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Dan Kaminsky said that he spent 4 months trying to hack "bitcoin" but failed.
Besides trying to find vulnerabilities in double-spending and 51% attack, what other hacks would a hacker try to achieve?
Surely an established hacker like Dan Kaminsky wouldn't have spent 4 months just trying to prove the protocol is immune to double-spending and robust against 51% attacks. There had got to be more things that he was trying.
Exactly what kind of hacks will a hacker try to achieve against bitcoin?
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There could also be hacks targeting the bitcoin software implementation. If a vulerability is applicable to software running on majority (>50% hashrate) of the nodes then it is a real threat.
For example lets say someone can craft a mal-formed transaction that somehow can trick >50% nodes to accept it (for example induce a buffer overflow and somehow allow attacker to gain remote access to the node system itself and make modifications) then bad things will happen.
Hmm, so do you mean Dan Kaminsky (and various hackers) deemed the official bitcoin software implementation released to be flawless? – Pacerier – 2014-03-07T03:47:49.777
@Pacerier There's a distinction between not finding any issues and there being no issues to find. – Nick ODell – 2017-03-15T23:33:58.180
@Murch, Isn't this what I linked to in the question?... "Besides the obvious problem of double-spending, exactly what kind of hacks were he trying to achieve?" – Pacerier – 2014-03-04T10:03:02.123
1I don't see where your question differs significantly from the linked, i.e. while the question is phrased a bit different, the answers to the linked question seem to cover your question as well. Could you please highlight/clarify which additional information you are seeking? – Murch – 2014-03-04T10:10:22.357
1@Murch, Surely Dan Kaminsky did not spend 4 months only trying to prove the protocol is immune to double-spending and robust against 51% attacks. There got to be more things that he was trying. Exactly what kind of hacks were he trying to achieve? – Pacerier – 2014-03-04T11:57:35.490
Alright, thank you for clarifying. I have retracted my close vote but would like to suggest that you consider editing your question to reflect your intent more clearly. – Murch – 2014-03-04T14:55:40.277
@NateEldredge, Any established hacker would be able to answer this question. – Pacerier – 2014-03-05T13:00:31.700
Now that you've reworded, I agree. – Nate Eldredge – 2014-03-05T14:23:22.600