He did it. He actually did it. He hacked Bitfinex and stole millions of bitcoins. He has become the most notorious and richest hacker in the world; he has pulled the biggest crypto hack of his life. **This is the story of Iiya, the crypto hacker who stole more than money; he stole his own soul. \ The Life Before: Ever since Iiya was a child, he knew how to create (code) and manage software programs; he learned how to hack while he was still a teenager, cut back to adulthood, Iiya had a pretty wife named Heather, who shared his passion for music, art, and gaming. Iiya was a great employee but had never established a company of his own. He managed other people’s companies, so he was a really good manager. The Hack: Iiya Lichtenstein was not your typical hacker. He was a genius, a prodigy, a visionary. He had a dream of generating immense wealth, where the power of the blockchain could enable him to achieve so much more. He believed that the only way to achieve this was to hack the biggest and most secure cryptocurrency exchange in the world: Bitfinex. Bitfinex was at the top of the crypto world. It handled billions of dollars worth of transactions every day and stored the private keys of its customers in a highly encrypted vault that was guarded by multiple layers of security. No one had ever managed to breach its defenses until Iiya came along. Iiya had spent months studying the architecture and protocols of Bitfinex looking for any weakness or vulnerability. He had devised a complex and ingenious plan that involved infiltrating the network, bypassing the firewalls, exploiting the bugs, and cracking the codes. He had also prepared a backup plan, in case things went wrong. On the night of December 3rd, 2015, Iiya launched his attack. He used a phishing email to trick one of the Bitfinex employees into clicking on a malicious link that gave him access to his computer. From this, he planted a Trojan horse that allowed him to remotely control the system. He then used the employee’s credentials to log into the Bitfinex network and started to execute his plan. He managed to disable the alarms, disable the backups, and disable the audits. He then accessed the vault and started to transfer the private keys of the customers to his own wallet. He was careful to avoid detection and to leave no trace . He then moved on to the final and most crucial phase of his attack. He used his exploit code to target the Bitfinex system itself, specifically, the BitGo system that provided multi-signature security for Bitfinex’s wallets. He had discovered a flaw in the way Bitfinex and BitGo communicated with each other, which allowed him to bypass the withdrawal limits and the approval process. He had also found a way to spoof the BitGo API, which enabled him to generate fake signatures and transactions. He used these methods to authorize more than 2,000 transactions, in which 119,754 bitcoin was transferred from Bitfinex to his wallet, without BitGo’s knowledge or consent. He did not care about the alarms or the alerts that Bitfinex and BitGo triggered. He knew that by the time they detected the anomaly, it would be too late. He was confident that he had succeeded, and that he had become the richest person in the world. Hide and Seek: The news broke, and the headline on many news channels: BITFINEX HAS BEEN HACKED. Crises everywhere, the crypto market started dropping as people started selling whatever they had. Ilya Lichtenstein knew he had only minutes to escape. He had just hacked into Bitfinex, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, and stolen over 100 million dollars worth of Bitcoin. He had used a sophisticated malware program that exploited a vulnerability in the exchange’s security system and transferred the funds to a series of anonymous wallets. He had planned this for months, and he was confident that he had covered his tracks. He and Heather lived in a luxurious mansion on a private island, where they had everything they could ever want or need. They had a swimming pool, a tennis court, a golf course, and a spa. They had a home theater, a game room, a library, and a gym. They had a chef, a maid, a gardener, and a security guard. They had a helicopter, a yacht, a jet ski, and a speedboat. They had everything they could ever want or need. They also traveled the world, visiting exotic and exciting places, where they had more fun and adventure. They went to Paris, where they saw the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and Notre Dame. They went to Rome, where they visited the Colosseum, the Vatican, and the Trevi Fountain. They went to Tokyo, where they experienced the Shibuya Crossing, the Tokyo Tower, and the Harajuku Fashion. They went to New York, where they enjoyed Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, and Broadway Shows. They went to many other places, where they saw the sights, tasted the food, and met the people. They went to many other places where they had more fun and adventure. They also indulged in their hobbies, passions, and interests, where they had more pleasure and satisfaction. They loved music, and they composed, recorded, and released their own songs, using their aliases, Ilya L and Razzlekhan. They loved art, and they collected, displayed, and sold their own paintings, using their pseudonyms, Ilya L and Razzle Dazzle. They loved gaming, and they played, streamed, and competed in their own games, using their nicknames, Ilya L and Razzle Khan. They loved many other things, and they did, shared, and enjoyed them, using their own names. They loved many other things, and they had more pleasure and satisfaction. But then, they started to move their digital money into real-world money, and that’s when things got real. The cops, who could see everything on the blockchain, started to figure out what was going on. Ilya couldn’t handle the heat and spilled the beans. He admitted that he was the one behind the whole thing. The cops had all they needed then. They took back around 95,000 Bitcoins from their digital stash, which was worth like $3.6 billion. Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. The story is not intended to be a factual account but is based on the 2016 Bitfinex hack, which was a serious crime that caused significant financial loss and emotional distress to many people. I do not encourage any illegal activities as the story is meant for educational purposes. In August 2016, the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange, based in Hong Kong, suffered a security breach. Around 2,000 approved transactions were sent to a single wallet from users’ segregated wallets. The hackers stole 119,756 bitcoins, worth about $72 million at the time. After learning of the breach, Bitfinex halted all Bitcoin withdrawals and trading and said it was tracking down the perpetrators of the hack. Exchange customers, even those whose accounts had not been broken into, had their account balance reduced by 36% and received BFX tokens in proportion to their losses. The hack happened even though Bitfinex was securing the funds with BitGo, which uses multiple-signature security. . Read more about the Bitfinex hack
