Bitcoin developer @lukedashjr's wallet was hacked

[bbc.reporter]

It appears more than $3 million in bitcoin was stolen. This is very sad to see and I reckon some people should not make fun of this similar to those imbeciles who are replying in this thread in Twitter.



PSA: My PGP key is compromised, and at least many of my bitcoins stolen. I have no idea how. Help please.

Source https://mobile.twitter.com/lukedashjr/status/1609613748364509184

Looks like some of it is coinjoined to 1YAR6opJCfDjBNdn5bV8b5Mcu84tv92fa

Source https://mobile.twitter.com/LukeDashjr/status/1609621375349555204

432ded946431a9612f09d73bd15ded045d11d1095ffdfe8d68306ea9b2e78930

c38a3210fbb758cfc41d9a64b7534b83aecca96f051231f15545e8e5c7365190

4b3cde50e2bce3d02e15b61957d2452e29f53d9a99e1ab14e83b6ec0f87fd851

50df1eab0bf2bd01999cea4fc531a65c17e1a285823c9ae4eab0feb7e21a11b6

Source https://mobile.twitter.com/LukeDashjr/status/1609657854113218560

[uneng]

These are terrible news. Was his PGP hacked and the keys found there? Weren't his keys stored offline? I think it's better to rely on a good and old notebook than on any digital devices...

I hope he can track the hacker's addresses and reach authorities faster as possible to get them before the coins are mixed and disappear forever. As I see, he has already tagged FBI on Twitter. Hopefully he will recover his coins!

[Fundamentals Of]

He has since released an update saying everything's gone. PGP and cold wallet compromised. That's hundreds of Bitcoin stolen.

I wish he provided more details as to what exactly happened. I hope he'll get back and provide more facts. People are now asking questions, speculating on what might have happened.

I'm looking forward to hearing the two cents of experts here. There will be many lessons to learn from this unfortunate incident involving no less than a Bitcoin developer himself who is fully aware of all the necessary security measures.

[Foxpup]

In the absence of a revocation cert for the allegedly compromised PGP key, my money's on his Twitter account being hacked and posting FUD. Does Twitter even still have a security team after Ol' Musky's latest round of firings?

[Edwardard]

he has already tagged FBI on Twitter. Hopefully he will recover his coins!

FBI wouldn't even read his tweets, they are slow and of no use. He should track and contact the exchanges asking them to freeze the funds incase the hacker tries to deposit in any of the top ones to convert the coins into stables.

I wish he provided more details as to what exactly happened.

After loosing everything, a normal human wouldn't be in the state of explaining things for quite sometime. Lets give his mind sometime to accept the fact, although we know its his own mistake somewhere

[DaveF]

In the absence of a revocation cert for the allegedly compromised PGP key, my money's on his Twitter account being hacked and posting FUD. Does Twitter even still have a security team after Ol' Musky's latest round of firings?

Nope, none to speak of Twitter is mostly on autopilot at this point.

But until we here more directly from him I would think it's his Twitter account that has been hacked.
His account logged in here last on Christmas eve. (My time)
But no posts for months.

And unless he was doing something odd, his PGP keys have nothing to do with his BTC.

I'm also guessing that he could at least pick up the phone and call someone to make a post / comment here if he could not log in for some reason.

-Dave

[uneng]

He should track and contact the exchanges asking them to freeze the funds incase the hacker tries to deposit in any of the top ones to convert the coins into stables.

That is good. CZ from Binance has already replied to his tweet:




Anyway, if it were a prank, why would anyone hack his Twitter account, and post a BTC address containing 200+ BTC received recently with no transactions ever sent?

[adaseb]

Maybe I am wrong but I think that his Twitter is perhaps compromised and it’s not him posting. He is a smart guy. He probably has iron clad security.

Because I find it odd he would post “fbi please help” or saying his PGP is compromised which wouldn’t do anything related to his hot wallet. Only the software he signs.

Also if it’s true cold storage it’s not possible to get that stolen. I think that his Twitter is hacked due to the leak last week and he is going to post a “please send donations” tweet and that’s the payoff in this hack.

[odolvlobo]

PSA: My PGP key is compromised, and at least many of my bitcoins stolen. I have no idea how. Help please.

That is an odd statement for anyone who has been around as long as luke-jr to make. How is a PGP key related to bitcoins being stolen? And what kind of help is he expecting to get?

[achow101]

my money's on his Twitter account being hacked and posting FUD.

Maybe I am wrong but I think that his Twitter is perhaps compromised and it’s not him posting.

Peter Todd claims it's real: https://twitter.com/peterktodd/status/1609655629903265795, as does midnightmagic: https://twitter.com/midmagic/status/1609734368599347202

I've also heard from a couple of other secondhand sources that this is real, but I have not checked with luke myself.

How is a PGP key related to bitcoins being stolen?

If they were being kept on the same machine that has been compromised, that's how.

And what kind of help is he expecting to get?

Help with doing forensics to figure out what happened, help with recovering the funds. And just generally, probably panicking too.

[MiliMil]

Maybe I am wrong but I think that his Twitter is perhaps compromised and it’s not him posting. He is a smart guy. He probably has iron clad security.

Because I find it odd he would post “fbi please help” or saying his PGP is compromised which wouldn’t do anything related to his hot wallet. Only the software he signs.

Also if it’s true cold storage it’s not possible to get that stolen. I think that his Twitter is hacked due to the leak last week and he is going to post a “please send donations” tweet and that’s the payoff in this hack.

How can a cold wallet be compromised? I thought the only way would be for the perpetrator to physically steal the cold wallet. Am I wrong?

[adaseb]

He is not giving us much detail but what if this wasn’t a hack but instead someone physically broke into his house. He is claiming that they got his Bitcoin on cold storage, how else can that be stolen?

If hardware wallet or electrum was compromised then we would get more reports. Maybe some quantum computer hacked his private key but why only go for 200btc when you could go for multiplies higher.

No idea what to make of this. There is also a poll and 65% think he wasn’t really hacked.

[uneng]

Maybe some quantum computer hacked his private key but why only go for 200btc when you could go for multiplies higher.

This is my biggest fear and the worst hypothesis for this case. Hackers having technology at their disposal to break the security of blockchain. The consequences of this would be much more impactful and harmful than a single person losing 200 BTC. It could be the end of bitcoin in this case, as no one would be safe anymore. It is said by 2030 quantum computers would be able to break encryption protocols, including of bitcoin.

[mk4]

Good lord. I usually go "meh, another careless dude" when someone gets hacked, but we're talking about Luke here — an actual OG developer; probably a hundred times more technically literate than me. This made me nervous as hell.

[franky1]

He is not giving us much detail but what if this wasn’t a hack but instead someone physically broke into his house. He is claiming that they got his Bitcoin on cold storage, how else can that be stolen?

he said his server was hacked a couple months ago.. compromising his PGP key..
thus he probably had a hot wallet and pgp key store on his server that was hacked

doubt it was a burglar entering his house to steal his hardware wallet. he would notice that and not be questioning "how"

[adaseb]

He is not giving us much detail but what if this wasn’t a hack but instead someone physically broke into his house. He is claiming that they got his Bitcoin on cold storage, how else can that be stolen?

he said his server was hacked. thus he had a hot wallet and pgp key store on his server that was hacked

Yes this seems like the most possible explaination but he is saying the server didn’t store any bitcoins or have access to those bitcoins.

Reading his posts he claims that he has bars on his office windows, and has a large heavy door that he locks with the key. And he also keeps everything separate on his activity between different computers.

And reading more into this, it seems it might actually be real and freaking out how this can happen to someone with security so tight and somehow got his bitcoins stolen.

[DaveF]

He is not giving us much detail but what if this wasn’t a hack but instead someone physically broke into his house. He is claiming that they got his Bitcoin on cold storage, how else can that be stolen?

he said his server was hacked a couple months ago.. compromising his PGP key..
thus he probably had a hot wallet and pgp key store on his server that was hacked

doubt it was a burglar entering his house to steal his hardware wallet. he would notice that and not be questioning "how"

Here is the tweet about it: https://mobile.twitter.com/LukeDashjr/status/1593227756841578496

I am actually thinking the other way, that something else on his network was compromised and that allowed access to his server.
But if they also got private keys in cold storage then it could also be a physical attack that he was not aware of or something else.

He said that the attack on his serves was targeted to them.

Very strange. But, not out of the realm of possibility.

-Dave

[taufik123]

He is not giving us much detail but what if this wasn’t a hack but instead someone physically broke into his house. He is claiming that they got his Bitcoin on cold storage, how else can that be stolen?

he said his server was hacked a couple months ago.. compromising his PGP key..
thus he probably had a hot wallet and pgp key store on his server that was hacked

doubt it was a burglar entering his house to steal his hardware wallet. he would notice that and not be questioning "how"

precisely on November 17, 2022 he said in his tweet that an unknown person accessed his server and a full analysis is underway.
https://twitter.com/LukeDashjr/status/1593227756841578496

But whether he continued to trace it or not, perhaps he assumed that the attack was just an ordinary attack. But in fact it currently has an impact on hacking the PGP Key it has.

A Reddit user calling himself SatStandart suggested that Dashjr not separate different activities
https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/100tn95/bitcoin_core_dev_gets_more_than_200_btc_stolen/

He has a hot wallet on the same computer he does everything else. It seemed that he was completely complacent

Dashjr also informed users in his latest Twitter thread that he only became aware of the recent hack after getting emails from Coinbase and Kraken about login attempts.

CZ as The CEO of Binance also expressed his concern via Twitter at the hacking incident experienced by Luke Dashjr.
https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1609663902610034691

Sorry to see you lose so much. Informed our security team to monitor. If it comes our way, we will freeze it. If there is anything else we can help with, please let us know. We deal with these often, and have Law Enforcement (LE) relationships worldwide.

LukeDashjr, as the core developer of Bitcoin Core, can be hacked, especially for those of us who are nobody, of course it's easier to hack. But this is also due to weak security levels and needing updates and not being careless and taking every attack seriously.

[DaveF]

A Reddit user calling himself SatStandart suggested that Dashjr not separate different activities
https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/100tn95/bitcoin_core_dev_gets_more_than_200_btc_stolen/

He has a hot wallet on the same computer he does everything else. It seemed that he was completely complacent

Dashjr also informed users in his latest Twitter thread that he only became aware of the recent hack after getting emails from Coinbase and Kraken about login attempts.

If someone like that is not using multi-sig or a hardware wallet then they are asking for trouble.

Hate to say it, but he is a big freaking target for hacks, not even to get to his BTC but to get access to what else he has access to in terms of development and coding and private discussions with others. Getting what he had in his hot wallet on his workstation is probably a bonus. As he posted his implementation of Knots may have been compromised. That could have been a much bigger target.

-Dave

[Foxpup]

Peter Todd claims it's real: https://twitter.com/peterktodd/status/1609655629903265795, as does midnightmagic: https://twitter.com/midmagic/status/1609734368599347202

I've also heard from a couple of other secondhand sources that this is real, but I have not checked with luke myself.

Maybe so, but I trust crypto, not secondhand sources. Wake me up when the PGP key's revoked.