Escuche esta historia
--:--
3:26
Because of an oversight he lost 270 million dollars!
Many people often forget their access codes to different online services. Generally, this does not have to be a big problem, since it is possible to recover the password in different ways, even if it is your bank password.
Unfortunately, in this story this is not so simple and Stefan Thomas has 270 million dollars practically "lost" by forgetting the password of the disk where he has 7,002 bitcoins stored.
This is how millions of dollars are lost.
Stefan Thomas is a young man who invested in bitcoin a few years ago and bought a total of 7,002 bitcoins. He stored his bitcoins on a highly encrypted hard drive known as an IronKey.
This device grants a private key with which it can be accessed, however, this young man lost the paper on which he had written down the password.
This young man has admitted that for two weeks he could not even sleep because of this. Without a doubt, losing $270 million is a huge blow for anyone.
Unfortunately, Thomas is only 1 try away from losing all the data on the disk and thus his 7,002 bitcoins. Although they are not completely lost yet, Stefan has already given up, so he can only hope for a miracle.
How does IronKey encryption work?
Ironkey is a high security disk which has powerful encryption, this is ideal for those who seek the maximum possible security. An AES encryption is applied that makes your information completely secure, since if you do not have the access code, no one will be able to access it.
Additionally, we have that the disk only gives 10 attempts to enter the password, in the case of failing 10 times , all the information is automatically deleted. And once this happens, it is impossible to recover the information.
It is important to mention that Stefan Thomas has already had 9 failed attempts, which means that on the next attempt, everything will disappear, including the 7,002 bitcoins.
One of these devices can cost more than 100 dollars, so it is a device that you should consider if you want to improve your security.
Of course, try to store your key in a completely safe place, especially if you are going to store bitcoins.
It is not the only case of loss of bitcoins
Although this case may seem like an isolated case and that it does not happen frequently, the truth is that it happens more often than you think. In fact, it is estimated that around 140 billion dollars are lost in forgotten wallets.
This is a pretty high number, so this is much more frequent than you can imagine.
So Stefan Thomas is not alone in this, in fact, another of the best known cases is that of James Howells. This is a Brit who accidentally threw away a hard drive with 7,500 bitcoins in it.
Recommendations so that this does not happen to you
If you handle cryptocurrencies, this is something that can happen at any time. That is why it is extremely important that you take into account these simple tips.
Store your secret keys in a safe place and make sure you have more than one copy. In this way, if you lose one, you will have another or several available.
Do not store them digitally, because if they hack the computer they will be able to access your wallet. This also includes saving them to photos on your mobile device.
Do not try to remember them, no matter how good a memory you think you have, you will surely end up forgetting them.
If you apply these simple tips, you will be able to keep the private keys of your wallet safe. Remember that if you lose them you will lose everything in those wallets.
