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Dan Kaminsky said that he spent 4 months trying to hack "bitcoin" but failed.

Besides trying to find vulnerabilities in double-spending and 51% attack, what other hacks would a hacker try to achieve?

Surely an established hacker like Dan Kaminsky wouldn't have spent 4 months just trying to prove the protocol is immune to double-spending and robust against 51% attacks. There had got to be more things that he was trying.

Exactly what kind of hacks will a hacker try to achieve against bitcoin?

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Pacerier
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  • @Murch, Isn't this what I linked to in the question?... "Besides the obvious problem of double-spending, exactly what kind of hacks were he trying to achieve?" – Pacerier Mar 04 '14 at 10:03
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    I don't see where your question differs significantly from the linked, i.e. while the question is phrased a bit different, the answers to the linked question seem to cover your question as well. Could you please highlight/clarify which additional information you are seeking? – Murch Mar 04 '14 at 10:10
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    @Murch, Surely Dan Kaminsky did not spend 4 months only trying to prove the protocol is immune to double-spending and robust against 51% attacks. There got to be more things that he was trying. Exactly what kind of hacks were he trying to achieve? – Pacerier Mar 04 '14 at 11:57
  • Alright, thank you for clarifying. I have retracted my close vote but would like to suggest that you consider editing your question to reflect your intent more clearly. – Murch Mar 04 '14 at 14:55
  • @NateEldredge, Any established hacker would be able to answer this question. – Pacerier Mar 05 '14 at 13:00
  • Now that you've reworded, I agree. – Nate Eldredge Mar 05 '14 at 14:23

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There could also be hacks targeting the bitcoin software implementation. If a vulerability is applicable to software running on majority (>50% hashrate) of the nodes then it is a real threat.

For example lets say someone can craft a mal-formed transaction that somehow can trick >50% nodes to accept it (for example induce a buffer overflow and somehow allow attacker to gain remote access to the node system itself and make modifications) then bad things will happen.

uminatsu
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  • Hmm, so do you mean Dan Kaminsky (and various hackers) deemed the official bitcoin software implementation released to be flawless? – Pacerier Mar 07 '14 at 03:47
  • @Pacerier There's a distinction between not finding any issues and there being no issues to find. – Nick ODell Mar 15 '17 at 23:33