The $5 wrench attack

[BitBustah]

We all know you can have the best digital security but none of that matters if you get caught by some criminals and they decide to torture you for information (private keys)

If you don't mind answering what kind of precautions are you taking to prevent this? Dummy wallets?  Alarm systems that notify police? Not telling anyone you own btc?

[1715010070]

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[1715010070]

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[fronti]

I think this is not development or technical but bitcoin general discussion.

nevermind.
You can place 2 passwords on a Trezor and disclose only one.
But there is still the possibility that they kindly ask you about "is there more"

so best is, do not disclose your bitcoin.
Its like do not disclose if you won in lottery.

[qwk]

https://xkcd.com/538/

But about the Trezor feature:
you can have several wallets on the Trezor with different amounts of BTC on them.
In case someone hits you with a wrench, tell them the password to your 100$-wallet.
If they pull out the bigger guns, give them the 1.000$ one.
But never disclose the million dollar password, as long as they don't know for sure you have it

[o_e_l_e_o]

But about the Trezor feature:

There are directions for setting this up passphrases: https://wiki.trezor.io/Passphrase

Ledger also support passphrases, with instructions here: https://support.ledger.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005214529

The security of these second (or third, or fourth, etc) hidden wallets depends not only on your additional passphrases, but also in the attacker not knowing they exist/plausible deniability. This obviously means not publicizing them, but also making sure they aren't obviously linked with your other accounts via blockchain analytics.

[OgNasty]

We all know you can have the best digital security but none of that matters if you get caught by some criminals and they decide to torture you for information (private keys)

If you don't mind answering what kind of precautions are you taking to prevent this? Dummy wallets?  Alarm systems that notify police? Not telling anyone you own btc?

Low key secretive lifestyle, no set sleep or away schedule, lifting weights, self defense training, security alarm, motion sensors, security cameras, guard dog, wild coyotes, weapons, police neighbors, police station within eyesight, dummy safe, safe deposit box, encrypted keys, no fear of death, dead man's switch.

Those precautions make it easy for me to sleep.

[cellard]

I think this is not development or technical but bitcoin general discussion.

nevermind.
You can place 2 passwords on a Trezor and disclose only one.
But there is still the possibility that they kindly ask you about "is there more"

so best is, do not disclose your bitcoin.
Its like do not disclose if you won in lottery.

This is the most sane thing to do, however there is a problem: If you become rich, you are going to want to buy a nice house, and owning a nice house puts you a target as "someone that has money", so you are at risk already. Of course if the thieves don't know you don't own no BTC the wouldn't typically ask for it, but what im saying is, there is no free ride, unless you decide to be rich while having a poor lifestyle to not become a target, but who the hell wants to live on a shithole when you can just move into a better neighborhood. Hire guards to protect your property, what can I tell you?


As for having 2 passwords that disclose different amounts, I haven't looked into that, but it's possible. Then there's also perfectly possible you have passworded stuff that you legitimately forgot. For instance I have some encrypted hard drives that I cannot access because I forgot the passwords, so if someone wanted to access and was hitting me with a wrench it would be useless since I just don't know the passwords.

So basically, either keep a low profile or hire physical protection from criminals trying to steal your money.

[mk4]

Simply not telling anyone about it(kidding, just a few). I know some people wanted to share on social media how much "gainz" they got from investing in cryptocurrencies, but you pretty much don't achieve anything with telling the world in the first place. You're just putting yourself at risk.

When telling people about bitcoin, I only explain bitcoin when people ask me to explain. Also, I only keep it to a few close friends. A stranger or someone I don't know much asks about it? My go-to line is "oh I don't know anything about it, I only saw it on the news in the past".

[MiguelCryptoss]

I had to stay very low to avoid such attack. Disclosing your real identity to these mafias will not yield anything good except bad, having security guards, watch dog's, security alarm among others will not save that individual who could not hold his/her mouth in the public about wealth of any sort. The best security is living a secret life void of friends either good or bad. Just my own opinion anyway.

[Tamilson]

Simply not telling anyone about it(kidding, just a few). I know some people wanted to share on social media how much "gainz" they got from investing in cryptocurrencies, but you pretty much don't achieve anything with telling the world in the first place. You're just putting yourself at risk.

Lol you know people really loves to brag their gains and it seems it's norm to them haha.
I'd rather to live a low key life and I'm good acting like broke so people don't borrow from me and just think I'm poor as a dog.

In case someone hits you with a wrench, tell them the password to your 100$-wallet.
If they pull out the bigger guns, give them the 1.000$ one.
But never disclose the million dollar password, as long as they don't know for sure you have it

I'll go with this after all they don't know how many wallets I have. ;b

[maydna]

I would prefer to not telling anyone I have btc. I will keep it secret from anyone except my family.

Use a separate wallet and split your btc in each wallet but save the most btc you have in a very private wallet like ledger or trezor and if necessary you can rented safety box in a bank but don't tell the banks what you save

Your btc is your responsibility, don't make it easy to tells anybody you don't know as you don't know if you are the next target of the crime.

[dothebeats]

I don't disclose that I have bitcoin or crypto holdings to anyone apart from a few, very close friends that are way richer than me. It's better to stay that way than to broadcast it to people that you have such holdings to ensure that you will not see yourself under the wrench (lol). Or if the bad dudes know that you have such holdings, only give them a small sum, divulge more information with little balances on it if they aren't contented and hope to heavens that you are still alive after. Getting secretive and anonymous is always the best bet you have in order to not get into such silly situations.

[davis196]

We all know you can have the best digital security but none of that matters if you get caught by some criminals and they decide to torture you for information (private keys)

If you don't mind answering what kind of precautions are you taking to prevent this? Dummy wallets?  Alarm systems that notify police? Not telling anyone you own btc?

Not telling anyone that you own btc is the best possible option.The onwer of QuadrigaCX will most likely killed,because some criminals knew that he had the private keys for the entire QuadrigaCX crypto exchange.
I still don't know wether or not QuadrigaCX was an exit scam and how this guy disappeared,so I'm just guessing.

[figmentofmyass]

We all know you can have the best digital security but none of that matters if you get caught by some criminals and they decide to torture you for information (private keys)

If you don't mind answering what kind of precautions are you taking to prevent this? Dummy wallets?  Alarm systems that notify police? Not telling anyone you own btc?

the first and most obvious precaution is to never talk about your holdings. some bitcoiners have a tendency to run their mouths about their good fortune when the bull is running. that puts a target on their back. if wrench attackers don't know about your bitcoins, they won't know to attack you.

a secondary precaution is a dummy wallet with a nonzero but insignificant amount of coins. maybe a hardware wallet or something. but really, the most important thing is knowing who you can trust and not boasting about your coins.

[AGD]

We all know you can have the best digital security but none of that matters if you get caught by some criminals and they decide to torture you for information (private keys)

If you don't mind answering what kind of precautions are you taking to prevent this? Dummy wallets?  Alarm systems that notify police? Not telling anyone you own btc?

[mrdeposit]

It is best to keep it as a secret. Because it means that when someone knows then others know, and when info reach someone who wants to steal money, I do not think there is any way to escape anymore. Because someone who knows it works his lessons as much as he can and will try all the tortures to get it.

[boyptc]

I'll keep myself lowkey for this and if ever I'm on that situation, I'd tell that I already sold all I've got.

[Jet Cash]

Low key secretive lifestyle, no set sleep or away schedule, lifting weights, self defense training, security alarm, motion sensors, security cameras, guard dog, wild coyotes, weapons, police neighbors, police station within eyesight, dummy safe, safe deposit box, encrypted keys, no fear of death, dead man's switch.

I considered these options, but I'm a traditionalist, so I keep my Bitcoin under the mattress.

[Hivalley]

As long as no one knows your worth or whatsoever you're holding, then you may be free from this attack,its just the same way people who are rich in fiat are attacked
But with cryptocurrency,it is different as you can afford to stay anonymous easily and not give away much,some people are loud mouted and give themselves out.
As long as your attackers aren't sure you've got some BTC, you can always deny it

[UserU]

To think of it, torturing is way worse than surrendering your crypto. Getting maimed/ killed just to protect your crypto is just too scary.

[poptok1]

Dummy wallets?

And How about a wallet stored in a decoy system on a dummy partition, hidden at boot and encrypted? 
https://www.truecrypt71a.com/documentation/plausible-deniability/hidden-operating-system/
Considering such sophisticated and convoluted process, separate machine should be used, at least for testing and setup training.
If we can provide some obscurity for the transactions of our hidden wallet, then this should do the trick.
I was using this feature for quite some time back in the day, it was a pain in terms of ease of access, although safety first right?
Good for security paranoiacs, rather not an everyday solution.