How Does Someone So Good at Security Get Hacked So Often or Badly?

During the past week's COPA vs. Dr. Craig Wright trial in London, stories about hackers, stolen credentials, malware, spyware, extortion, and more, were the common theme it seemed. The question inevitably needs to be asked:  Who gets hacked like this?  Especially concerning is the targets are supposedly those that are experts in cybersecurity.

Trial Revelations

COPA vs. Dr. Craig Wright is a trial expected to last into March.  Wright has long claimed to be the co-creator of bitcoin.  Forbes explained the trial as "a legal battle over copyright claims and the identity of bitcoin's creator", noting that the result of this case could redefine the future of governance, intellectual property rights, and the legacy of bitcoin itself.  Translation:  Everybody in the crypto space should be paying close attention.

Reported hacks on February 8, 2020 were said to be part of a broader compromise of Dr Wright's system. Various other information and assets were stolen from Dr Wright and others.  COPA has attempted to paint Dr. Wright as someone who forged critical documents pertaining to bitcoin.  Wright, a renowned Australian computer scientist and academic, has flatly denied such allegations.  He is the Chief Scientist at nChain, a leading global provider of blockchain technology, IP licensing and consulting services.

“If I had forged that document, then it would be perfect," he has said.

Kurt Wuckert, Jr. of CoinGeek.com writes:

Anyone can get hacked and make critically bad decisions amid a threat event.

Something I learned early in my cybersecurity career is that the white hats have to be right every single time. The black hats only have to be right once. And since Craig was widely discussed as possibly being Satoshi and, therefore, a high-value target for theft, we should expect lots of malicious actors to target him. And if any of Craig’s evidence is real, he has been the victim of what seems like a great many attacks, but in reality, it seems to come down to two major campaigns against Craig

Wuckert Jr points to three notable cases underscoring the pervasive shadow of espionage in the corporate world: Unilever vs. Procter & Gamble (2001), Cadence Design Systems vs. Avant! Corporation (Early 1990s) and Waymo vs. Uber.

Corporate espionage and legal strategy are a big part of every serious company’s dealings. If Unilever and P&G can be digging through each other’s garbage in order to get ahead of product development, is it hard to believe that nChain, DeMorgan, or other companies in the disruptive blockchain space might have moles or threat actors trying to take over the systems of the most prolific patent holder in the space?

Long time friend of the Gambling911.com website Calvin Ayre, perhaps Dr. Wright's biggest supporter, declared last week that he is 100 percent convinced that the nChain Chief Scientist is among the co-creators of Bitcoin.

Ayre tweeted:

"I spent millions over 10 years researching craig and his tech and in all cases he checked out. he is for sure Satoshi and the evidence is all out there if you ignore the fiction out of crypto. Craig will win this case so everyone should be planning how they position themselves."

- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com