Is AI becoming a bigger threat to Bitcoin security than traditional hackers?

[Botnake]

I stumbled upon this news that Bitcoin Core, one of the oldest Bitcoin wallet software applications which was first released in 2009 has changed its security disclosure policy because AI is making it easier to discover vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit.

here's what the article says,

Bitcoin Core has changed its security disclosure policy to speed up fixes for vulnerabilities that large language models can find with little effort, ending the months-long embargoes those bugs once received.

Maintainers merged the change to the project’s security policy on Thursday. Chaincode Labs developer Antoine Poinsot, who wrote the proposal, announced it in a message to the Bitcoin Development Mailing List the same day.

“We recently experienced an increase in the number of reports for security vulnerabilities that can be easily (re-)discovered,” Poinsot wrote. “This is largely due to LLMs drastically reducing the bar to find certain classes of issues or identify covert fixes.”

So question, is AI the bigger threat now?

[Joy_learns_crypto]

Hackers has already been putting the whole crypto world on its toes security wise, so I don't think there should be any panic, from the news Bitcoin core is taking their security seriously and fixing any vulnerabilities that they are noticing.

There would always be threat in the financial system, Ai is not only a threat to Bitcoin, it's a general threat so the traditional financial system is not safe either, I think noticing and responding to security threats are good first steps to take and Bitcoin core did that, and it's not an ending act, security upgrade is continuous.

[YellowSwap]

I'm already thinking way beyond this, what if super computer comes ?
A complete disaster it will be, trust me...

Banks and military servers will be nailed to bits.
Yes AI is a bigger threat to Bitcoin security, traditional hackers who haven't opt to AI yet are missing out.

This is exactly how I am seeing this whole thing unfolding, to be honest I don't work with Bitcoin Devs and I don't know how prepared they are but I am scared and positive at the same time.

If these threats aren't coming we wouldn't know how many vulnerabilities we have been gambling with so far, so it's good and bad at the same time..

[FinneysTrueVision]

There really isn’t a distinction between traditional and AI assisted hackers. As technology evolves, hackers are going to use whatever tools are available to them, including AI. Hacking in general has become a bigger threat because of how efficient AI makes the process. Some of these exploits where millions of dollars have been stolen are sometimes committed by script kiddies who had access to advanced LLMs.

[stadus]

I'm already thinking way beyond this, what if super computer comes ?
A complete disaster it will be, trust me...

you are talking about QC, right?

By the way, there's really some evidence that AI could be used for hacking, and these traditional hackers mentioned are also adopting the use of AI. so it's not really about who is the bigger threat since hackers are people and AI is a system that they can use to their advantage.

If you are familiar with the Gamdom hack, where the casino lost over $3 million, i know it's not totally related to Bitcoin wallets, but i just use it as a reference to show how vulnerable online systems can be. Although there's no confirmation that AI was used in that attack, AI could be a big help to hackers in finding vulnerabilities.

[_act_]

AI has become the biggest threat right now. It is more threat to bitcoin even than quantum computers right now. I also think AI make it easy for people that do not know much about hacking to be able to become professional hackers just by the AI helping them to know what they can do to do their dirty work. AI is a threat to everything that can be hacked, and some aspects of bitcoin is among them.

[Maslate]

AI has become the biggest threat right now. It is more threat to bitcoin even than quantum computers right now. I also think AI make it easy for people that do not know much about hacking to be able to become professional hackers just by the AI helping them to know what they can do to do their dirty work. AI is a threat to everything that can be hacked, and some aspects of bitcoin is among them.

If they are serious about learning from it then that's fine, but if their intention is to use that knowledge for hacking, then that's already a crime. Though we can gain some knowledge from it but not many will try that as they could end up in jail.

But back to the topic, it's just right that an old Bitcoin wallet software provider, has already taken action as they don't want another hack to happen and being one of the oldest wallets that has built a good reputation, they are taking action now to prevent that from happening. hopefully other wallets providers will follow as well since the reputation of the crypto industry is at risk here although some may think hacking has become normal but it's still a bad thing.

[Lontor]

I don't know why those in the high ranks want AI to progress like this, I mean why are they still at work with AI when it's creating alot of mess like right now? Because banks aren't getting attacked yet?

It's only a matter of time.

I hope everyone gets a hit with AI hacks, by the time confidential files are getting compromised under the military power in the US then they will start restricting AI itself.

Crazy people, I don't understand what their agenda is all about.

[fullfitlarry]

AI has become the biggest threat right now. It is more threat to bitcoin even than quantum computers right now. I also think AI make it easy for people that do not know much about hacking to be able to become professional hackers just by the AI helping them to know what they can do to do their dirty work. AI is a threat to everything that can be hacked, and some aspects of bitcoin is among them.

Yes, as we have seen AI thinking of itself alone and trying to break everything that they see in their path. So that is the scary part of AI, as it evolved immensely in the last couple of years that even the developers can't explain it.

So it can become rough by itself, and it might be too late before it break into someone's crypto and steal everything. And we also have seen how hackers are using AI agent to hack on servers or any infrastructure that they deem a good target to steal.

[Mr. Magkaisa]

Hackers has already been putting the whole crypto world on its toes security wise, so I don't think there should be any panic, from the news Bitcoin core is taking their security seriously and fixing any vulnerabilities that they are noticing.

Not just the cryptocurrency world but the whole internet, AI is a very useful tool we can use and it makes everything easier from searching to making some videos but it is too powerful even securities of the internet world is at risk.
The more power of it the more danger we can get. What will be the next? We have those traditional hackers and now they have another weapon to use which is Ai and make them more powerful.

[Botnake]

Hackers has already been putting the whole crypto world on its toes security wise, so I don't think there should be any panic, from the news Bitcoin core is taking their security seriously and fixing any vulnerabilities that they are noticing.

Not just the cryptocurrency world but the whole internet, AI is a very useful tool we can use and it makes everything easier from searching to making some videos but it is too powerful even securities of the internet world is at risk.
The more power of it the more danger we can get. What will be the next? We have those traditional hackers and now they have another weapon to use which is Ai and make them more powerful.

The risk is big but I emphasize crypto wallets because once they are hacked the transactions are no longer reversible. It's different from the banking industry where even if they are hacked the funds can still be traced since they pass through a centralized system.

[OsaiEmma]

AI could be a big help to hackers in finding vulnerabilities.

As well as companies to defend their products and infrastructure. As you said earlier, AI is just a tool, it can be used in both ways. But, I think this is a serious issue to defenders/establishments. For instance, if we have a terrorist and a military stronghold in a shootout; one (military) defending the citizens, and the other (terrorist) attacking the citizens. At the end of the day, the attackers will always have an advantage.

I guess that is why the OP is worried. AI could potentially become a serious threat eventually. So, we should adopt AI, and adjust accordingly.

[noorman0]

-snip-
So question, is AI the bigger threat now?

Threats exist because there are weaknesses, so AI does not create threats naturally, but accelerates the identification of weaknesses. So it depends on which party uses AI for that purpose.

I don't know why those in the high ranks want AI to progress like this, I mean why are they still at work with AI when it's creating alot of mess like right now? Because banks aren't getting attacked yet?

With every progress there must be mess, I consider that the dark side.  The (digital) banking system itself is chaotic, all aspects are fully controlled, more centralized than Tether which can freeze stable tokens.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

So question, is AI the bigger threat now?

Hacking is usually successful when a hacker discovers a vulnerability and is able to quickly exploit it before it can be discovered and fixed. AI is helping hackers to easily discover those vulnerability that they can take advantage of. So, yea, AI is a threat but as long as the security system or method that Bitcoin users are using remains very intact without having any vulnerability, users will be safe.

AI could be a threat to security but you should also know that developers are not sleeping on the wheel but instead they are tightening up security and making sure that there's no loophole or vulnerability that hackers can take advantage, so that's what Bitcoin core is doing, fixing what can be taken advantage of by hackers.

[Rruchi man]

I'm already thinking way beyond this, what if super computer comes ?
A complete disaster it will be, trust me...

you are talking about QC, right?

By the way, there's really some evidence that AI could be used for hacking, and these traditional hackers mentioned are also adopting the use of AI. so it's not really about who is the bigger threat since hackers are people and AI is a system that they can use to their advantage.

Any hacker not using AI may not be as effective as those who have adopted AI for use, and that increases the threat they carry currently, but as already mentioned, QC poses a bigger threat in the near future than either of the mentioned from OP, that is, AI or hackers using AI/not using AI.

The mathematical complexity that is for the security of bitcoin could be affected by QC.

[Donk1]

Well at least this gives them the opportunity to make the security even more stronger, because I'm sure the developers already noticed the bug but because hackers can't really hack the security, they often just relax. But AI being a threat has pushed them to patch it immediately. At least this is a way to say security must not be looked down upon when there are hackers out there even if not now. The crypto space is fast evolving, so yeah they will surely catch up. But with the arrival of AI it has really made many things easier and worse in this space. For that it's easy to say developers should ensure to keep updating security from time to time, just to avoid any errors that could compromise the system. That's all......

[Zoomic]

I don't think it's AI itself, I'll say it's who gets to use it and for what purpose.

It is the same tools that help developers discover vulnerabilities that hackers can as well use to find them before a fix is available.

That's definitely the major reason Bitcoin core is making a change in it's disclosure policy.

That said, I wouldn't be conclusive to say that AI is a bigger threat than traditional hackers for now. It's a tool that both sides can use to be more effective but the question is who'll use it better to better to get better results?

[Donneski]

In as much as we know that AI has become a threat, it's important to also consider the fact that Bitcoin's security doesn't depend on Bitcoin Core alone. AI can make finding software vulnerabilities easier but that doesn't mean that Bitcoin itself can be automatically taken down. Bitcoin has different layers of security, so even if a flaw is found, it doesn't mean that it can be successfully exploited.

[Smartprofit]

In my opinion, there's a clear asymmetry here... A hacker's job is much easier than a software developer's. 🙋

A hacker only needs to discover one critical vulnerability in the code. That's enough for a successful attack...

A developer's job is much more difficult. They must proactively address all possible critical vulnerabilities in the code. This task is orders of magnitude more difficult than the one a hacker undertakes.

Both developers and hackers use AI. However, I repeat, it's much easier for a hacker to succeed. This is why, in my opinion, we've seen such successful hacker attacks recently. The fact that Bitcoin wallets were successfully attacked is particularly distressing.

The ideal solution would be to prevent hackers from using complex language models. However, AI is so pervasive worldwide that this is likely virtually impossible. As for the Bitcoin Core developers, I believe they made the right decision.  🧑‍💻

[MisFoxie]

Hackers build AI model through which they can find security loopholes in all systems that are not easily noticed by human eyes. Maybe they are from a specific group or country targeting all systems around crypto space.

But on the other hand many AI models are also being developed so that there are no such loopholes in the system. If this is used to detect system loophole to solve it they can easily protect them. The problem will mainly stay same only to those small company that doesnt have access to that AI model or they simply ignore it.