[Bitcoin-development] Proposal to address Bitcoin malware

mbde at bitwatch.co mbde at bitwatch.co
Sun Feb 1 14:28:38 UTC 2015


> This video demonstrates how HSBC uses a security token to verify
transactions online.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh2Iha88agE.

Since it's not very widely used outside of Austria and Germany, this may
be interesting for some: there is a second factor scheme called
"cardTAN" or "chipTAN" where authentication codes are generated on a
device which is not specifically linked to an accout. When
authenticating an online banking transaction the process is as follows:

http://i.imgur.com/eWsffsp.jpg

1. Insert bank card into TAN generator
2. Scan flickering code on screen with the device's photodetector
3. Confirm amount to transfer and recipient on the generator
4. Finalize online banking transaction by entering a challenge-response
generated by the device

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gyBC9irTsM&t=22s
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transaction_authentication_number#chipTAN_.2F_cardTAN

-------- Original Message --------
*Subject: *[Bitcoin-development] Proposal to address Bitcoin malware
*From: *Brian Erdelyi <brian.erdelyi at gmail.com>
*To: *bitcoin-development at lists.sourceforge.net
*Date: *Sat, 31 Jan 2015 18:15:53 -0400
> Hello all,
>
> The number of incidents involving malware targeting bitcoin users
> continues to rise.  One category of virus I find particularly nasty is
> when the bitcoin address you are trying to send money to is modified
> before the transaction is signed and recorded in the block chain.
>  This behaviour allows the malware to evade two-factor authentication
> by becoming active only when the bitcoin address is entered.  This is
> very similar to how man-in-the-browser malware attack online banking
> websites.
>
> Out of band transaction verification/signing is one method used with
> online banking to help protect against this.  This can be done in a
> variety of ways with SMS, voice, mobile app or even security tokens.
>  This video demonstrates how HSBC uses a security token to verify
> transactions online.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh2Iha88agE.
>
> Many Bitcoin wallets and services already use Open Authentication
> (OATH) based one-time passwords (OTP).  Is there any interest (or
> existing work) in in the Bitcoin community adopting the OATH
> Challenge-Response Algorithm (OCRA) for verifying transactions?
>
> I know there are other forms of malware, however, I want to get
> thoughts on this approach as it would involve the use of a decimal
> representation of the bitcoin address (depending on particular
> application).  In the HSBC example (see YouTube video above), this was
> the last 8 digits of the recipient’s account number.  Would it make
> sense to convert a bitcoin address to decimal and then truncate to 8
> digits for this purpose?  I understand that truncating the number in
> some way only increases the likelihood for collisions… however, would
> this still be practical or could the malware generate a rogue bitcoin
> address that would produce the same 8 digits of the legitimate bitcoin
> address?
>
> Brian Erdelyi
>
>
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