Blockchain.info Wallet Emptied

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Blockchain.info

A blockchain.info user reports that their wallet was emptied, and the transaction referenced has 8.4 BTC. Blockchain.info used to send backup information to people's email addresses, which is a possible way that the wallet was breached. Another possibility is that they were another victim of the failures in the Blockchain.info random number generator, with the attack sending funds to a second address.

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

About Blockchain.info

"The world’s most popular crypto wallet. Over 80 million wallets created to buy, sell, and earn crypto." "As they say, not your keys, not your crypto. Blockchain.com Private Key Wallets are the most widely-used wallets for self-custody of your crypto. We make it easy for people who are ready to control their private keys to hold them with a Secret Private Key Recovery Phrase." "When it comes to ensuring that your crypto is secure, we think about every last detail so you don’t have to."

"My account was hacked on Aug 1st." "Someone was able to empty out my blockchain.info account." "It appears someone got into my blockchain.info account and transferred coins out of it just a few minutes ago." "Yes, it's an annoyance to lose the coins, but what I'm concerned about is understanding how this happened, because I thought things were pretty buttoned up." "Any help would be appreciated."

"I've found no evidence that my email was compromised, and was using two-factor authentication at the time." "I have 2 factor enabled. Was logged into btct and bitfunder at the time (but not blockchain.info)" "The coins were literally sitting in the online wallet for just a few hours, as well."

"I checked the ip address of recent logins. Everything seems to be in order. I don't have 2FA set in gmail, but my password is fairly strong."

"So many people don't realize that nearly every email they send bounces around the internet completely unencrypted in plaintext for hackers to read."

"If your password protecting your blockchain.info wallet was weak, then a hacker could capture it as it travels from blockchain.info to Google, and then check it against a rainbow table. The 2 factor is only for logging into the website to receive the encrypted wallet. Once they've got the wallet, they don't need the 2FA at all."

"My best guess would be a password that exists in a rainbow table, but I suppose there are other possibilities."

"How can I determine if this was caused by the rng exploit? I was using Chrome at the time."

"I do have the blockchain info wallet backup sent to my email. Even if they had this, would they be able to extract the private keys? I still had 2FA on." "[T]hey can empty your wallet without doing login on blockchain.info wallet by importing your backup wallet into any client that supports it."

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.

Include:

• Known history of when and how the service was started.
• What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
• What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
• Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
• Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
• How were people recruited to participate?
• Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

Don't Include:

• Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
• Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.

There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

• When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
• Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
• How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
• Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - Blockchain.info Wallet Emptied

Date	Event	Description
August 1st, 2013 11:27:22 PM	Main Event	Expand this into a brief description of what happened and the impact. If multiple lines are necessary, add them here.

Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost has been estimated at $2,000 USD.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?

Ultimate Outcome

What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

Prevention Policies

The blockchain.info wallet is web-based, which makes it a form of hot wallet. Hot wallets are vulnerable to breach, and should not be used to store large sums of money. Always store the vast majority of funds offline in a cold storage medium which is not connected to the internet.