Talk Title: Investigating Wrench Attacks: Physical Attacks Targeting Cryptocurrency Users
Cryptocurrency wrench attacks are physical attacks targeting cryptocurrency users in the real world to illegally obtain cryptocurrencies. These attacks significantly undermine the efficacy of existing digital security norms when confronted with real-world threats. We present the first comprehensive study on wrench attacks. We propose a theoretical approach to defining wrench attacks per criminal law norms, and an interdisciplinary empirical approach to measure their incidence. Leveraging three data sources, we perform crime script analysis, detecting incidents globally across 10 interviews with victims and experts, 146 news articles, and 37 online forums. Our findings reveal diverse groups of attackers ranging from organized crime groups to friends and family, various modi operandi, and different forms of attacks varying from blackmail to murder. Despite existing since Bitcoin’s early days, these attacks are underreported due to revictimization fears. Additionally, unlike other cryptocurrency crimes, users with advanced security experience were not immune to them. We identify potential vulnerabilities in users' behavior and encourage cryptocurrency holders to lean into digital as well as physical safety measures to protect themselves and their cryptocurrency. We offer actionable recommendations for the security community and regulators, highlighting the double-edged sword of Know Your Customer policies.
Paper published in a top computer science venue: Marilyne Ordekian, Gilberto Atondo-Siu, Alice Hutchings, and Marie Vasek. Investigating Wrench Attacks: Physical Attacks Targeting Cryptocurrency Users. In 6th Conference on Advances in Financial Technologies (AFT 2024).
Speaker Biography:
Marilyne Ordekian is a final year Ph.D. candidate at UCL Centre for Doctoral Training in Cybersecurity and a junior lawyer. Her interdisciplinary research, funded by the EPSRC, spans two key themes at the intersection of law, cybersecurity, and technology. The first focuses on the cryptocurrency ecosystem, where she develops methods to empirically quantify regulations and measure platform compliance. She also empirically investigates emerging cryptocurrency crimes, with pioneering research on wrench attacks and pig butchering scams. Her second theme explores the application of AI in law, examining the emerging privacy and security issues that arise from its use.
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