What stops Bitcoin from being hacked?

[such_anon_32]

Hey, I am trying to determine how safe the Bitcoin network is. Is it possible for a person/government to spread a virus targeting all Bitcoin nodes, then be able to manipulate  the network?

Although this would be difficult, couldn’t a government pull this off?

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[HeRetiK]

No.

[such_anon_32]

Why not? Couldn’t it be spread over years?

[BIT-BENDER]

Impossible to attack all the bitcoin there is in the world with a computer virus, and I don't think any country would want the shame of if they get caught.
I think your bitcoin getting hacked can be by
+ Close/intimate person or buddies
+ Social media platform crazy excitement
+ Greedy, insensitive, ignorance
And take into consideration how to safely live with your bitcoin, bitcoin wallet, crypto-currency exchange can get hacked, scammed.

[Charles-Tim]

Hey, I am trying to determine how safe the Bitcoin network is. Is it possible for a person/government to spread a virus targeting all Bitcoin nodes, then be able to manipulate  the network?

Why not? Couldn’t it be spread over years?

Nothing like malware that can affect bitcoin network, only what can affect it is 51% attack in which hackers mining hashes will have to be more in a way that is greater than that of the total mining hashes, and this is not possible with the great bitcoin mining hashes. Nothing like malware or virus to talk about while talking about Bitcoin network. What malware can affect are the individual wallets owned by individual.

[such_anon_32]

Why can't Bitcoin core be manipulated to accept bad blocks?

[hosseinimr93]

Is it possible for a person/government to spread a virus targeting all Bitcoin nodes, then be able to manipulate  the network?

Theoretically yes, practically no.

As there is no centralized server and the there are thousands of full nodes that store the entire blockchain, it's not possible to manipulate the bitcoin blockchain.
A hacker may access to the computer of someone running a full node and change the data. But it's not possible to take control of thousands of computers at a same time.

In theory, a hacker needs to have control of more than 51% of the hashing power for a long time to compromise the bitcoin blockchain. It's extremely unlikely.

 

Why can't Bitcoin core be manipulated to accept bad blocks?

You can manipulate the data stored in your computer. But there are thousands of other full nodes that have the correct copy of the blockchain and reject invalid transactions/blocks.
A transaction needs to be validated by majority of the nodes.

[Quidat]

Hey, I am trying to determine how safe the Bitcoin network is. Is it possible for a person/government to spread a virus targeting all Bitcoin nodes, then be able to manipulate  the network?

Although this would be difficult, couldn’t a government pull this off?

If it was able to be hacked nor manipulate those codes then government had already done this long time ago and pretty sure that even at this moment
they are trying to find some loop holes with this revolutionary technology that had been created by Satoshi.We are already witnessing on how Bitcoin did really affect peoples lives when it comes to decentralization or simply not relying with 3rd parties when it comes to fund transfers and storage.
We are our own bank and that one alone is the greatest enemy on where government is trying to suppress on. So the answer into your question
is just basically "NO"!

[such_anon_32]

Is it possible for a person/government to spread a virus targeting all Bitcoin nodes, then be able to manipulate  the network?

Theoretically yes, practically no.

As there is no centralized server and the there are thousands of full nodes that store the entire blockchain, it's not possible to manipulate the bitcoin blockchain.
A hacker may access to the computer of someone running a full node and change the data. But it's not possible to take control of thousands of computers at a same time.

In theory, a hacker needs to have control of more than 51% of the hashing power for a long time to compromise the bitcoin blockchain. It's extremely unlikely.

 

Why can't Bitcoin core be manipulated to accept bad blocks?

You can manipulate the data stored in your computer. But there are thousands of other full nodes that have the correct copy of the blockchain and reject invalid transactions/blocks.
A transaction needs to be validated by majority of the nodes.

But can't a virus be created to corrupt nodes, and over time spread to 51% of the network.

[Ryker1]

Why can't Bitcoin core be manipulated to accept bad blocks?

Well, not unless if there is someone who will change the bitcoin protocol but unfortunately, no one can change the bitcoin protocol so perhaps the reason why attackers can't attack the bitcoin nodes. Perhaps if this will happen, were will experience an unusual behavior of bitcoin transaction but I think there is no one can do these strategies of hacking because bitcoin has a unique algorithm that no one can change.

[ranochigo]

But can't a virus be created to corrupt nodes, and over time spread to 51% of the network.

Nodes cannot be attacked to influence the network the same way as miners do. Nodes only enforces the rules locally and does not affect the protocol rules being enforced by others. Even if the other nodes accept a Bitcoin block with a million Bitcoins in block rewards, your node won't, as you're still enforcing the rules yourself, unaffected by what others are doing. As long as your own nodes is enforcing a set of rules, no one else can make your node violate those rules.

That being said, Sybil attack doesn't require any proportion of the nodes to be compromised and that is practically the only attack which uses the nodes. You're confused about 51% attack, I'd recommend you to do up more reading on this matter before posting any further.

[such_anon_32]

But can't a virus be created to corrupt nodes, and over time spread to 51% of the network.

Nodes cannot be attacked to influence the network the same way as miners do. Nodes only enforces the rules locally and does not affect the protocol rules being enforced by others. Even if the other nodes accept a Bitcoin block with a million Bitcoins in block rewards, your node won't, as you're still enforcing the rules yourself, unaffected by what others are doing. As long as your own nodes is enforcing a set of rules, no one else can make your node violate those rules.

That being said, Sybil attack doesn't require any proportion of the nodes to be compromised and that is practically the only attack which uses the nodes. You're confused about 51% attack, I'd recommend you to do up more reading on this matter before posting any further.

Thanks for your reply, do you have any recommended reading?

[ranochigo]

Thanks for your reply, do you have any recommended reading?

Take a look at the whitepaper: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf.

It'll be sufficient for basic understanding of the network. If you need more information, there's plenty on the forum as well. Just Google it.

[yhiaali3]

I don't think it's possible to manipulate bitcoin by targeting all nodes with a virus or trojan, although I can't deny that at all, but it's very difficult, the fear comes not from viruses but from a 51% attack and yet no one has succeeded so far in attacking the network Bitcoin because it is very expensive in economic terms and the more the Bitcoin network grows, the more difficult it becomes.

[CryptoStar19]

The only possibility to hack the bitcoin network (other than a 51% attack which is theoretical and outside of actual possibility) at this point is with quantum computing... however quantum computers are a long way from being accessible and by the time they become household items, every system that involves encryption would need major security upgrades to prevent them from being hacked... by then bitcoin would have evolved along with every other network and system out there.

Bitcoin reached 1 trillion in value recently: surely that's enough of a monetary motivation for any entity to try to "hack" it, it would have been hacked already if it were possible.

Every day that the bitcoin network stands further increases its security and the trust therein. So the answer to OP's question is a definite no. Once in a while there will be some kind of news article that will spread FUD getting some newcomers to believe that the bitcoin network has somehow been 'hacked', followed later by further articles explaining how there was no hack, how everything happened just as expected in the blockchain.

[dansus021]

it is possible but if you can have access to internet and do spread the virus from it like the Science-fiction movie 

but for now if you need hack you must control all the node since bitcoin is open source all people can see the code and can see the difference what is the virus what is not, even bitcoin network upgrade need vote after all.

[apityeh71]

Actually  I dont full understand how blockchain of Bitcoin was built, but in more than 10 year, I never heard Bitcoin network get attack. I think this is the advantages of decentralized technology than centralized one which more easy to get attack. Big of Bank company was get attack because they are centralized, but technogy of decentralized is very difficult and imposible to hack. Due to the decentralized and distributed system, failure in one part cannot affect the system as a whole. The system spreads widely and if you really try to attack the system, you should attack the whole system simultaneously and do so from a large number of entry points.

[bittraffic]

Why not? Couldn’t it be spread over years?

Because the virus has to hack every block that had been created since the inception of the Bitcoin blockchain. Over the years it has to hack years after because there are transactions created since the beginning of the hack and this will continue forever. A hacker or the virus has to change hashes from the previous and present blocks until the genesis. And in the end, it will result in just forking BTC.

[hatshepsut93]

You can't just easily target Bitcoin nodes, there's no list of all Bitcoin nodes, many nodes are unreachable so there's even no reliable way to count them. And Bitcoin nodes communicate with each other strictly through Bitcoin protocol, they don't send each other random files. So, the only way to spread malware is if there's some bug in Bitcoin code that would allow remote code execution by putting payloads in block or transaction data. But it's extremely unlikely that such bug exists, and even if it does, it's not feasible to infect all node. And the biggest thing, if you start altering blockchain or otherwise breaking consensus, everyone will instantly notice.

[ranochigo]

The only possibility to hack the bitcoin network (other than a 51% attack which is theoretical and outside of actual possibility) at this point is with quantum computing... however quantum computers are a long way from being accessible and by the time they become household items, every system that involves encryption would need major security upgrades to prevent them from being hacked... by then bitcoin would have evolved along with every other network and system out there.

51% attack is possible in practice, just that there isn't any incentives in doing so, for now. Quantum computers are limited in terms of the things that they can do and it won't literally break Bitcoin.

Because the virus has to hack every block that had been created since the inception of the Bitcoin blockchain. Over the years it has to hack years after because there are transactions created since the beginning of the hack and this will continue forever. A hacker or the virus has to change hashes from the previous and present blocks until the genesis. And in the end, it will result in just forking BTC.

This is incorrect.

And Bitcoin nodes communicate with each other strictly through Bitcoin protocol, they don't send each other random files. So, the only way to spread malware is if there's some bug in Bitcoin code that would allow remote code execution by putting payloads in block or transaction data. But it's extremely unlikely that such bug exists, and even if it does, it's not feasible to infect all node. And the biggest thing, if you start altering blockchain or otherwise breaking consensus, everyone will instantly notice.

The dependencies or the components of Bitcoin Core can still be susceptible to RCE. If you really want to hack some nodes, there are a bunch of possible attack vectors. Limited in effectiveness though, I'll probably just run a few Sybil nodes and that would be far easier.

If you were to break consensus, most people probably won't notice. Nodes would just reject the blocks or transactions.

Suffice to say, the thread is becoming filled with more misinformation and some of them don't understand what they're talking about. OP, you'll be better off trying to search about the forum than to continue in this thread.

Just to clarify, I don't mean all of them are inaccurate. There are several decent posts with valid point.