The CMO Survey - Highlights and Insights Report - Spring 2024
Bitcoin data loss set to cost over £4 million
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Bitcoin Data Loss Set To Cost Over £4 Million
A discarded hard-drive may cost its owner over £4 million after he
realised too late that it included 7,500 bitcoins.
IT worker James Howells built up a digital wallet of the virtual currency
in 2009, at which time they were virtually worthless. He spent a
short period of time 'mining' for them, a process that would now
require vast computer power.
2. Mr Howells ceased using the laptop after a drink spillage, but he kept
the hard drive in a desk until he threw it out in July or August 2013.
Only afterwards did he realise it contained the bitcoins, which were
worth around £500,000 then and have soared in value since.
The drive now lies somewhere in a huge landfill site in south Wales. Mr
Howells told the Guardian: "You know when you put something in the
bin and, in your head, say to yourself 'that's a bad idea'? I really did
have that." He added that he is now "resigned" to never getting the
drive back.
3. It is a story that may have lessons for individuals and businesses alike.
Although the drive is secured with a 'key' so nobody else can access
the data, Mr Howells did not back it up. Similarly, companies who fail to
duplicate their own data may end up losing money or important
information themselves if a drive or disc is lost, stolen or – as in this
case – carelessly discarded.
Fires are another potential cause of data being lost, but one recent
incident showed how having backed-up files means even such a
disaster will not wipe out secure data.
4. Earlier this month, a blaze broke out at the Internet Archive's San
Francisco Scanning Centre Some paper material that was yet to be
digitised was lost, but half of the paper destroyed had already been
saved into electronic form.
In a blog, the company said the event demonstrated the value of
copying and remote storage. It stated: "We have copies of the data in
the Internet Archive in multiple locations, so even if our main building
had been involved in the fire we still would not have lost the amazing
content we have all worked so hard to collect."
