I’m a Former Green Beret and Here’s How I Would Bring Down Bitcoin

Cybersecurity
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https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/i-m-a-former-green-beret-here-s-how-i-would-bring-down-bitcoin-1456165726

Great article.

These quotes sum it up IMHO

If I were a person who wanted to bring down Bitcoin, in other words, the following is how I’d go about it.By sharing the simplicity of this sort of disruptive activity,
I hope to help raise the level of community awareness, and slow the
speed and efficiency of any potential disruption. Being aware that
you’re being exploited is crucial to defending against it mentally and
emotionally.

I would guess with a fair amount of certainty that there are
well-developed teams in the world operating similarly to what I outline
above. The goal is to slow, stall and/or destroy the viability of
specific digital currencies or all of them in general. The possible
motives and players who hold them are an entirely different topic.Note:
I did not write this as a manual for engaging in this behavior, but
rather to demonstrate that such behavior is definitely possible with
limited resources. Based on my analysis and intuition, there are most
certainly actors engaging in these sorts of games.

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When first looking at the article title I thought it was going to be a boring read and most uninteresting.

But it is turning into a most excellent read and a lot of food for thought

EDIT: I moved the topic from uncategorised to cybersecurity since this is really an article about using the internet social media against this and other projects, and how to detect such activity

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I actually first commented in /r/Bitcoin/ where I sourced it from that I had no idea what he was banging on about then I thought about it and thought he was just telling us what we already know, people have agendas…so what?

But now I think he is really making a good case about awareness, however still an obvious one and really you cannot ‘bring down’ bitcoin but you can effect the price.

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I found the most interesting part was how one would organise such an attack, rather than a couple of naysayers bagging a project.

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Sure but it’s still all obvious.

We know mercenaries exist, we know navy seals exist, we know hackers exist. How hard is it really if you have money to organise a team to attack something like this?

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This method wouldn’t work for bringing down bit coin at all. Bitcoin has enough consistent followers that would keep it afloat even in tough times. If it did go down it would be replaced with something better, like SAFEcoin. But right now bitcoin solves problems that can’t be solved any other way.

Where these troll tactics work well is in politics. The right smear campaign just before an election pays for itself many times over. Then the trolls disappear, moving on to bigger and better things.

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Of course we should be ready for trolls on this forum as well. Understanding these kinds of attacks will be our first line of defense.

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Precisely.

Its not as though Bitcoin is a person or a business.

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“I’m a former IRS janitor and here’s how I would bring down Bitcoin”

WTF…

Who cares about his plan?

I don’t read any of the sites he mentioned and I don’t care what any “leader” says. I frequently visit Bitcoin on Github, where BS doesn’t fly, follow 2-3 libertarian leaning talk shows and stick to the simple rule “if you are not sure what to do, do the opposite of what the government demands you to do”.

The strategy may work on the average FB moron, but one doesn’t need to be an expert to know that. Hang a free health insurance plan in front of them and watch them follow your orders.

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Too biased to see past the title :confused:

Can’t take anyone seriously who is proud to have served and thinks it lends them any credibility.

If you dedicated your career/life to the armed forces then I think I can be forgiven for thinking you’re probably not very insightful, a deep/critical thinker, an effective problem solver, or even a very caring or decent soul. Why would I want someone who can run assault courses and obey orders telling me about bitcoin vulnerabilities?

Sorry, the title just annoys me, why do we care that he was a green beret? pft.

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I agree mostly but it is good for discussion.

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Ughhhhh I don’t know about all that dude. I see what you’re trying to say though, but probably a little harsh. My old man was in the Navy for a long time and he is a very critical thinker and good problem solver. One of my best friends is in the army and he is one of the most caring people I know.

People join the defence force for many different reasons.

I also thought the title was click baity but it is what it is and I guess it worked for them.

The main take away for me is that there are teams of people out there who are capable of slandering, discrediting and causing all sorts of havoc and chaos for the uninitiated and or unprepared.

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Yes obviously I’m being harsh. Lots of my relatives have served too, but as I say to them, if no one signed up there could be no wars.

All people do what they do for all kinds of reasons. I’m sure there have been millions of really bright and wonderful people who’ve joined the military.

But it really gets my goat to hear someone try to use that to legitimise their opinion.

I did say I’m biased. I’m a hippy-type. I can’t stand the military, what it stands for or what it does. Obviously people are just people whatever they do, but I HATE hearing people being proud about serving in the army, it makes me feel sick.

But yes, i’m sure your point is good… I just couldn’t bring myself to read it.

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I am sure you realize the reason you are allowed to say what you are saying is because people gave their lives for the freedoms which you enjoy e.g. democracy & freedom of speech. But I’m happy to remind you seeing as you brought it up.

There are many countries where this still does not exist. In China you can get locked away never to be seen or heard of again just by posting something like what you just posted online.

The outcomes in WW1 and WW2 had a huge part to play in your freedoms.

You might think that it is wrong to kill another human being but when someone is prepared to kill you, your family and then take over and enslave your countries people like what the Germans and Japanese were preparing and attempting to do, you are not left with many options other then to defend yourself or die.

And if you think that because we currently enjoy these freedoms that they cannot just as easily be taken from us i’ll remind you again that there are groups that will take those freedoms from you at the drop of a hat. These people in these places have a very different view of the world and they are working very hard and very fast towards winning ground in the new arms race being super computing and AI and we need to continue defending our ourselves and not let up and yes some of that means using military.

And while you feel sick about the military I feel sick when I see disrespectful hippies arrogantly and egotistically flying their idealogical flags from their perceived moral high ground.

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As far as I know you’re unlikely to hear anyone giving much first hand experience or reference to WW1 or WW2 these days (a conflict my grandfather died in). My freedom hasn’t needed protecting for quite some time and soldiers today do not fight for freedom, they are sent to fight for resources and dominionist foreign policies. If our freedom ever were in jeopardy then it could only need protecting from people who had joined a military of some kind to threaten it.

I do not think people who serve in the military these days can use the second world war as a point of reference. Our armies invade foreign countries, we are not defending ourselves.

Your post hasn’t changed my mind at all.

The world would obviously be a much better place is no one ever joined-up.

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Oh and just FYI, i think ‘arrogant and egotistical’ comments go way over the line given the obvious sense in what I’m saying.

I can’t for one second imagine any of the poor kids that have died in any war are proud of it. War is disgusting, horrific, a waste of life and entirely unnecessary. It happens because the few have too much say and the many end up paying the price.

I don’t mind saying I think it’s appalling that people glorify war and use it as a source of pride. I’m not proud at my grandfather giving up his life, I’m disgusted and angry that he had to, that idiot boys were goaded with ideas of pride, glory and nationalism to march from Germany and cause havoc everywhere!

War should be a shameful memory, a shameful waste.

Anyway, this doesn’t belong on this forum… people have different political ideologies, meh, who cares.

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You are so far removed from an honest real world view of things or understanding geopolitical and military strategy that there is no point in even trying after this post.

I am in Australia and it was not that long ago that our neighbours Indonesia slaughtered, tortured, executed and committed genocide in East Timor. In fact I was alive and watched parts of it on TV. My country could have stopped it or at least intervened with military intervention and allied support but we sat idly by because of political reasons.

I was born and thankfully not raised in a socialist republic which was slowly becoming a brutal police state. Malnutrition and disappearances were rife. Our people rose up, we won over the military and eventually executed our leader and freed our country. I’ll let you figure out which nation that was.

I could go on and on and on… here is a list of current conflicts.

And of all those threats there is at least one that we know of that is claiming loud and clear it wants to take over America and the rest of the free world and enslave us all under their religious idealogical idea.

And that’s not even mentioning the other handful of world super powers that are not the friendliest toward democracies like ours.

For example do you have any idea what the Chinese would do to us if our countries and in particular the US did not spend as much as they do on their military and routinely complete offensive training missions across the globe? These are people who think it is normal to commit some of the most despicable crimes… FFS they don’t even respect their own animals, what on Earth do you think they would do to you? They eat the brains of live monkeys, keep bears locked in cages for their bear bile trade or their most recent despicable acts of growing, killing and testing genetically modified animals by the thousands in underground research labs.

Mate it was just the other day China was caught building military radar systems and deploying surface to air missiles on disputed Islands. N.Korea just threw up a military satellite and that was only a few weeks after testing rockets and claiming to have a hydrogen bomb.

And these guys are currenlty running full steam ahead towards AI. I can tell you if they get there first you can kiss your fortuitous hippy ass goodbye.

…so telling me our generations freedoms do not need protecting is both arrogant and ignorant.

I am not sure if you are winding me up or your just a fanatical lefty that believes peace, love and harmony is a given without people fighting for it and I dont care. I dislike governments as much as you do but I have a choice as do you and I choose to live under this one. End of the day the facts are the facts and while you sleep at night there are men and women protecting your borders and the skies above you but you can always opt out of that if you wish.

Goodbye and goodluck.

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Can’t we all just get along? :slight_smile: People are great at finding something to die for from religion to natural resources from revenge to greed. I like to think that if there were a Department of Peace in every country we would have little need for great armies. I would also like to think that the SafeNetwork is a major step towards creating a freer world at every level. The freedom to share ideas and news without fear of political or social repercussions as well as the freedom to trade goods and services within a fair and open economic model.

It is easy to be angry when people accuse you of being ignorant and arrogant or of being heartless and murderous but just as the man wielding the sword in the picture above we all want to believe that what we do is for the greater good. In the end lets hope that science beats out superstition and that love beats out fear. I know I sound hokey and touchy feely but… whatever.

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Mine too…it is exactly as you say - a device intended to lend credence to the reasoning and authority to the argument - it is a dishonest way of arguing really…an argument from authority. Wearing a green beret does not make one an authority on Bitcoin - in the same way really that wearing an even bigger, dafter hat does not make the Pope an authority on birth control etc…I didn’t read article purely due to the title… :smile:

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Think you’re wrong about literally every point you make… and more than bit racist about the Chinese too.

Men and women don’t protect me while I sleep… terrorism is blowback from aggressive foreign policy. We don’t need defence against it, the military and politicians are what caused it in the first place. We need to protected from them!

As I said though, each to their own.

There’s no point in me trying to convince you or highlight the obvious contradictions and issues with what you say. I’m sure almost every person reading this will have their own opinion and I’m thankful that relatively few of them will agree with you…I think you are the egotistical, arrogant one because you think it’s ok for you and others like you to fight for dominance because you believe you are right, and that force and violence are acceptable/valid choices for you to defend/attack with, I won’t respond in this thread again, there is no argument to be had here as far as I’m concerned. Reading your last message was too much like reading something out of the Daily Mail. I don’t come to places like this to read stuff like that.

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