I agree that ShapeShift&#x27;s account has holes in it and the CEO seemed a little too willing to take Rovion at his word, but this rebuttal swings too far in the other direction. Some comments:<p>&gt; Red Flag #1. Bob is somehow able to connect with a hacker who has been hiding in their systems for some time.<p>Actually, in the original article Rovion says &quot;We contacted Bob.&quot; Which makes total sense -- if Rovion eg. had access to the email account of a ShapeShift employee, he would have seen the drama with Bob unfold and been able to contact him easily.<p>&gt; Red Flag #2. Rovion identifies Bob by his real life name &quot;Bob,&quot; without a moment of hesitation.
&gt; Why on earth would Bob run a criminal business under his real name?<p>If Rovion had access to some internal communications at ShapeShift, he would of course have &quot;Bob&quot;&#x27;s real name and no reason not to use it.<p>&gt; Red Flag #3. Bob chooses to sell his backdoor access to Rovion instead of using it himself.
&gt; Red Flag #4. Bob demands only 50 BTC for a backdoor.<p>There&#x27;s a lot more risk in stealing something yourself vs just providing information that can be used for theft. Letting someone else do the dirty work could definitely be a rational decision. And anyway, the hot wallet at no point after the original hack had 315BTC again, so the expected value of the second&#x2F;third hacks were a lot lower.<p>&gt; Red Flag #6. Rovion is a moralistic individual who not only is a thief himself, but wants to see Bob, another thief from whom Rovion supposedly obtained credentials, severely punished<p>It&#x27;s not surprising to me that someone could adopt a moral framework that let them steal from poorly-secured foreign companies while still considering it wrong to steal from your own employer.<p>&gt; Orange Flag #9. Voorhees talks derisively about Bob&#x27;s competence during the period of time when Bob was employed prior to the hack.<p>Many countries, possibly including Switzerland, do have a very high standard you have to meet to fire someone with cause. This process could be especially delicate if Bob is of an ethnic or racial minority.