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Incident 50: The DAO Hack

Description: On June 18, 2016, an attacker successfully exploited a vulnerability in The Decentralized Autonomous Organization (The DAO) on the Ethereum blockchain to steal 3.7M Ether valued at $70M.

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Alleged: The DAO developed and deployed an AI system, which harmed DAO Token Holders.

Incident Stats

Incident ID
50
Report Count
24
Incident Date
2016-06-17
Editors
Sean McGregor
Applied Taxonomies
CSETv0, CSETv1, GMF, MIT

CSETv1 Taxonomy Classifications

Taxonomy Details

Incident Number

The number of the incident in the AI Incident Database.
 

50

AI Tangible Harm Level Notes

Notes about the AI tangible harm level assessment
 

It is not clear whether the Decentralized Autonomous Organization involves any AI systems.

Special Interest Intangible Harm

An assessment of whether a special interest intangible harm occurred. This assessment does not consider the context of the intangible harm, if an AI was involved, or if there is characterizable class or subgroup of harmed entities. It is also not assessing if an intangible harm occurred. It is only asking if a special interest intangible harm occurred.
 

no

Date of Incident Year

The year in which the incident occurred. If there are multiple harms or occurrences of the incident, list the earliest. If a precise date is unavailable, but the available sources provide a basis for estimating the year, estimate. Otherwise, leave blank. Enter in the format of YYYY
 

2016

Date of Incident Month

The month in which the incident occurred. If there are multiple harms or occurrences of the incident, list the earliest. If a precise date is unavailable, but the available sources provide a basis for estimating the month, estimate. Otherwise, leave blank. Enter in the format of MM
 

06

Date of Incident Day

The day on which the incident occurred. If a precise date is unavailable, leave blank. Enter in the format of DD
 

17

CSETv0 Taxonomy Classifications

Taxonomy Details

Problem Nature

Indicates which, if any, of the following types of AI failure describe the incident: "Specification," i.e. the system's behavior did not align with the true intentions of its designer, operator, etc; "Robustness," i.e. the system operated unsafely because of features or changes in its environment, or in the inputs the system received; "Assurance," i.e. the system could not be adequately monitored or controlled during operation.
 

Specification

Physical System

Where relevant, indicates whether the AI system(s) was embedded into or tightly associated with specific types of hardware.
 

Software only

Level of Autonomy

The degree to which the AI system(s) functions independently from human intervention. "High" means there is no human involved in the system action execution; "Medium" means the system generates a decision and a human oversees the resulting action; "low" means the system generates decision-support output and a human makes a decision and executes an action.
 

Low

Nature of End User

"Expert" if users with special training or technical expertise were the ones meant to benefit from the AI system(s)’ operation; "Amateur" if the AI systems were primarily meant to benefit the general public or untrained users.
 

Amateur

Public Sector Deployment

"Yes" if the AI system(s) involved in the accident were being used by the public sector or for the administration of public goods (for example, public transportation). "No" if the system(s) were being used in the private sector or for commercial purposes (for example, a ride-sharing company), on the other.
 

No

Data Inputs

A brief description of the data that the AI system(s) used or were trained on.
 

User votes

MIT Taxonomy Classifications

Machine-Classified
Taxonomy Details

Risk Subdomain

A further 23 subdomains create an accessible and understandable classification of hazards and harms associated with AI
 

2.2. AI system security vulnerabilities and attacks

Risk Domain

The Domain Taxonomy of AI Risks classifies risks into seven AI risk domains: (1) Discrimination & toxicity, (2) Privacy & security, (3) Misinformation, (4) Malicious actors & misuse, (5) Human-computer interaction, (6) Socioeconomic & environmental harms, and (7) AI system safety, failures & limitations.
 
  1. Privacy & Security

Entity

Which, if any, entity is presented as the main cause of the risk
 

Human

Timing

The stage in the AI lifecycle at which the risk is presented as occurring
 

Post-deployment

Intent

Whether the risk is presented as occurring as an expected or unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
 

Intentional

Incident Reports

Reports Timeline

+11
Thoughts on The DAO Hack
The History of the DAO and Lessons LearnedThe Failure of The DAO: Should We Regulate Cryptocurrency?+1
A hacker stole $31M of Ether - how it happened, and what it means for Ethereum
The DAO hack - what happened and what followed?The Story of the DAO - Its History and ConsequencesThe DAO Hack - Stolen $50M & The Hard Fork.+1
The DAO Hack and Blockchain Security Vulnerabilities
Ethereum: We Haven’t Seen the Last of the Bug That Killed the DAO+2
Lessons from the DAO incident
Thoughts on The DAO Hack

Thoughts on The DAO Hack

hackingdistributed.com

Digital currency Ethereum is cratering because of a $50 million hack

Digital currency Ethereum is cratering because of a $50 million hack

businessinsider.com.au

A $50 Million Hack Just Showed That the DAO Was All Too Human

A $50 Million Hack Just Showed That the DAO Was All Too Human

wired.com

Analysis of the DAO exploit

Analysis of the DAO exploit

hackingdistributed.com

The DAO Debacle Shows Immaturity of Smart Contract Technology

The DAO Debacle Shows Immaturity of Smart Contract Technology

newsbtc.com

Ethereum's DAO Hacking Shows That Coders Are Not Infallible

Ethereum's DAO Hacking Shows That Coders Are Not Infallible

forbes.com

Smart contracts and the DAO implosion

Smart contracts and the DAO implosion

multichain.com

Understanding The DAO Attack

Understanding The DAO Attack

coindesk.com

Blockchains, Smart Contracts and the Law

Blockchains, Smart Contracts and the Law

blog.coinbase.com

The Ethereum hard fork: Everything you need to know

The Ethereum hard fork: Everything you need to know

qz.com

The DAO, The Hack, The Soft Fork and The Hard Fork

The DAO, The Hack, The Soft Fork and The Hard Fork

cryptocompare.com

The History of the DAO and Lessons Learned

The History of the DAO and Lessons Learned

blog.slock.it

The Failure of The DAO: Should We Regulate Cryptocurrency?

The Failure of The DAO: Should We Regulate Cryptocurrency?

futurism.com

A hacker stole $31M of Ether - how it happened, and what it means for Ethereum

A hacker stole $31M of Ether - how it happened, and what it means for Ethereum

medium.freecodecamp.org

Details Of The DAO Hacking In Ethereum In 2016

Details Of The DAO Hacking In Ethereum In 2016

blockchain-council.org

The DAO hack - what happened and what followed?

The DAO hack - what happened and what followed?

coincodex.com

The Story of the DAO - Its History and Consequences

The Story of the DAO - Its History and Consequences

medium.com

The DAO Hack - Stolen $50M & The Hard Fork.

The DAO Hack - Stolen $50M & The Hard Fork.

cryptocurrencyhub.io

The DAO Hack and Blockchain Security Vulnerabilities

The DAO Hack and Blockchain Security Vulnerabilities

coincentral.com

The DAO Hack Explained: Unfortunate Take-off of Smart Contracts

The DAO Hack Explained: Unfortunate Take-off of Smart Contracts

medium.com

Ethereum: We Haven’t Seen the Last of the Bug That Killed the DAO

Ethereum: We Haven’t Seen the Last of the Bug That Killed the DAO

ccn.com

Lessons from the DAO incident

Lessons from the DAO incident

rsk.co

The DAO (organization)

The DAO (organization)

en.wikipedia.org

Understanding The DAO hack in 10 questions

Understanding The DAO hack in 10 questions

blog.bity.com

Thoughts on The DAO Hack
hackingdistributed.com · 2016

Thoughts on The DAO Hack

We just lived through the nightmare scenario we were worried about as we called for a moratorium on The DAO: someone exploited a weakness in the code of The DAO to empty out more than 2M ($40M USD) ether.

The exploi…

Digital currency Ethereum is cratering because of a $50 million hack
businessinsider.com.au · 2016

The value of the digital currency Ethereum has dropped dramatically amid an apparent huge attack targeting an organisation with huge holdings of the currency.

The price per unit dropped to $15 from record highs of $21.50 in hours, with mill…

A $50 Million Hack Just Showed That the DAO Was All Too Human
wired.com · 2016

Sometime in the wee hours Friday, a thief made off with $50 million of virtual currency.

The victims are investors in a strange fund called the DAO, or Decentralized Autonomous Organization, who poured more than $150 million of a bitcoin-st…

Analysis of the DAO exploit
hackingdistributed.com · 2016

Analysis of the DAO exploit

Phil Daian

So I'm sure everyone has heard about the big news surrounding the DAO getting taken to the tune of $150M by a hacker using the recursive Ethereum send exploit.

This post will be the first in what is po…

The DAO Debacle Shows Immaturity of Smart Contract Technology
newsbtc.com · 2016

The recent debacle surrounding The DAO has shed an interesting spotlight on smart contract technology. Since individual developers wrote the entire concept of this project, it looks like smart contracts are not completely trustless. There i…

Ethereum's DAO Hacking Shows That Coders Are Not Infallible
forbes.com · 2016

Oops. Ethereum's first Decentralized Autonomous Organization, The DAO, has lost money - lots of it. To be specific, it has lost the equivalent of about US$ 60m. This is not because it is a duff idea and no-one can be bothered with it (thoug…

Smart contracts and the DAO implosion
multichain.com · 2016

The tragic combination of inevitable bugs and immutable code

Last week witnessed a catastrophic event in the Ethereum ecosystem, when The DAO, a smart contract less than two months old, began rapidly leaking funds to an unknown party. Looki…

Understanding The DAO Attack
coindesk.com · 2016

David Siegel is a blockchain strategist and speaker, founder of Kryptodesign.com and curator of DecentralStation.com, a place to learn about blockchain.

In this piece, Siegal attempts to help journalists understand what happened when The DA…

Blockchains, Smart Contracts and the Law
blog.coinbase.com · 2016

Blockchains, Smart Contracts and the Law

…unravelling the legal issues surrounding The DAO

Reuben Bramanathan Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jun 24, 2016

The public debate following the spectacular implosion of The DAO is a good reminder …

The Ethereum hard fork: Everything you need to know
qz.com · 2016

Ethereum burst onto the virtual currency scene almost a year ago. It’s similar to bitcoin, but with a key difference. In addition to supporting its own digital currency, ether, it also supports smart contracts, agreements written in compute…

The DAO, The Hack, The Soft Fork and The Hard Fork
cryptocompare.com · 2016

The Dao, the Hack, the Soft Fork and the Hard Fork Antonio Madeira 12 Mar 2019

What was the DAO incident?

In this guide we attempt to cover: how and why The DAO was created, how The DAO was exploited, how the soft fork failed miserably, and…

The History of the DAO and Lessons Learned
blog.slock.it · 2016

The History of the DAO and Lessons Learned

Christoph Jentzsch Blocked Unblock Follow Following Aug 24, 2016

There are some things which one can only learn through experience, either one’s own, or that of others. In this post, We would like …

The Failure of The DAO: Should We Regulate Cryptocurrency?
futurism.com · 2016

The New Kid on the Block

The Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) was set to become the first digital decentralized investment fund. Virtually all its daily operations would be handled, well, virtually. This includes investment plans…

A hacker stole $31M of Ether - how it happened, and what it means for Ethereum
medium.freecodecamp.org · 2017

Yesterday, a hacker pulled off the second biggest heist in the history of digital currencies.

Around 12:00 PST, an unknown attacker exploited a critical flaw in the Parity multi-signature wallet on the Ethereum network, draining three massi…

Details Of The DAO Hacking In Ethereum In 2016
blockchain-council.org · 2017

The DAO hack that threatened everything and affected Ethereum

Do you remember how a decentralized autonomous organization can create with the use of Ethereum? In the year 2016, there was a downfall. A startup was working on a DOA project na…

The DAO hack - what happened and what followed?
coincodex.com · 2017

In 2016 a grand idea made its way onto the Ethereum network. The Decentralized Autonomous Organization (The DAO) was created to operate like a venture capital fund for decentralized cryptocurrency projects. The DAO was built as a smart cont…

The Story of the DAO - Its History and Consequences
medium.com · 2017

The Story of the DAO — Its History and Consequences

Samuel Falkon Blocked Unblock Follow Following Dec 24, 2017

One of the most incredible concepts to be successfully implemented through blockchain technology is the DAO, a decentralized aut…

The DAO Hack - Stolen $50M & The Hard Fork.
cryptocurrencyhub.io · 2018

The DAO Hack — Stolen $50M & The Hard Fork.

Cryptonomy Blocked Unblock Follow Following Apr 20, 2018

The last article explained the idea of DAOs, but I think we can’t talk about DAOs without mentioning “The DAO”.

The DAO was the first DAO t…

The DAO Hack and Blockchain Security Vulnerabilities
coincentral.com · 2018

Security considerations override all other considerations in software in general and in blockchain specifically. If security fails, nothing else matters. Blockchain proves decentralized, trustless transactions work, but many blockchain secu…

The DAO Hack Explained: Unfortunate Take-off of Smart Contracts
medium.com · 2018

The DAO Hack Explained: Unfortunate Take-off of Smart Contracts

Osman Gazi Güçlütürk Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jul 31, 2018

Logo of the DAO

Smart contracts brought distributed autonomous organizations, aka “DAO”s, to our life. A DAO …

Ethereum: We Haven’t Seen the Last of the Bug That Killed the DAO
ccn.com · 2018

CCN is an unbiased financial news site reporting on US Markets and Cryptocurrencies. Op-eds and opinions should not be attributed to CCN. Journalists on CCN follow a strict ethical code that you can find here. You can contact us here.

Lessons from the DAO incident
rsk.co · 2019

One of the design goals of Ethereum was to simplify the specification of the consensus layer. That’s a noble goal, as it facilitates the re-implementation of the platform for different programming languages and constraints. But even if the …

The DAO (organization)
en.wikipedia.org · 2019

The DAO (stylized Đ) was a digital decentralized autonomous organization,[5] and a form of investor-directed venture capital fund.[6]

The DAO had an objective to provide a new decentralized business model for organizing both commercial and …

Understanding The DAO hack in 10 questions
blog.bity.com · 2019

We have done our best to curate and clarify The DAO hack developments. This page will be updated to reflect new developments. Do not hesitate to flag inconsistencies and suggest updates.

[Lire cette FAQ en français]

UPDATE 30 June: The envi…

Variants

A "variant" is an incident that shares the same causative factors, produces similar harms, and involves the same intelligent systems as a known AI incident. Rather than index variants as entirely separate incidents, we list variations of incidents under the first similar incident submitted to the database. Unlike other submission types to the incident database, variants are not required to have reporting in evidence external to the Incident Database. Learn more from the research paper.

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