SoylentNews

Robbing the Ethereum Stagecoach

posted by martyb on Thursday July 20 2017, @05:25PM   
from the ephemeral-ethereal-wealth dept.

bradley13 writes:

Some time ago, I wrote that I had given up on Ethereum. While the problems coming from the DAO hack are now in the past Ethereum has had a few other problems.

Granted, these problems have nothing to do with Ethereum itself. They are all exploits in the surrounding ecosystem. Hacking the CoinDash website to replace their public wallet address was particularly cheeky. This all reminds me of tales of the Wild West, when money was transferred between banks by stagecoach or by train. The technology simply didn't exist to provide the necessary security way the heck out on the prairie.

Seems like that's where we are now. The necessary technology does not exist, to provide the security that currencies like Ethereum and Bitcoin really require. Website hacks are a dime a dozen, and when a hack can be worth $millions... The same for software: When professional programmers still write code vulnerable to SQL injection - when our platforms even allow this as a possibility - then we simply do not have the technology to secure the stagecoach.

Previously:
$30 Million Below Parity: Ethereum Wallet Bug Fingered in Mass Heist
Hacker Allegedly Steals $7.4 Million in Ethereum During ICO
Used GPUs Flood the Market as Ethereum's Price Crashes Below $150
Ethereum Mining Craze Leads to GPU Shortages
Ethereum Unusable, DAO Refunds Possible

---

Original Submission

• This comes as no surpriseThis comes as no surprise (Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Thursday July 20 2017, @06:45PM (2 children)

  by Thexalon (636) on Thursday July 20 2017, @06:45PM (#542021)

  If you get involved in projects like Bitcoin and Ethereum, you're dealing mostly with folks that hate the government getting involved in their business. That's perfectly understandable. But guess who else doesn't like the government getting involved in their business? Criminals! And I don't mean invented crimes like speeding the libertarians usually complain about, I mean con artists, drug dealers, thieves, murderers, extortionists, and so forth.

  --
  "Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin

  Starting Score:	1		point
  Moderation		+1
  Insightful=1, Total=1
  Extra 'Insightful' Modifier		0
  Karma-Bonus Modifier		+1
  Total Score:		3

• Re:This comes as no surprise(Score: 2) by JNCF on Thursday July 20 2017, @07:42PM

  by JNCF (4317) on Thursday July 20 2017, @07:42PM (#542037) Journal

  Criminals! And I don't mean invented crimes like speeding the libertarians usually complain about, I mean con artists, drug dealers, thieves, murderers, extortionists, and so forth.

  With the exception of speeding, all of the crimes you listed were invented.

  Parent

• Re:This comes as no surprise(Score: 2) by tonyPick on Friday July 21 2017, @05:47AM

  by tonyPick (1237) on Friday July 21 2017, @05:47AM (#542214) Homepage Journal

  folks that hate the government getting involved in their business.

  Good-oh. Economics Anti-Vaxxers running through a combined history of finance system and computer programming blunders, all while betting real world money on their Dunning-Krugerrands. When we put it like that, what could go possibly wrong? :D

  Parent