The recent bitcoin sell-off wasn’t the only cause for alarm among crypto investors this week. Many were rattled by news that a tech investor was robbed of $11 million worth of crypto at his home. Doorbell camera footage shows someone posing as a delivery worker approaching the home, accessible on street level in Mission Dolores, and asking for “Joshua,” who opened the door. They then asked to borrow a pen and followed the victim into the home.
The investor—whom we’re not naming, to protect his privacy—was bound with duct tape and forced at gunpoint to give up his cellphone and laptop, containing the digital keys to his crypto accounts, the SF Standard <https://url3396.theinformation.com/ls/click?upn=u001.71kYkaWDpGOJSzbGrs4y1T4nqwhVEyH-2F2IAhqIBvgk77ecQkpwYsGxZ-2FF5vWl6L9QD7aES1RvT1G6T8F-2BVQSLK3RhINxm5KAqSn4IP-2FhA9vD4nYvLwVPolX9vAmGdbyKX1gkKb5NWwx3IBjfM2E9vtkXKfmwpMYkDqdORaGtALWxYnkPzvz-2BibOi7XI92wApWp9aspZuR1IipeQM6ZkxtScD0t4jCvQtmAg1D7DXxpCPSV8CO858h1XyyuD6X9a8hqDE_JtI4-2FxU1EszqK01Y8-2FaZPD1mDRs7gd0v1oSSNlhk-2BDX50wYlYuwoVbHvau-2FvNbB-2FH6f1oyoMd-2BMPvwsxknEaRinzvgU2y5wdJ8BWwVXPsPz-2F9t7uHg9oywZ4YJrlXfsW0N3qzkP8quThpDaJ-2B4kXzBUFfa0ErEcphDkzssqwK6VwJWmDv-2FwqC7QwT-2BsZ7ENDB9cg5JMksDWHrBzjL-2BUlm-2BTP3XQlclBgiTZ7oz7Ci-2BKXf1Gc38CxyTEpabm3jBxjUFJqfbu1NTgdsHpiFScfDdkzpPHSWxdENFGzhSOmXgz44R-2BbtGOqDOSLjFzsrnpGzS6ahYMKz8stTK-2BVEfo6Dm2CkWzLTypWGyFqPuzxXF6L-2BL0GxVG45XDNpFvNOWXu>reported. The episode highlights a major vulnerability of crypto accounts compared with bank accounts. A robber trying to shift large amounts of money out of a bank account will typically encounter questioning by the bank and often a delay of a few days—whereas crypto can be moved instantaneously. That’s of course one of the advantages of crypto over traditional bank accounts, proponents have long argued. But as the Saturday robbery demonstrates, it can work against crypto investors. People in the crypto world were already on edge after Coinbase disclosed <https://url3396.theinformation.com/ls/click?upn=u001.71kYkaWDpGOJSzbGrs4y1cmB3ShJ5TyaFrjYlJqZRMt37XT7hz-2Bo-2B1ftZ1X9f9NcF9z1skFV7xfrNl2HqznHCOZORGTobH3Ctb8tIqHiuMTQPNhyGPdD-2FJdFvbPEt1EFFBwgwf6rR3f9T9E5SNMA6611zPf5mE-2F7kh6AbXB5M2oEQjh-2F-2Bs8CRVKPrlJPIjG3hv2j7K3h0b-2BlNOkppChfj-2Bzk8rT8gid8MhyFK9YQwyeLwoE-2FN78g5rM87FHmimHB4Gc0_JtI4-2FxU1EszqK01Y8-2FaZPD1mDRs7gd0v1oSSNlhk-2BDX50wYlYuwoVbHvau-2FvNbB-2FH6f1oyoMd-2BMPvwsxknEaRinzvgU2y5wdJ8BWwVXPsPz-2F9t7uHg9oywZ4YJrlXfsW0N3qzkP8quThpDaJ-2B4kXzBUFfa0ErEcphDkzssqwK6VwJWmDv-2FwqC7QwT-2BsZ7ENDB9cg5JMksDWHrBzjL-2BUlm-2BTP3XQlclBgiTZ7oz7Ci-2BLbvO8CKSvQdOdEgE4JMwGJ5CeLFZthKhiwhOEA-2B9oKplXX1v-2B8IHCOiPzmPf5oW1MtF5bukgSHAHFr54nOXAZyVuY8z7q-2Fy-2BH-2BQiTF0pk9yt5zJw0gNKUPnzZiotiRohPURoXyiPDujTzdQdaKm2SH> a customer data breach in May, when some of its overseas customer support agents stole users’ data including their names, phone numbers and home addresses. (A spokesperson for Coinbase said the Saturday robbery has “no connection to the data theft incident we disclosed in May.”) But a home invasion at gunpoint elevates the risk to a whole new level. One crypto investor I talked to said he purchased firearms after the incident. David Schwed, a cybersecurity expert and former chief information security officer at Robinhood, has some advice for crypto investors. They should set up a multistep approval process for moving funds from their wallets and keep their physical crypto wallets at a bank deposit box. It’s also a good idea to hold a decoy wallet with a smaller amount of crypto to placate the attacker. “The best thing,” he said, is to keep your crypto somewhere that is “not easily available” for a transaction when you’re “under duress.” The bottom line is that there’s a trade-off between convenience and security. If it’s easy for you to get your money out of an account quickly, it’s also easy for a thief. kr IRS 271125 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZopC64nxyMZu702%3DA-Nfw-ZCSAMcVzw62sXxVCYU334eDw%40mail.gmail.com.
