Monday, June 07, 2021

IRS Wants Tools for Cracking Crypto Wallets



 IRS Wants Tools for Cracking Crypto Wallets
Source: Nextgov
https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2021/05/irs-wants-tools-cracking-crypto-wallets/174246/

As more people across the globe get into trading and purchasing goods using cryptocurrencies—even the federal government—the IRS’s Criminal Investigations division wants “reliable” tools and processes for cracking crypto wallets….

For an added layer of security, some cryptocurrency traders use crypto wallets, which keep the private keys needed to access the cryptocurrency separate from the broker making the transaction.
These wallets can take the form of a segmented app with an extra layer of security or a separate piece of hardware—like a thumb drive—that stores the private keys offline until needed.

For the IRS Criminal Division’s Digital Forensics Unit, crypto wallets seized as part of investigations have been tough to crack.

“Though a few known cyber penetration testers have published vulnerabilities on specific devices, the process of decrypting the hardware devices to gain access to the wallets has been challenging,” according to a request for information posted to SAM.gov.

The RFI seeks to garner industry feedback on the market, small and disadvantaged business set-asides and existing contract vehicles, like governmentwide acquisition contracts and the General Services Administration schedules.

Filed https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/



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