Multisig setup saves Bitcoin stack from home burglary

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The home of Bitcoin user Callum McArthur was broken into last month and burglars stole his hardware wallet and the recovery words that stored his stack of bitcoin. However, even though the criminals managed to get away with McArthur’s devices, they were unaware that the keys they took were part of a multisig setup. As a result, the burglars could not spend a satoshi, and McArthur’s stack remained intact.

“You have to diversify your security for your most important investments, this is extraordinarily important. And that’s exactly what multisig does, ”McArthur said while sharing his story on the By the Horns podcast. “If not, you usually talk about 10 to 15 years of hard work … and the possibility of it all going away … you won’t get those years back.” Don’t jump on safety.

McArthur used a 2 of 3 multisig service from Casa, a bitcoin services company, where he held the majority of the keys and operated Casa as a backup provider. The company played a central role in helping it deactivate the stolen key and change its configuration to restore full control of its funds after the burglary.

“As long as I buy myself a new Ledger, deactivate this previous key, sync my new key with Casa… I can start using my Ledger and my phone again,” he said. “It’s an easy process, they walk you through every step of the way. “

Despite burglary protection, multisigs and physical key separation are essential to protect against another attack vector: $ 5 key attacks. In this type of attack, the criminal uses cheap tools to torture a victim until they comply and reveal the passwords or keys to access the funds.

Last week, a tech millionaire in Madrid had his stack of bitcoin stolen after a group of criminals invaded his home and forced him to cede control to an online account, Newsweek reported, effectively stealing millions in BTC.

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