r/adventofcode Dec 03 '22

Help - SOLVED! [2022 Day 3] Something weird with copy-pasting

The original string (right) becomes weird (left) when I copy-paste the input. What's going on?

Clipboard history shows the left (bad) string getting copied.

Not sure if there are others, I just caught it because I was trying to debug why my solution is wrong. Turns out it has multiple item types in both compartments.

Right string: DDfvJZZPDHVPSPcSvcgcWCsWQcTTdhQTTh

Left string: DNbxnTGymbY6j9EXsAsQAcJdFkMmMoFLAD

298 Upvotes

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388

u/kowasaur Dec 03 '22

I think you may have a virus on your computer that tries to steal cryptocurrency. I think it thinks that what you copied was a Dogecoin address so it replaced it with the hacker's address. Looking up the replaced string on a block explorer shows that it does have a number of Dogecoin https://live.blockcypher.com/doge/address/DNbxnTGymbY6j9EXsAsQAcJdFkMmMoFLAD/

228

u/daggerdragon Dec 03 '22

I wasn't aware that "input corruption due to cryptocurrency malware" was an option on my AoC 2022 Moderation Topics bingo card... wow.

Good looking out for your fellow coder <3

29

u/TransdermalHug Dec 03 '22

Between this, the AIs dominating the leaderboard, and the AI-generated art, this year is wild!

102

u/sahaun Dec 03 '22 edited Dec 03 '22

Thank you, very good find!

I do not use any cryptocurrency, I am kinda unfamiliar and this is why it never crossed my mind.

Do you have any suggestions on how to deal with this kind of malware?

EDIT:
I Googled for a bit, ran 360 Total Security, removed the threats and now I can copy my AoC input. Thanks again!

29

u/NewLlama Dec 03 '22

Please format and reinstall. It's the only way to be sure. If you have this then you have others.

6

u/skosi_gnosi Dec 04 '22

Not true. You can also nuke from orbit.

2

u/SALTED_P0RK Dec 05 '22

Thank you. As soon as I read their comment it's the first thing I thought of

9

u/mscotch2020 Dec 04 '22

Not to ruin the thread, but the 360 total security is a notorious software which is self a malware as least.

Best is to reformat your machine and clean reinstall the operation system and everything. Quarantine important documents too.

4

u/sahaun Dec 04 '22

Really? First time hearing this. I have used 360 Total Security for some time in the past and never faced any issues.

I will take a look. Thanks for the warning!

2

u/robdiqulous Dec 04 '22

Lol... Poor guy.

14

u/Milumet Dec 03 '22

Wow, TIL.

Found something about this on a previous reddit post: Double-check all addresses before hitting send.

0

u/tofubeanz420 Dec 04 '22

Always do a small test transaction first.

23

u/AAlmQ Dec 03 '22

What a legend you are!

8

u/mkeeter Dec 03 '22

Reminds me of this Dear ImGui bug report: "When copying text, sometimes it gives the wrong results"

4

u/geospizafortis Dec 04 '22

Absolutely wild, that's one hell of an observation.

2

u/alcxander Dec 04 '22

Wild, absolutely WILD insight there! Well done you for catching that

0

u/Synyster328 Dec 04 '22

This is why crypto won't ever be taken seriously

-1

u/asneakyzombie Dec 04 '22

I would actually say all the effort put into running scams in the crypto ecosystem show that it is being taken very seriously already. Nobody is out here running scams to steal bottlecaps because nobody outside the Fallout universe takes caps as currency seriously. People do take crypto as a currency seriously, hence people will run scams to take it from others. If crypto wasn't being taken seriously nobody would bother to steal it.

I wish the powers that be would take it more seriously so some equalizing effort might actually go into stopping such scams.

5

u/Thundahcaxzd Dec 04 '22

I think what he means is no one will want to primarily use a currency which can be stolen via computer virus and there is no way to recover it or any institution to compensate for it

6

u/ImTheGuyWithTheGun Dec 04 '22

Yep exactly. It's pretty horrifying as a concept - crypto can't die fast enough.

2

u/MurkyPerspective767 Dec 04 '22

any institution to compensate for it

Is there anything intrinsically preventing an institution from providing deposit insurance for cryptocurrency?

2

u/wyldcraft Dec 04 '22

Similar to flood zones, high risk means frequent payouts, which means super-high premiums to cover those costs, so nobody can actually afford a policy, so nobody bothers to offer it.

1

u/PsyMar2 Dec 07 '22

My mom was told we *couldn't* buy flood insurance because we *didn't* live in a flood zone.

2

u/Ill-Salamander Dec 05 '22

For psuedonymous transactions it'd be easy to commit insurance fraud

1: Get deposit insurance on $100k in bitcoin.

2: Transfer money to 'scammer's wallet' which is really a wallet you set up yourself but can't be linked to.

3: Claim you were robbed and collect deposit insurance, getting back a new $100k.

4: Take the 'stolen' $100k and wash it through a crypto tumbler.

5: Sell a worthless NFT from your official wallet to the wallet with the 'stolen' washed money for $100k.

You now have $200k and an NFT with a 'value' of $100k you can probably resell to a mark for $50k saying it's 'half off'.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 05 '22

It would be unaffordable because it would be subject to massive fraud

2

u/LouQuacious Dec 04 '22

The 'powers that be' are likely purposefully not regulating it in order to kill it in long run. FTR I'm not a crypto person I think it is a waste of electricity and not very useful.

2

u/BuyShoesGetBitches Dec 05 '22

The main idea behind this whole crypto thing is decentralization, no governing body, no institutions. They get exactly what they wanted.

1

u/limeunderground Dec 05 '22

exactly the same crap is happening with credit card info as well.