Hacker learns how to pick private key to wallets and stole over $ 90 million in cryptocurrency

According to analysts at Chanalysis, a cryptocurrency hacker whose name has remained unknown for a long time has started moving stolen digital assets after 6 years of inactivity. The uniqueness of the case lies in the fact that the attacker received all the cryptocurrency as a result of guessing the access keys to the wallets of his victims.

1/ 🚨$ 90M stolen funds on the move: After 6 years of hodling, the «Blockchain Bandit» has awoken. In this 🧵 we cover how the Blockchain Bandit amassed this treasure trove and where the funds are currently held.

— Chainalysis (@chainalysis) January 25, 2023

Over several years of work, the hacker managed to steal digital assets from 732 wallets. To get what he wanted, the attacker used ethercombing, a method of selecting the numbers that make up the private key to an Ethereum wallet. It is believed that the attacker used quantum computing and additional resources, but blockchain researchers have not yet been able to find out for sure.

«If a private key is randomly generated, the probability that someone else will generate the same key or guess it is about 1 in 2256, which is a zero chance for all practical purposes,» Chinalysis experts emphasized.

In total, the attacker managed to steal 51,000 ETNs and 470 VTCs, which at the time of writing is $ 90 million. It is not yet known what the hacker plans to do with his «profits,» but Chanalysis assumes that the attacker decided to convert all the funds into fiat at a favorable price, as the main cryptocurrencies are currently showing growth.

While the hacker had to spend several years to find the keys to the victims' crypto wallets, the US police opened access to the investor’s wallet in a matter of seconds. At the end of December, a video from the body camera of a Nevada police officer was posted on the Internet: during the search of the suspect, law enforcement officers found a seed phrase that allows them to restore access to the lost cryptocurrency wallet. The confidential information immediately became public. This incident outraged members of the cryptocurrency community, as now anyone can get the digital assets of the detained investor.