7,000 bitcoins locked on USB stick. Owner not rushing to unlock them

[pawel7777]

Quite an interesting article from Wired:

"They Cracked the Code to a Locked USB Drive Worth $235 Million in Bitcoin. Then It Got Weird"
https://www.wired.com/story/unciphered-ironkey-password-cracking-bitcoin/

Quick run down:

• Guy named Stefan Thomas loses the password to his IronKey USB stick
• Wasted 8 attempts and have 2 left, after 10 incorrect attempts the USB gets erased
• A company called Unciphered develops a unique technique that allows them to crack that specific type of IronKey and they can demonstrate that
• They reach out to Stefan, but he says 'No thanks, I'm good'

Apparently, he has two other experts working on cracking the USB. They have been unsuccessful for over a year, but he still wants to give them more time. According to the article, he only had a hand-shake deal with those two experts, so nothing really preventing him from going elsewhere.

Maybe he had already lost the coins permanently, maybe it was all a lie, or maybe he's so wealthy that an extra $240 mills doesn't make much difference to him.

I believe this is his bitcointalk profile: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2211 - he has been inactive since 2015.

[tbct_mt2]

Quite an interesting article from Wired:

"They Cracked the Code to a Locked USB Drive Worth $235 Million in Bitcoin. Then It Got Weird"
https://www.wired.com/story/unciphered-ironkey-password-cracking-bitcoin/

I remember him as early October, one topic about it.
Two guys that have lost their Bitcoins forever
This man owns $321M in bitcoin — but he can't access it because he lost his password.

With 2 attempts left, he does not want to take risk and lose his bitcoins. Maybe he stays quietly, does nothing with hope that some advanced technology in future can help him to break it.

I believe this is his bitcointalk profile: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2211 - he has been inactive since 2015.

You did a great job to find his account in Bitcointalk. Likely so because that account has a link to Twitter: https://twitter.com/justmoon

I am sad to see he left the forum. I also found a troll topic in 2014.
[400 BTC LOST] Can someone help me to contact Stefan Thomas from WeUseCoins.com?

[Faisal2202]

Omg, he must be telling a lie, because if he would really had those BTCs then he would not hesitate to share the BTC wallet address. After all, we can check on any explorer that either he has those BTC or not. I found this address on his profile:
1DzKYgC3r3cgCujJPmnA8kQWYkHHKZFNVk
If it belongs to him then the amount is around 100.5 btc which does not say he has around 7,000 btc. But all I am saying here is, you might be true (op) that he is just framing the story more and more to get some fame.

If that USB stick really has that much BTC in it then why he is not accepting the offer from a company, is that the price they might be demanding in exchange? If that's the case, I would say, something is better then nothing. It will take some time to check the sending and receiving history of the above wallet address (if done manually) to know that either he is telling true or not.

This story is not weird then this one:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5471367.msg63042638#msg63042638 (overview is some guy, was able to buy btc at the lowest price and then tagged as hacker from mt gox)

[albert0bsd]

Maybe he had already lost the coins permanently, maybe it was all a lie

Those both are interesting options, maybe he already wasted the two last attempts.
Well also its very unlikely that he lied, maybe he has some bitcoins there but he doesn’t know the amount of it.

I never was too paranoid to put something in a USB with PIN, I prefer GPG for that instead.

This remember the guy who supposedly have some millions of USD in an Samsung S3 but he forgot the pattern, at the end some guys carefully unlock with some cool method and it weren’t millions it was just somo 150 USD instead….

See the video on: Hacking a Samsung Galaxy for $6,000,000 in Bitcoin!?

[adaseb]

How does that IronKey USB work exactly? You plug it in and before you can assess it, you are presented with a PiN?

Can’t you just clone it and just keep trying over and over again with the 2 tries and eventually you would get in. Or is the IronKey USB more secure than that?

[m2017]

Whether it's true or not, with ",000 bitcoins locked on USB stick", why should anyone else care?

Be that as it may, these are his problems and let him solve it in his own way. He's not asking for help from us, right. What is most disturbing about this story? The fact that Stefan Thomas is in no hurry to “remove” this 7,000 bitcoins from the USB stick, refuses services to restore access to his wallet, behaves as if it is not 7,000 BTC, but $100? I wouldn’t rush either if I were him, when there are only 2 attempts left to enter the password correctly. I would also refuse recovery services because those guys will want to get their commissions, probably percentages, from the contents of the wallet. Even 10% would be 700 BTC, which would be a lot of money. When the stakes are so high, there is no need to rush and everything must be done deliberately and carefully thought out. Stefan Thomas probably has alternative sources of money or savings, so he can afford to wait until he is sure that access to the flash drive will be 100% guaranteed. Actually, he does everything right.

[tranthidung]

How does that IronKey USB work exactly? You plug it in and before you can assess it, you are presented with a PiN?

Can’t you just clone it and just keep trying over and over again with the 2 tries and eventually you would get in. Or is the IronKey USB more secure than that?

IronKey User Guide

With this guide, you can know how IronKey works better. Honestly I have never used it and the guide helps me to understand its operation.

Core Features

Self-Destruct Sequence

If the IronKey Cryptochip detects any physical tampering by a hacker, it will self-destruct. Similarly, after too many consecutive invalid password attempts your IronKey will self-destruct using flash-trash technology

When you plug your IronKey in, the “Unlock Your IronKey” window appears.
If this screen does not appear, you can start it manually by double-clicking the IronKey Unlocker drive in “My Computer” and double-clicking the “IronKey.exe” file.
Entering your password correctly will mount your secure volume with all your secure applications and files.

Entering the wrong password too many times will permanently erase all of your data. After every three attempts, you must unplug and reinsert the IronKey.

NOTE: Some operations require that your IronKey connect to the Internet before unlocking. If it cannot connect, click “Edit Proxy Settings” to configure how your IronKey connects to the Internet.

[Cryptomultiplier]

He purely knows the coins ain't lost, and maybe he's just trying to prove a point to others that keeping BTC on a USB stick, even if the ironkeys get lost, can still be cracked and redeemed.
That is alot of coins I must iterate and anyone having that definitely has more from where that came.
I would like to know how successful the hand shaken gurus currently working on cracking the key become, and if our guy in the story by OP, will go to the company who thinks they can figure it faster for a few bucks.

[stompix]

Omg, he must be telling a lie, because if he would really had those BTCs then he would not hesitate to share the BTC wallet address. After all, we can check on any explorer that either he has those BTC or not.

Why? Why would he need to show a complete stranger on the internet he has those coins?
Seriously, nobody needs to prove anything to some guy they don't even care, what would change for him if you would trust his story or not, he's not asking for money and he has refused help since?

Again the same thing, we always talk about not disclosing your identity, not talking about how much you own and the first thing after that is demanding from their addresses, their wallets, and why not, their home addresses and where they keep their private key?

Anyhow, the announcement is here and you can check yourself the bounty he won then and the funds if you care that much!

[crwth]

Or maybe it's already unlocked and he just doesn't want everyone to know.

Those two experts working with him must be pretty busy or not working on it or anything because there should be progress or like my first guess, they have succeeded. Maybe, just maybe.  

I do hope he gets to share his story or something.

[blckhawk]

Maybe he had already lost the coins permanently, maybe it was all a lie, or maybe he's so wealthy that an extra $240 mills doesn't make much difference to him.

They're all a possibility but I don't believe that the first one is a likely thing. The second one though, I need to see a proof of his lavish lifestyle just his net worth, because even if you're a rich person I am pretty sure that you're still going to worry about that money not being on your hands and there's already an offer from someone that can open it for you. I feel like the reason that he didn't accept it is probably because the price that was quoted on him was something that he's not willing to pay.

Can’t you just clone it and just keep trying over and over again with the 2 tries and eventually you would get in. Or is the IronKey USB more secure than that?

If the creators of IronKey are smart enough, they would've thought of this bypass already so I don't see how there's a possibility that this can work, probably it will work as I'm not a programmer or an IT buff so who knows but I think that it's a common sense that you're taking measures in every possibility for your product to be cracked.

[348Judah]

Quite an interesting article from Wired:

"They Cracked the Code to a Locked USB Drive Worth $235 Million in Bitcoin. Then It Got Weird"
https://www.wired.com/story/unciphered-ironkey-password-cracking-bitcoin/

Quick run down:

• Guy named Stefan Thomas loses the password to his IronKey USB stick
• Wasted 8 attempts and have 2 left, after 10 incorrect attempts the USB gets erased
• A company called Unciphered develops a unique technique that allows them to crack that specific type of IronKey and they can demonstrate that
• They reach out to Stefan, but he says 'No thanks, I'm good'

Apparently, he has two other experts working on cracking the USB. They have been unsuccessful for over a year, but he still wants to give them more time. According to the article, he only had a hand-shake deal with those two experts, so nothing really preventing him from going elsewhere.

Maybe he had already lost the coins permanently, maybe it was all a lie, or maybe he's so wealthy that an extra $240 mills doesn't make much difference to him.

I believe this is his bitcointalk profile: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2211 - he has been inactive since 2015.

This story is hard to conclude on the justification for the matter, first is that the owner have to be blamed in some of these reasons i will state below.

1. For loosing access to his own password needed to unlock the iron key USB drive
2. For not creating a backup for the password used knowing the weight of the amount of bitcoin worth in it.

We cannot blame his friends experts he consulted, if hey try their best and couldn't unlocked it or if they did successful but pretends not to have done so, the organization in charge, how do they know, did he reported there, was it his friends or they got a signal on several attempts, they can decide to lock the wallet, but how sure are we that the privacy of the contents in that USB is secured without the organization I.T experts spying, i think the best is for the guy to approach the company and rectify the whole issue if possible without having to tell them the worth of what was inside.

[ZAINmalik75]

That's so bad, and I am amazed to hear that, Stefan, chose a USB stick where there is a limit of wrong password attempts, I mean that's of course an extra layer of security, but how can the amount be removed from that USB? I got it, the data in the USB will be removed but our assets are saved in the recovery phrase which is laid on the BTC blockchain.

So how the BTC saved on that seed phrase will be removed or destroyed. Or I am taking things wrong here. Overall, that's so bad. Another interesting thing is, if he uses a stick to hold his btc amount an even accepted a extra security level of 10 attempts of wrong code.

He still chose the same wallet, which can be opened by a company you have talked above. If that company can really open his wallet then why he don't wants it to be opened. I think he just want to avoid his urges or we can say wants to press the urges that will encourage him to make huge payments if he get hold onto those btc. Maybe the amount if so big for him that he thinks he cannot control his emotions and might waste them.

But by avoiding the opening of it, he can preserve them for longer period of time.

[albert0bsd]

How does that IronKey USB work exactly?

Check the next video:

How To Setup the Kingston IronKey™ Vault Privacy 50 Encrypted USB Flash Drive

[Mpamaegbu]

I believe this is his bitcointalk profile: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2211 - he has been inactive since 2015.

The Thomas dude is a tech guy. I ran through some of his posts to get a feel of that. Now, this is the major reason I don't regret not being into Bitcoin as an early adopter. I'm sure I would've lost my coins too one way or the other and that would be with so much pain, seeing what a treasure Bitcoin is now. Just imagine someone having close to $240 million in Bitcoin but can't assess it. This is going to be worth more in coming days. Nonetheless, what I don't understand is why isn't the dude giving access to those other ethical hackers who claim they can retrieve it for him?

[pawel7777]

With 2 attempts left, he does not want to take risk and lose his bitcoins. Maybe he stays quietly, does nothing with hope that some advanced technology in future can help him to break it.

The entire point of this article is that the advanced technology is already here, but he refuses to take advantage of it.
I came across a short video interview with Stefan from July 2023:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwN_rsu8xJc
In it, he mentions a "rock solid" contract with the expert(s) attempting to crack the security code. So maybe there's some clause specifying the time frame, within which, he cannot use other-party services.

[Lanatsa]

With 2 attempts left, he does not want to take risk and lose his bitcoins. Maybe he stays quietly, does nothing with hope that some advanced technology in future can help him to break it.

The entire point of this article is that the advanced technology is already here, but he refuses to take advantage of it.
I came across a short video interview with Stefan from July 2023:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwN_rsu8xJc
In it, he mentions a "rock solid" contract with the expert(s) attempting to crack the security code. So maybe there's some clause specifying the time frame, within which, he cannot use other-party services.

When it comes to money then there's no one you could only trust but only yourself because getting some external help might lead into those kind of suing out or getting or requesting some significant amount when it comes to shares once they would be successfully be able to unlock such wallet and for sure this is something that really on that guys mind about those possible deals but since its verbal then he could anytime jump
since there would be no agreement that written up legally but if this is the case on which he had already wasted up 8 out of 10 attempts then having that 2 before it gets lock is really he main issue on here.
Yes, he does have that $200+ million worth of bitcoins inside but its not really literally considering on having no access. If he had those kind of doubts about getting some help or even have that fear of
stolen coins once they have accessed then i couldnt really blame him but instead he would really be planning in going it solo.

[Lucius]

I remember him as early October, one topic about it.
Two guys that have lost their Bitcoins forever
With 2 attempts left, he does not want to take risk and lose his bitcoins. Maybe he stays quietly, does nothing with hope that some advanced technology in future can help him to break it.

I believe this is his bitcointalk profile: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2211 - he has been inactive since 2015.

You did a great job to find his account in Bitcointalk. Likely so because that account has a link to Twitter: https://twitter.com/justmoon[/size]

The OP didn't find anything that wasn't already found and published on the forum, and he could have easily placed his post in one of the topics that already exist. This information was published in the topic you linked, and was originally published 2.5 years ago by @DdmrDdmr

[tbct_mt2]

The OP didn't find anything that wasn't already found and published on the forum, and he could have easily placed his post in one of the topics that already exist. This information was published in the topic you linked, and was originally published 2.5 years ago by @DdmrDdmr

I did not know about that information and I did not know about Stefan Thomas until this year when I saw a forum member posted about it, before OP of course.

I knew the second case that was repeatedly talked on media, the man who lost his disk in a landfill. I understand that people who lost bitcoin will try at best to recover their wallets until they can not breath.

With Stefan Thomas, it's so strange that he chose to use that risky method to store his wallet and he did not have other backups. Backing up wallets like this is very dangerous and I read many times and also advise many members that they must do some different backups of a wallet.

[fullhdpixel]

Or maybe it's already unlocked and he just doesn't want everyone to know.

I do hope he gets to share his story or something.

Could be, because maybe he is afraid that someone could threaten his life as the total amount of those BTC if converted to fiat is no joke. But if it's true that he is afraid then he shouldn't publicize that he got a locked-up wallet because a lot of unwanted people are going to approach him or offer him a fake help. And it seems it happened already but good thing he didn't rush and trust those people. He is smart and knows that those people can tricked him. I like the attitude of him being calm. It allows him to think properly for a better solution and won't make the problem worse.

Those two experts working with him must be pretty busy or not working on it or anything because there should be progress or like my first guess, they have succeeded. Maybe, just maybe.  

It is stated that " he only had a hand-shake deal with those two experts "I think this sounds not really serious. And the guy also said to be not rushing. No wonder why it already took over a year and there are still no good updates about it. But maybe there is a small progress that they don't release in public.