 years.

Anyone trying to brute force private keys will not start with the pure mathematics, but with the point at which human beings interact with this mathematics and make a fatal mistake.

[grue]

Is there a tool that is able to brute force the private key, given a full Bitcoin address? I know it's nearly impossible, but want to try just for fun.

there is screensaver for windows that would bruteforce private keys, then check if they had a balance. i don't have the link, but you can always search for it.

[gadman2]

It's actually quite possible to brute force keys. Simply put: Humans have not put together the right technology to even make a dent in the unimaginably huge amount of keys. Maybe with future technology though.

[jackjack]

It's actually quite possible to brute force keys. Simply put: Humans have not put together the right technology to even make a dent in the unimaginably huge amount of keys. Maybe with future technology though.

It requires more than the energy of contained in the Sun to count (yeah, only count) to the maximum private key number
So yeah, not really "quite possible"

[DannyHamilton]

It's actually quite possible to brute force keys.
- snip -

Where did you get a silly idea like that?

[lucasjkr]

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=25804.0

I know it's nearly impossible

definitely impossible.

Absolutely not impossible; you just need to find an address that was generated using Androids flawed RNG, where the coins in question haven't been transferred to a news wallet. Oh, and you'd need have an understanding of how the flaw affected the generation of keys.

I'm not that smart, but surely someone is. Hence, anyone that didn't react to the advisory and left their coins in their android generated wallet is playing with fire.

As for just trying to bruteforce a random address; who knows? Maybe your computer will stumble upon the private key in a day. Or maybe it'll take billions and billions of years.

[DannyHamilton]

Absolutely not impossible; you just need to find an address that was generated using Androids flawed RNG, where the coins in question haven't been transferred to a news wallet. Oh, and you'd need have an understanding of how the flaw affected the generation of keys.

That's not brute forcing.  The question was about brute force.  The answer is: impossible.

[Mavi]

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=25804.0

I know it's nearly impossible

definitely impossible.

Absolutely not impossible; you just need to find an address that was generated using Androids flawed RNG, where the coins in question haven't been transferred to a news wallet. Oh, and you'd need have an understanding of how the flaw affected the generation of keys.

I'm not that smart, but surely someone is. Hence, anyone that didn't react to the advisory and left their coins in their android generated wallet is playing with fire.

As for just trying to bruteforce a random address; who knows? Maybe your computer will stumble upon the private key in a day. Or maybe it'll take billions and billions of years.

Let's not forget the question:

Is there a tool that is able to brute force the private key, given a full Bitcoin address?

[gadman2]

It's actually quite possible to brute force keys. Simply put: Humans have not put together the right technology to even make a dent in the unimaginably huge amount of keys. Maybe with future technology though.

It requires more than the energy of contained in the Sun to count (yeah, only count) to the maximum private key number
So yeah, not really "quite possible"

There's no inbetween when you're talking about possibility. Either it is, or it isn't. If something is possible by calculations, then you can't say it's not possible.

[DannyHamilton]

There's no inbetween when you're talking about possibility. Either it is, or it isn't. If something is possible by calculations, then you can't say it's not possible.

And since it isn't possible by calculations, then you can't say that it's possible.