Bitcoin botnets and the mysterious solominer

[fuuka]

Since I'm new, I might as well post this here until I can join the main thread  

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=67634.540

There's a mystery miner than has something like 20% of the network, there's some suspicion that it's a new botnet that uses GPUs.

Well this fellow has been advertising exactly that:

>#1 Bitcoin Botnet Miner ♣ CPU/GPU ♣ No dependencies ♣ Official Reseller

empiremethod.com/showthread.php?tid=262
forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2425022
adminscode.com/wts-imine-bitcoin-botnet-miner.html

I haven't seen any mention of this in the main thread, and the posts of the botnet seller are relatively recent (middle of march), which I believe coincides roughly with the new suspected botnet (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

Some people in the thread have already reported it to virus scanning software companies, but, again, I don't think anyone has posted or notified them about this "iMine".

edit: change iMiner to iMine

[1713566285]

1713566285

[1713566285]

1713566285

[1713566285]

1713566285

[molecular]

jo, thanks. good info.

[Matthew N. Wright]

Hmm, I'm worried that it might be some covert project to shutdown Bitcoin. Basically "they" (US govt, some useful shell-company, whatever) build a dominant position, then use their play-money to create endless havoc in the markets. Heck, the US government obliterated Iraq to stop Saddam from trading oil in Euros. Then they got rid of Khaddafi to stop that guy from trading oil with a gold-backed African currency. They would rather blow up the world than allow a non-petrodollar, non-fractional reserve currency to become relevant.

That's some pretty good trolling right there. You sound almost exactly like some of the other fucking retards on this forum.

[GTRsdk]

If someone would be trying to shut down bitcoin, mining blank blocks would most likely only slow down the network.

There would most likely be at least someone (or a pool) still mining and mining transactions to keep the network moving.

If that miner would suddenly dump all of his/her bitcoins into an exchange, it probably wouldn't have much of an effect unless there would be many bitcoins.

[Matthew N. Wright]

I really don't see what the confusion is. I enjoy speculating on things as much as the next guy, but as a programmer I can say that it sounds more like the botminer creator got lazy and/or efficient and just made it as low scale as possible and is using it for profit.

I think it's hilarious how all the Bitcoin addicts who spend their entire day constantly promoting bitcoin suddenly abandon it once someone is abusing it for profit.

Did you people forget it's profitable to mine for Bitcoins, even with a botnet?

[guruvan]

Did you people forget it's profitable to mine for Bitcoins, even with a botnet?

I'd think that's a leading reason to have a botnet.

If JP Morgan, et al,  wanted to kill bitcoin, it would be dead. They wouldn't jack around with it forever, quick slam, and it could be done. In the end, it's to their benefit, too, so they're unlikely to do it. Babies are easier to kill than adults. I'd expect they'd have done so by now.

Hear about the USD$15,000,000,000,000 that apparently just appeared from nowhere that Lord James (British House of Lords) has been trying to account for? I bet that would be easier with bitcoin. No, they don't want to kill it at all.
============

iMine is a damn good find. We ought to get us a copy of the code for it, see if it ignores transactions.

[guruvan]

LOL. The banksters have time to execute an intricate plan to "covertly" destroy what is essentially a nicely funded startup?

I'm down for a good conspiracy theory, but dude, get you a Faraday cage, or at least an air-stream trailer, 'cuz a tinfoil hat ain't gonna help you with THOSE rays.

[ShadowedStranger]

No, I think the most effective way would be to slowly kill the idea of Bitcoin. Make it seem like it just doesn't work. A multi-pronged attack would be my bet. Shills, naysayers, trolls, etc, all spreading FUD in the forums, subsidized speculators in Bitcoinica, a code of silence in the mainstream media and Hollywood. If it must get mentioned, only focus on the criminal element, and/or portray the participants as slippery nerds with no respect for the law (a la "The Good Wife" bitcoin episode). It would be hard to do any more, as obvious boycotts might result in viral publicity.

While I agree, I think those with the power to do this don't see bitcoin as enough of a threat to waste this kind of energy on.

[arne]

Tinfoil shenanigans aside, I think bitcoin should be prepared for large scale attacks. Of course there are powerful players who would rather see it gone than for it to become widespread. Although I guess bitcoin's not seen as a big threat yet, that might come.

Could it happen that a botnet would gain 51% of the hashing power?
20% seems like a big number to me already.

[z3rohour]

Hopefully no one overthrow the

[GTRsdk]

Could it happen that a botnet would gain 51% of the hashing power?
20% seems like a big number to me already.

And that's why people need to get more miners online. And mining for either themselves or in a number of different pools.

[molecular]

Could it happen that a botnet would gain 51% of the hashing power?
20% seems like a big number to me already.

And that's why people need to get more miners online. And mining for either themselves or in a number of different pools.

Do you expect miners to mine unprofitably?

[airnesst]

i dont understand why nobody did it back in 2010 when  cpus not gpus were mining 100 btc a day ?

[conspirosphere.tk]

i dont understand why nobody did it back in 2010 when  cpus not gpus were mining 100 btc a day ?

Don't let me bite my hands (again) for the regret of passing on BTC at the time, even if I heard about it.

[molecular]

i dont understand why nobody did it back in 2010 when  cpus not gpus were mining 100 btc a day ?

It's nice to see that nowadays it's commonly unimaginable for bitcoins to not have any value. Bitcoin has come a long way already...

[R-]

i dont understand why nobody did it back in 2010 when  cpus not gpus were mining 100 btc a day ?

The same logic could be applied to our situation: why aren't you buying all the worlds BTC's right now? They're only worth a cool $5.00 each. They will eventually be $100 each.. someday..

Hindsights 20/20.

[ModusPwnd]

Right, going back to 2010 with hindsight... Bitcoin would not be the best investment.  With hindsight lottery and sports gambling would be far, far more profitable.   

[R-]

Right, going back to 2010 with hindsight... Bitcoin would not be the best investment.  With hindsight lottery and sports gambling would be far, far more profitable.   

Right you are 

[finway]

iMine ?  Interesting.

[5850Guy]

Could it happen that a botnet would gain 51% of the hashing power?
20% seems like a big number to me already.

And that's why people need to get more miners online. And mining for either themselves or in a number of different pools.

Do you expect miners to mine unprofitably?

Well in the beginning BTC was worth nothing, but you could mine tons of them easily.

Now they are worth a lot more than 0.01 USD.

Some people are mine and hold.

Thinking of....maybe I need to think about one of those other slc/ltc/etc variants.....hmm...