Renowned hardware hacker Joe Grand and his team have successfully retrieved $3 million worth of Bitcoin from a software wallet that had been inaccessible since 2013 by ingeniously cracking its password.

The recovery mission began when Michael, the wallet's owner, sought Grand's expertise after watching a video where Grand demonstrated his ability to hack a hardware wallet. Michael had used a password generator called RoboForm to create a highly secure 20-character password, which he saved in an encrypted text file. Unfortunately, a corrupted partition rendered the password irretrievable.

Initially, Grand and his friend Bruno, a skilled software hacker, were hesitant due to the complexity of brute-forcing such a robust password. However, a year later, they revisited the project, inspired by Bruno's reverse engineering of another password generator. They decided to target the RoboForm program itself rather than directly attacking the password. They found vulnerabilities in older versions of RoboForm, particularly related to randomness generation.

Using tools like Cheat Engine and Ghidra, they embarked on their reverse engineering journey. Cheat Engine helped them locate where the password was stored in the program's memory, confirming their target. Ghidra, a decompilation tool developed by the NSA, was crucial in deciphering the machine code to understand the password generation logic.

A breakthrough came when they discovered that system time influenced password generation. By manipulating time values, they could reproduce the password, revealing weaknesses in the randomness of older RoboForm versions. Grand and Bruno wrote code to manipulate the password generator, wrapping its original function to control its output. They adjusted the system time to generate millions of potential passwords. Despite facing challenges such as system crashes and extensive debugging, they persevered. With refined password parameters provided by Michael, they eventually succeeded in generating the correct password within minutes.

This achievement brought immense relief and joy to Michael and underscored the power of innovative problem-solving and collaborative hacking expertise in cybersecurity. Grand's approach highlighted the intricacies and vulnerabilities of software-based security systems, emphasizing the critical role of secure random number generation in cryptographic applications.

This project not only recovered substantial assets but also showcased the effectiveness of combining hardware and software hacking skills. It underscored the importance of periodically updating passwords generated by specific software. Grand's YouTube channel, which features numerous successful recoveries of lost Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies from devices like Ledger and Trezor, also gained significant attention.

Overall, the recovery of $3 million worth of Bitcoin from a dormant wallet by Joe Grand and his team is a testament to the remarkable capabilities of modern hacking techniques and the importance of robust cybersecurity practices.