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Your Sloppy Bitcoin Drug Deals Will Haunt You for Years


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2018 Jan 26, 3:43pm   2,200 views  8 comments

by RWSGFY   ➕follow (4)   💰tip   ignore  

Perhaps you bought some illegal narcotics on the Silk Road half a decade ago, back when that digital black market for every contraband imaginable was still online and bustling. You might already regret that decision, for any number of reasons. After all, the four bitcoins you spent on that bag of hallucinogenic mushrooms would now be worth about as much as an Alfa Romeo. But one group of researchers wants to remind you of yet another reason to rue that transaction: If you weren't particularly careful in how you spent your cryptocurrency, the evidence of that drug deal may still be hanging around in plain view of law enforcement, even years after the Silk Road was torn off the dark web.

Researchers at Qatar University and the country's Hamad Bin Khalifa University earlier this week published findings that show just how easy it may be to dredge up evidence of years-old bitcoin transactions when spenders didn't carefully launder their payments. In well over 100 cases, they could connect someone's bitcoin payment on a dark web site to that person's public account. In more than 20 instances, they say, they could easily link those public accounts to transactions specifically on the Silk Road, finding even some purchasers' specific names and locations.

"The retroactive operational security of bitcoin is low," says Qatar University researcher Husam Al Jawaheri. "When things are recorded in the blockchain, you can go back in history and reveal this information, to break the anonymity of users."

https://www.wired.com/story/bitcoin-drug-deals-silk-road-blockchain/

Comments 1 - 8 of 8        Search these comments

1   anonymous   2018 Jan 26, 7:04pm  

Never bought anything illegal with bitcoin. I invest in crypto just to get wealthy. Great buying opportunity at the moment. Crypto will do well in 2018!
2   anonymous   2018 Jan 26, 9:56pm  

If someone bought mushrooms from silk road with bitcoin, is there even any law that was broken that they can be charged with a crime?

Which law(s) specifically?
3   Ceffer   2018 Jan 26, 10:10pm  

Cryptocurrency seems like a great way for the powers that be to monitor a large number of transactions from individuals who THINK that they are dealing in unassailable secrecy.
4   🎂 Tenpoundbass   2018 Jan 27, 5:51am  

Satoshi_Nakamoto says
"When things are recorded in the blockchain, you can go back in history and reveal this information, to break the anonymity of users."

I said that about BitCoin and was called out for not knowing anything about blockchain transactions.
5   WookieMan   2018 Jan 27, 7:19am  

errc says
Which law(s) specifically?

Technically, you're spot on I suppose. If they don't catch you with the mushrooms, I'm not real sure how/what they could charge you with. The intent or act of purchasing something on a website I don't think is actually a crime until you gain possession of the illegal substance. I could be wrong.

That said, the not traceable bit that gets throw around about bitcoin is a bit overstated. I think that was the intent of the article and OP. Again, I could be wrong though.

Just noticed there were a lot of bits there. I've got a new bitcoin bit.
6   anonymous   2018 Jan 27, 9:18am  

anon_3a1a3 says
I invest in crypto just to get wealthy. Great buying opportunity at the moment. Crypto will do well in 2018!


As long as it doesn't vaporize off of your computer:

Bitcoin's booming value has driven a huge rise in crypto-currency themed malware, say security firms.

In one month, anti-malware software company Malwarebytes said it stopped almost 250 million attempts to place coin-mining malware on to PCs.

Symantec said it had seen a "tenfold" increase in the amount of malicious code connected with crypto-cash.

Cyber-thieves are using both dedicated software, hacked websites and emails to snare victims.

Malwarebytes told the BBC that its security software was now, on average, stopping about eight million attempts a day by coin-mining code to compromise users' PCs.

Much of this coin-mining software was found on websites that had been hacked, to give attackers the ability to install their own code. One researcher found almost 2,500 sites hosting mining code.

Other cyber-thieves have hijacked extensions and add-ons for web browsing programs to insert the malicious code. Once on a computer, the malware often runs processors at close to 100% to get as much mining work done as possible. On smartphones, this can mean batteries are depleted very quickly.


http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41469232
7   anonymous   2018 Jan 27, 1:25pm  

I am not storing any crypto on my hard drive nor on any exchange. It’s on a hard wallet (trezor and nano s) and stored in my local bank (safer deposit box).
8   anonymous   2018 Jan 28, 7:22am  

errc says
If someone bought mushrooms from silk road with bitcoin, is there even any law that was broken that they can be charged with a crime?

Which law(s) specifically?


I bought some mushrooms from silk road with bitcoin. Am I Screwed? FIXED

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