<p>Let's consider the following algorithm</p>

<ul>
<li><p>enumerate all of the private keys</p></li>
<li><p>for each of the enumerated private keys, generate the relative public key and verify whether there is any unspent coin associated with that public key</p></li>
<li><p>if there is any unspent coin, transfer those coins to an address owned by the attacker</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Would an attack like this work?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-01T15:02:28.050Z
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MCCCS
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-26T07:34:18.090Z
I suggest to rephrase the question and spawn it as a new one. Try the following "What are possible mass private key attacks hardware wise in 2017-2018". Or in other words, provide me with a decent hardware funding and ill show that more is possible than expected , may others outline whats possible in detail, for example how many keys could a multi raid cluster with top notch hardware import / vanitygen, scan existing adresses with bitcoin-abe for example. - guess those who could arent bored enough to write here but write their own code :)
Aurigae
<security><attack>
Can a private key enumeration attack be used to steal bitcoins?
Robbo
# Can a private key enumeration attack be used to steal bitcoins?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-10-01)

Let's consider the following algorithm

* enumerate all of the private keys
* for each of the enumerated private keys, generate the relative public key and verify whether there is any unspent coin associated with that public key
* if there is any unspent coin, transfer those coins to an address owned by the attacker

Would an attack like this work?

**Tags:** security, attack

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Search on the internet about http://directory.io  
> **username_2**: I suggest to rephrase the question and spawn it as a new one. Try the following "What are possible mass private key attacks hardware wise in 2017-2018". Or in other words, provide me with a decent hardware funding and ill show that more is possible than expected , may others outline whats possible in detail, for example how many keys could a multi raid cluster with top notch hardware import / vanitygen, scan existing adresses with bitcoin-abe for example. - guess those who could arent bored enough to write here but write their own code :)  

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## 0 answers

