Bitcoin is supposed to be safe and secure, but it seems that a particular system is only as strong as its weakest link. Hackers have managed to clean out a Bitcoin wallet that is owned by Silk Road 2, where the amount which was siphoned off happen to be a whopping $2.7 million. Ouch! Just how did the hackers manage that feat?
Using the same transaction malleability bug in bitcoin’s protocol that led to bitcoin exchanges like Mt. Gox and BitStamp shutting down withdrawals, hackers cleaned out the bitcoin wallet belonging to Silk Road 2, an underground Internet black market that launched in October after the FBI shut down the original Silk Road. The hackers made off with 4474.27 bitcoins, roughly the equivalent of $2.7 million. Silk Road 2’s administrator, known by the username Defcon, said that because transaction malleability is a problem with bitcoin itself, none of its anti-hacking measures could prevent the hack. The only currency accepted on Silk Road 2 is bitcoin.