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[-] jballs@sh.itjust.works 26 points 4 hours ago

Would've been hilarious if, in true AI fashion, it deleted his wallet immediately after recovering the password.

[-] favoredponcho@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 hour ago
[-] GrayBackgroundMusic@lemmy.zip 7 points 9 hours ago

I know nothing of crypto. What's wallet.dat? Why does it help in this situation? What could Claude Ai have done to help figure out the pw?

[-] Zetta@mander.xyz 13 points 8 hours ago

"However, the breakthrough reportedly came when he uploaded files from his old college computer into Claude.

Rather than simply guessing the password, Claude helped dig through the old files and identify an older wallet.dat file that appeared to predate the password change. The user also reportedly had an old mnemonic phrase, which helped unlock the wallet once the correct file was found."

[-] GrayBackgroundMusic@lemmy.zip 10 points 7 hours ago

Yeah, I saw that but I was trying to get more detail. None of that makes sense to me. Why did a wallet.dat file help? How did the mnemonic phrase help? I literally have zero context for crypto.

[-] blackbeans@lemmy.zip 7 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Well, in crypto all your assets are on the blockchain. But you can access them using wallet software. You can have multiple addresses that have a balance, and most of the time anyone can see those balances, as the ledger is synchronized and transactions are checked by all clients.

However, in order to access and send the money, you will need proof that you are the owner. Therefore every address has a keypair. In older desktop clients, there was a local file called wallet.dat which stored all of the owned wallet addresses and their private keys. That file could optionally be encrypted. Newer clients often use a mnemonic phrase and derive all keys for the addresses based on that single phrase, but the person in question still had the original wallet.dat, even unencrypted, meaning he could access the keys all along. Not sure what the mnemonic had to do with it. Perhaps that belonged to a newer wallet where he imported the old addresses into.

[-] ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zip 8 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Apparently an old file had his previous password in plaintext... The AI just searched through a ton of files and found it, I guess.

[-] MadPsyentist@lemmy.nz 2 points 1 hour ago

The llm found the file that was encrypted with an older password that the guy could remember. The llm didnt decrypt anything or find a vulnrability, it just found an older fill the guy could unlock and he gained access to his bitcoin wallet that way.

[-] ftbd@feddit.org 16 points 7 hours ago

ELI5: The guy thought he'd lost his keys, but had a spare in another jacket all along

[-] nucleative@lemmy.world 35 points 12 hours ago

Seems pretty dicey to let an AI anywhere near your wallet.dat

[-] piecat@lemmy.world 10 points 3 hours ago

If you're locked out, there isn't much to lose.

[-] prex@aussie.zone 13 points 12 hours ago
[-] Object@sh.itjust.works 132 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

Rather than simply guessing the password, Claude helped dig through the old files and identify an older wallet.dat file that appeared to predate the password change. The user also reportedly had an old mnemonic phrase, which helped unlock the wallet once the correct file was found.

The password, as later revealed in the post, was: “lol420fuckthePOLICE!*:)”

[-] gurty@lemmy.world 44 points 16 hours ago

What a password. I’d love to see his xbox live username.

[-] elvith@feddit.org 38 points 15 hours ago

Probably XxX360NoScope420fuckthePOLICEXxX

[-] jaybone@lemmy.zip 11 points 13 hours ago

That guy said he fucked my mom.

[-] ClockworkOtter@lemmy.world 5 points 12 hours ago

I don't think he meant to call your mum a pig

[-] nomy@lemmy.zip 1 points 39 minutes ago

Nah, we all fucked that guys mom.

[-] gurty@lemmy.world 12 points 15 hours ago

An absolute menace in the Call of Duty lobby voicechat.

[-] gedfromgont@piefed.ca 3 points 11 hours ago

The man was well ahead of his time.

[-] popekingjoe@lemmy.world 50 points 17 hours ago
[-] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 4 points 8 hours ago

The password, as later revealed in the post, was: “lol420fuckthePOLICE!*:)”

In the article.

[-] popekingjoe@lemmy.world 4 points 7 hours ago
[-] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 5 points 7 hours ago

I'm familiar with the meme, I thought the real PW in question was funnier, especially as the user was clearly inebriated when he made it to forget that one.

[-] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 35 points 16 hours ago

"*******" is a weird password. Aren't there supposed to be letters and numbers ?

[-] popekingjoe@lemmy.world 33 points 16 hours ago

Lemmy hides it for us. It's pretty sweet.

[-] elvith@feddit.org 19 points 15 hours ago

I absolutely love that feature. Imagine you accidentally type or paste your ******** into a comment. Now everyone can see your ********! What a banger. But not on Lemmy! It gets masked automatically so that none can see and guess you ********!

[-] DarkSirrush@piefed.ca 1 points 2 hours ago

If i ever ran a public fedi instance, that top 100 password list would legitimately be in the filter just for shits and giggles.

[-] RIotingPacifist@lemmy.world 23 points 17 hours ago

All I see is "lol420fuckthePOLICE" does Lemmy automatically hide passwords or something?

[-] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 15 hours ago

Yeah, all I see is stars while you see "lolFuckthePOLICE".

[-] popekingjoe@lemmy.world 7 points 16 hours ago

Yeah it has this super innovative feature that looks up passwords and hides them for you. Like, my email password is "trumphasamushroompenis" and it hides it. Cool right?

[-] etherphon@piefed.world 3 points 10 hours ago

Meh I think the time has more to do than the weed, I'm a lifetime smoker and I wouldn't forget the password to hundreds of thousands of dollars that's just stupid.

[-] paw@feddit.org 20 points 15 hours ago

I have only one question: did recovering the password involve getting high and then using Claude Code?

[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 14 points 16 hours ago

This is why I write all of my passwords on Post-Its that I stick to my monitor.

[-] Today@lemmy.world 5 points 13 hours ago

I just use Aassword.1, Bassword.1, ...

[-] jjlinux@lemmy.zip 2 points 11 hours ago

Fascinating.

[-] FireWire400@lemmy.world 5 points 14 hours ago
[-] Naz@sh.itjust.works 1 points 9 hours ago

Would you change your opinion about AI for $400,000?

[-] ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zip 3 points 4 hours ago

This is more of a condemnation on Windows file search than anything else...

[-] FireWire400@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago

I'll tell you once I get that cheque

this post was submitted on 15 May 2026
165 points (85.7% liked)

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