Merge branch 'master' of github.com:ted27/eecs-444-project-report

report.tex

@@ -195,9 +195,48 @@ \section*{Attacks Against Bitcoin}
 money make virtual banks a popular target for attackers.
 
 \subsection*{Bitcoinica Heist}
+The most recent security blow dealt to the Bitcoin community occured in late March of
+2012\cite{Goodwin:Bitcoinica}.  Eight users of the online Bitcoin trading market Bitcoinica were distrought one
+Thursday morning when they found that large sums of Bitcoins were missing from their 
+accounts.  As reports reached the ears of engineers at Bitcoinica, it became clear that
+their had been an intrusion.  All in all, forty-six thousand bitcions were missing.  At
+market, that amount would have fetched upwards of two-hundred and thrity thousand dollars.
+Some digging revealed that the attackers had gained access to Bitcoinica's Linode servers.
+Sure enough, on those servers were Bitcoin wallets.  Most of these wallets were unencrypted,
+either out of ignorance, or so that the owners could easily automate trading.  To date there
+are no leads on who stole the Bitcoins.
 
 \subsection*{Allinvain Heist}
+In a story of catastrophic personal loss for one Bitcoin user, virtual theives managed 
+to get away with half a million dollars worth of Bitcoins from a single man in mid 2011\cite{Worstoll:Allinvain}.
+At that point, Bitcoin was still in its infancy, making this one of the first big heists 
+to rock the community.  Bitcoin user 'Allinvain' claims that twenty-five thousand Bitcoins,
+at that time valued around five-hundred-million dollars, mysteriously dissappeared from 
+his computer.  Investigation later revealed malware on his computer that had been recording
+his keystrokes.  This could have provided the attacker remote access with which they could
+have copied the bitcoins and then erased them from the hard drive.
+
+One striking thing about this case is that there is no way of knowing who stole the Bitcoins, 
+or worse, whether or not the 'victim' ever had them.  The theif could use them to buy 
+something anywhere, even from the victim, without ever being caught.  This highlights one 
+of the greatest strengths and weaknesses of Bitcoin; its anonymity;
+
 \subsection*{Mt. Gox: The Ultimate Heist}
+By far the largest heist in Bitcoin history is the Mt. Gox heist of June 2011\cite{Rashid:MtGox}.  Taken into
+perspective the size of the currency and the impact of the heist, it is vertainly in the
+running for most significant currency heist of all time.  The heist occured at the height
+of the summer 2011 Bitcoin bubble, when the price of a Bitcoin had reached an astonishing
+\$17.5.  Attackers breached the security of Mt. Gox, a prominant Bitcoin virtual bank,
+and stole bitcoins from hundreds of the banks customers.  According to the bank, the attackers
+made off with over 500,000 Bitcoins.  At market rate, they had stolen about nine million
+dollars.
+
+The only problem in this heist was a ripple effect caused by the attackers.  Being a young
+currency, 500,000 Bitconis amounted to about 6\% of the total value of the market.
+Unfortunately for the attackers, the affect of the heist and subsequent sell off was enough
+to plunge the price of a Bitcoin to about a cent, making the total pot about \$5,000.  This
+attack is interesting because of the enormous ripple it caused in the market.  In a show of
+resiliance, the Bitcoin market recovered, with Bitcoins now trading around 7\$.
 
 \section*{Conclusion}
 Bitcoin is a fascinating suite of protocols, expertly designed to be