国产诱惑福利

Wrench attacks are on the rise thanks in part to cryptocurrency鈥檚 move into mainstream finance, Phil Ariss of the crypto tracing firm TRM Labs said in a recent blog .

鈥淐riminal groups already comfortable with using violence to achieve their goals were always likely to migrate to crypto,鈥� Ariss said.

Some of the crypto鈥檚 key characteristics help explain why wealthy individuals who hold a lot of digital assets can be ripe targets for such attacks.

The draw

Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin offer traders full control of their funds without the need for a bank or permission from a government to buy, sell or hold it. The trade-off is that if funds are lost or stolen, there can be no way to get them back.

Self-reliance is a key ethos of crypto. Securing and controlling one鈥檚 private keys, which are like passwords used to access one鈥檚 crypto holdings, is viewed as sacrosanct among many in the crypto community. A popular motto is 鈥渘ot your keys, not your coins.鈥�

Transactions on the blockchain, the technology that powers cryptocurrencies, are permanent. And unlike cash, jewelry, gold or other items of value, thieves don鈥檛 need to carry around stolen crypto. With a few clicks, huge amounts of wealth can be transferred from one address to another.

In the case in New York, where two people have been charged, a lot of details have yet to come out, including the value of the bitcoin the victim possessed.

Crypto thefts

Stealing cryptocurrency is almost as old as cryptocurrency itself, but it鈥檚 usually done by hacking. North Korean state hackers alone are believed to have stolen billions of dollars鈥� worth of crypto in recent years.

In response to the threat of hacking, holders of a large amount of crypto often try and keep their private keys off the internet and stored in what are called 鈥渃old wallets.鈥� Used properly, such wallets can defeat even the most sophisticated and determined hackers.

But they can鈥檛 defeat thieves who force a victim to give up their password to access their wallets and move money.

The case in New York is the latest in a string of high-profile wrench attacks. Several have taken place in France, where thieves cut off a crypto executive鈥檚 finger.

Mitigation

Experts suggest several ways to mitigate the threats of wrench attacks, including using wallets that require multiple approvals before any transactions.

Perhaps the most common way crypto-wealthy individuals try to prevent wrench attacks is by trying to stay anonymous. Using nicknames and cartoon avatars in social media accounts is common in the crypto community, even among top executives at popular companies.