Stefan Thomas has gone down in history as a case that serves as a lesson to all.: how to save vital password or key information that could be lost in the sea of technology. This German-born developer, who currently lives in San Francisco, is one of the investors who was astonished to see how his cryptocurrency savings have grown considerably in recent times, but I could not access them.
Despite the fact that the price of Bitcoin has suffered sharp drops time and again, it has continued to increase in value throughout history and since its creation in 2009. In 2011, just two years later, Thomas bought 7002 units of BTC, whose price did not reach one dollar per asset.
By 2020, each BTC was trading between $7000 and $20.000. throughout the year. However, Thomas couldn't access his capital, which was already estimated at $91 million at the time. The reason? He had lost the piece of paper where he had written down the password to unlock your IronKey, an encrypted storage device that safeguards the access keys to your digital wallet.
Of course Thomas could get an idea of the key that was kept in the paper, but the situation was pressing because IronKey allows users only ten attempts to enter the correct password. Otherwise, The system permanently locks and encrypts stored information.
In January 2021, Thomas had already used eight of the 10 attempts. On each occasion I had tried the passwords I remembered having used previously on other devices and platforms and that could match the IronKey which would allow him to access his BTC. However, at the time, he gave an interview to BBC Mundo in which he sadly stated that he didn't have much hope for the remaining two attempts.
White Hat Hackers and the Lost Password
Despite the difficulties Thomas faced, Cybersecurity company Unciphered managed to access the device. A group of hackers known as white hats used a highly specialized method and a high-powered computer.
Obviously, the unlocking methodology was not fully disclosed, but it was learned that specialists used 200 trillion simulated attempts to activate the security system that deletes the data. Although they did not reveal details about the procedure, it is known that to achieve success The group of experts has accumulated more than 120 years of work and research on how to breach the security of this type of device.
Thomas and the White Hats
Because the media fame of the Thomas case and his 7002 BTC blocked, the group of computer experts contacted him to inform him that they had a secret method that would allow them to decrypt IronKey device passwords.
What was known about the communication between Stefan Thomas and Unciphered cybersecurity experts had the “key to the treasure” which gave them the possibility of making unlimited attempts until they found the password.
All communication was done through a trusted intermediary who provided sufficient evidence that they could access the key. However,Whether or not they discussed fees was not made public., but it was learned that Thomas rejected the offer.
He explained that the reason for his refusal was that he had been doing this for a year had a verbal agreement with two other teams. In return, he had promised them a portion of the stored cryptocurrency if they managed to unlock the device.
To date, no further information has been made public in this regard.It's possible that the keys were unlocked, and the news hasn't been made public for security reasons. It's not ruled out that the 7002 BTC will be worth around $2025 by the end of March 560.160.000.
Cryptocurrencies lost on the network
Thomas's story is just one that has been heard by millions, It is estimated that forgotten cryptocurrency wallets associated with the blockchain are worth approximately $140.000 billion.
The process of decrypting an IronKey USB is not limited to writing a simple code. This subsidiary of Kingston Digital offers highly secure devices which may be an analogy for an extremely precise nanotechnology surgical operation.
Unciphered revealed it dismantled a device just like Thomas's down to its smallest components. Once this was done, they examined everything using CT scanning to analyze its structure in detail.
Then, They used a laser to cut the USB and applied nitric acid to the chip. This process sought to remove the tamper-evident layers that every USB device of this type has.
They then polished the chip layer by layer using an abrasive silica solution and a small pad. With this, they removed tiny fractions of each material while capturing detailed images with optical microscopes. These images allowed them to construct a complete three-dimensional model that allowed them to work digitally until they found the key to unlock the device.
Were they successful? We may never know.. But this case highlights not only the importance of remembering and safeguarding passwords, but also the advances in cybersecurity and the astonishing skills of experts capable of overcoming seemingly impossible challenges. All of this is wonderful. However, it raises a question… Is this technique only used by white hat hackers for good causes, or is it used by black hat hackers operating on the dark and deep web for illegal purposes?
