How I hacked a hardware crypto wallet and recovered $2 million
Why Hacker News recommends it
Recommended as a gripping real-world hardware hacking story and a showcase of Joe Grand's skill.
What it is
Joe Grand recounts being hired to hack a Trezor One hardware wallet and recover $2 million of cryptocurrency. He describes three months of experimentation, voltage glitching, failures and high-stakes attempts with only one chance to get it right.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2022 to 2023.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec anyfactor · 2022-11 · on “Starlink User Terminal Modchip”
I think hardware hacking is the coolest stuff ever. That is why we have so many people buying Raspberry Pi-s. I guess the best way to keep your curiosity after X years of age is to start with a really challenging project that you know has steps of micro-success. Also, find a motivating community where you can chill, rant or discuss things with. That's why I am here, you are here. You need to have some level of familiarity with the domain of knowledge so, you know what you can achieve in what amount of time. There needs to be the idea of challenge, definite success and somewhat familiarity involved. My example: I like the old school WSB community. If you know, the tesla-short era. So, I attem
Recommends barbazoo · 2023-05 · on “Kaspersky: Case study: fake hardware cryptowallet (Trezor)”
Somewhat related, I was recently pointed to a cool video about someone hacking a Trezor One. Very enjoyable watch. [this video] > I was contacted to hack a Trezor One hardware wallet and recover $2 million worth of cryptocurrency (in the form of THETA).
Cites GistNoesis · 2022-01 · on “Recovering redacted information from pixelated videos”
Even the best can make obvious mistakes. "I hacked a hardware crypto wallet and recovered $2M [video]" [LINK] Showing a blurry 16 out of 24 trezor wallet seed words [this video]
Cites johtso · 2023-03 · on “Man has two more chances before $232M in Bitcoin is lost forever”
Joe Grand is one of those people: [this video] Also here's a presentation on finding vulnerabilities in Ironkey flashdrive: [LINK]