According the The Register, Filippo Valsorda has released a tool which uncovers transactions that leak private keys on the Bitcoin blockchain. The tool is called Blockchainr and is available on Github. The attack highlighted is the same one which last year lead to the emptying of a number of wallets on the Android platform in which insufficiently random nonces in ECDSA signatures leave private keys solvable. Valsorda noted that the Blockchain.info wallet's dependency on the user's web browser to provide a random nonce leaves it vulnerable to this avenue of attack. Previously Valsorda released a tool which checks for vulnerability to the Heartbleed defect.
Category Archives: Security
Judge Forrest Rejects Illegal Search Defense In Ulbricht Case
Ulbricht's lawyers defense that the FBI illegally collected evidence in the case against him has been rejected by Judge Katherine Forrest on the grounds that Ulbricht insufficiently established that the server searched was his. Wired describes the ruling as based on a technicality. Some reactions to the ruling: Continue reading
BitStash Kickstarter Campaign Begins October 22nd
eCoinConcepts, the creators of the BitStash, are to launch a Kickstater campaign in the hopes of raising $50,000. The company, founded by Trevor Murphy and Steve Swanson, previously received $500,000 seed funding in June of this year. Continue reading
Keeping Bitcoin is a Hard Problem
A myriad of factors work against Bitcoin when it is in the hands of the lay person. Let us consider just a few of the reasons. Continue reading