Tycooperaow Lost Funds Published Mnemonic

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MetaMask

tycooperaow published their mnemonic unintentionally, and a hacker was able to use the information to extract the funds from their wallet.

About Mars Robertson (tycooperaow)

TBD

Mars Robertson (username tycooperaow on Reddit) is an experienced Ethereum user and developer.

About MetaMask

"A few days ago, a hacker got my mnemonic and stole $1,200 in ethereum from my Metamask wallet in under 100 seconds. The hackers were using a bot to scan for the mnemonic phrases across GitHub, and I accidentally left it in my code on a GitHub repo while I was sending to a Hack Money hack-at-hon. Although there are some coins and tokens left, the bot will siphon any ethereum I have to prevent me from moving my coins, and/or outmatch my attempts by supplying more gas."

"I just want you all to be aware to NEVER have a digital copy of your mnemonic or private key[, e]specially not online."

"If you are using metamask, randomly generate private keys for new accounts not associated with any mnemonics, and imported onto metamask"

"There is still $600 supposedly that's locked in Compound DeFi protocol and if anyone is interested in helping solve this, here is a suggestion someone made for me who we are seeking ways to solve this."

"I was foolish and this mistake was costly, but I know how to be extra secure when dealing in crypto. I was very upset and scared at first, but I can't dwell on it and I'll move on. No need to stress over thousands when I can focus on making millions."

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

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• 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

Mars Robertson reports that they accidentally published their mnemonic seed phrase on GitHub, which allowed an attacker bot to steal the funds. He was working on software which depended on having a wallet with live funds, and tested using his own wallet. When he made the mistake of committing that version to GitHub, his funds were instantly taken by the attacker.

Key Event Timeline - tycooperaow Lost Funds Published Mnemonic

Date	Event	Description
May 24th, 2020 8:06:21 PM MDT	High Gas Fee Transfer	A transaction removed the funds from Mars Robertson's wallet. It appears that the vast majority of the funds (0.511444448688285 ETH) are paid as a mining fee, while only 0.030391583018461703 ETH are received by the attacker.
May 25th, 2020 3:39:27 PM MDT	Ethereum Stack Exchange Post	The incident is posted to the Ethereum Stack Exchange discussion board.
May 26th, 2020 4:25:58 PM MDT	Reddit Post	tycooperaow posts about their Incident on Reddit including their Ethereum address.
May 26th, 2020 4:35:44 PM MDT	Speed Of Attack Clarification	tycooperaow clarifies that the attack was basically instant after they loaded code onto GitHub.
May 26th, 2020 4:42:53 PM MDT	Deminero30 Ethereum Sacrifice	Reddit user Deminero30 reportedly sends some Ethereum into the compromised address and it's instantly taken.
May 26th, 2020 4:59:55 PM MDT	Clarification Of Events	tycooperaow replies to clarify that he didn't intentionally store his mnemonic seed on GitHub, and elaborates on his situation.
May 27th, 2020 1:03:42 AM MDT	Clarification of Experience	tycooperaow clarifies that he is not new to the cryptocurrency space.
May 27th, 2020 1:04:47 AM MDT	Project Needed Live Funds	tycooperaow further clarifies that, while his project needs a wallet with funds, it didn't need to be his personal wallet.

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

Mark Robertson describes his very initial reaction as a combination of anger and fear and specifically describes his shock at how quickly his funds were taken. The incident was posted to the Ethereum Stack Exchange the next day, and then to Reddit a couple of days after it happened.

A few days ago, a hacker got my mnemonic and stole $1,200 in ethereum from my Metamask wallet in under 100 seconds. The hackers were using a bot to scan for the mnemonic phrases across GitHub, and I accidentally left it in my code on a GitHub repo while I was sending to a Hack Money hack-at-hon. Although there are some coins and tokens left, the bot will siphon any ethereum I have to prevent me from moving my coins, and/or outmatch my attempts by supplying more gas.

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?

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.