Hackers steal more than 4,000 Bitcoins from Silk Road 2.0

Shawn Knight

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silk road hacked bitcoin allegedly stolen hacking

The Deep Web black market has had a tough go of it as of late. We’ve seen several sites come and go since the second half of last year and who can forget the FBI’s seizure of the original Silk Road and subsequent arrest of alleged mastermind Ross Ulbricht?

Of course, the Silk Road resurfaced shortly after Ulbricht was taken into custody and has operated without too many issues – until now. According to a recent forum post from Silk Road 2.0 moderator "Defcon," hackers managed to make away with more than $2.7 million worth of Bitcoin using the same transaction malleability exploit that shut down withdrawals at online exchange Mt. Gox.

The latest incarnation of the site used a central escrow account to facilitate Bitcoin transfers between buyers and sellers. Using the above mentioned exploit, hackers were able to extract 4,474.26 Bitcoins from Silk Road’s wallet.

Interestingly enough, the moderator is making a public plea to the hackers to return the Bitcoins. Defcon said that given the right flavor of influence from the community, they can only hope that the hackers will decide to return the coins with integrity as opposed to hiding like cowards.

Site members are in the process of trying to track down the thieves but given the anonymous nature of the Bitcoin network, that could be tough. Thus far, they believe the primary attacker is French and used six vendor accounts to pull off the hack.

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Interestingly enough, the moderator is making a public plea to the hackers to return the Bitcoins. Defcon said that given the right flavor of influence from the community, they can only hope that the hackers will decide to return the coins with integrity as opposed to hiding like cowards.
Interesting? No, it's ironic. "Moderator of anonymous underground illegal drug-trafficking network asks thieves to return stolen money and stop hiding like cowards." That reads like an Onion headline. Pot, meet kettle... kettle , this is pot.

this sort of thing is just the cost of doing business in the black market, isn't it?
 
Interesting? No, it's ironic. "Moderator of anonymous underground illegal drug-trafficking network asks thieves to return stolen money and stop hiding like cowards." That reads like an Onion headline. Pot, meet kettle... kettle , this is pot.

this sort of thing is just the cost of doing business in the black market, isn't it?
I was thinking the same thing, its like the Mafia saying "Guys return the money you took from the Don, its inconsiderate".
 
In today's world of financial theft, $2.7 million is chump change. Call me when someone rips off Goldman Sachs.

Also: How does someone who runs an anonymous black market demand an anonymous thief return an anonymous currency under threat of shaming for not revealing an identity not spontaneously combust from a lethal dose of violently radioactive irony? He should change his moniker to Oblivion^2.
 
On reddit many users are saying this not a hack but an inside job. They let the bitcoins sit in escrow collecting while they made changes to some system parameters and then stole it all in one fell swoop.

I personally find it a tad amusing that the new owners may have ripped off a large collection of what I assume would be very nefarious and dangerous people.

I've got my popcorn ready
 
Well if his plea for the the return of the money doesn't work (which it won't) he can always try turning to the authorities and ask them for help in tracking down his stolen drug money.
 
I bet the owner of silk road 2.0 stole them instead and pocketed the money as come on $2.7mill is a lot of cash when you think about it and being anonymouse entirely makes it easier to do and safer.
 
It strikes me as opportune that a story surfaces to create more uncertainty for Bitcoin. Is this because the private cartel known as The Federal Reserve fears the emergence of currency not within its control. At present the USD, amongst many others, can also be deemed as virtual currencies as they have no direct correlation to physical commodities.
 
Yea, the Federal reserve is probably doing all they can with their infinite money to make Bitcoin seem like a bad idea right now.
 
Non! Vous êtes un *****!

Translation: "Sure guys, we'll give them back immediately".
 
The admins won't take any commission until all vendors are repaid,as far as consumers; you shouldn't have had any in your account anyway. If you do use it upload your funds into your SR wallet and buy immediately, so the likeliness of it being stolen or lost is near 0.
 
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