back to article C'mon, if you say your device is 'unhackable', you're just asking for it: Bitfi retracts edgy claim

Bitfi finally and reluctantly retracted its unhackable claim last night in the face of a new cold boot attack. The John McAfee-backed hardware crypto-wallet firm got under the skins of security researchers by marketing its device as "unhackable" when it launched in July. The $120 Wi-Fi-enabled Bitfi wallet is a hardware …

  1. Mark 85

    The concept of "unhackable" is bunk. Given enough time and possibly money, anything can be hacked. Reminds me of claims by various safe companies and all were proven wrong.

    1. Steve Aubrey

      *cough* LifeLock *cough*

    2. GnuTzu
      Trollface

      "unhackable" is Bunk

      And, to those who buy the bunk, I can sell you both the Brooklyn Bridge and acres of Florida swamp land at a very low cost--along with robot vacuums that will never look up your skirt or hang around your shower, baby cams that will never watch you breast feed, and smart assistants that will never listen to your bedroom talk.

    3. JohnFen

      Yep. An immutable truth in security is "if it can be accessed legally, it can be accessed illegally". The only thing you can affect is how hard illegal access is.

    4. phuzz Silver badge
      Trollface

      I could make one of those Bitfi things unhackable, all I need is some thermite and a bucket of paint stripper.

      Wait, you didn't want access to it afterwards did you?

  2. karlkarl Silver badge

    Gosh, these guys literally sound like 12 year old kids.

    1. pɹɐʍoɔ snoɯʎuouɐ

      "these guys literally sound like 12 year old kids."

      I thought it was the 12 year olds that hacked it?

      1. Orv Silver badge

        Nah, 16. Which potentially makes it harder than touchscreen voting machines, which *have* been hacked by 12 year olds.

  3. EveryTime

    I'm offering a million dollar bounty to anyone that can... no, wait, I withdraw it.

    They got advertising and reporting value from "offering" the bounty, then withdraw it before it can be claimed. A sham offer like that is fraud.

    1. ZenCoder
      Joke

      Original Bug Bounty Rules ... short version

      "Then, when you have found the shrubbery, you must cut down the mightiest tree in the forest... with... a herring!"

  4. Outer mongolian custard monster from outer space (honest)

    Its associated with John Mcaffee, that should tell you all you need to know about its credentials.

    My respect for John stems from the fact that he's so obviously hatstand and out there that nobody serious can take him seriously, yet, somehow, he still manages to find idiots who do.

    Been following along with this on twitter, its been break time amusement for weeks.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    This day in history...

    John Mcaffee's great-great grandfather plows the family savings into White Star Line shares, touting the development of it's new unsinkable ocean liner, the Titanic.

    1. harmjschoonhoven
      WTF?

      Re: This day in history...

      May be, John Mcaffee was born in 1945. His great-great grandfather was born four generations earlier. So the old man was between 47 and over 87 years old when the Titanic went down. BTW, my grandfather - no the other one - invested in Russian railway shares ....

      1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

        Re: my grandfather [..] invested in Russian railway shares

        As did half of France at the time.

        I found my grandpa's shares in the attick, while cleaning it out one day. They went to the recycling bin.

  6. IceC0ld

    SO, what can we take from this ?

    basically, if you want FREE, TOTAL pen tested devices. with EVERY vuln listed, then claim it as hacker proof, and wait...............

    not too long either :o)

    and personally, getting DOOM to play on my new tech would be a nice addition, I would have packaged that bad boy up as a bonus feature LOL

  7. tekHedd

    You know they're serious about security *now* though...

    because "Security Manager" is capitalized.

  8. Milton

    Which is why ...

    Which is why ... I have the regrettable habit of referring to a certain group of people as "marketurds". There is little to love, and not a thing to respect about people whose sole purpose is to manipulate others into handing over money via the sustained use and incontinent dissemination of spin, propaganda, flannel, exaggeration, misdirection and outright lies.

    Marketurds belong firmly in the same zoo as politicians, salecreatures, recruitment agents and realtors, along with a horrifyingly large proportion of large companies' senior executives—parasitic organisms lacking the skill, wit and appetite for work that produces concrete things of value, instead wasting oxygen on endless gusts of hot air fuelled by ignorance, arrogance and vanity: and thriving off the real work done by others.

    A pox on all of 'em.

    1. onefang
      Pint

      Re: Which is why ...

      'I have the regrettable habit of referring to a certain group of people as "marketurds".'

      I see nothing regrettable about that. Have an upvote, and a beer, and a .. wait, El Reg wont let me give you any more.

  9. Captain Badmouth
    Holmes

    A solution

    Mr Mcovfefe should have put antivirus or something on it I was told by my mate who heard it in an internet cafe from an expert...

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