The rumoured creator of bitcoin once hacked into his coffee machine

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Twitter/Craig Steven Wright

Dr Craig Steven Wright's now deleted Twitter picture.

Dr Craig Steven Wright, the Australian scientist named in the press this week as the possible founder of bitcoin, once hacked into his internet-connected coffee maker.

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Dr Wright is an obscure Australian computer-science and cybersecurity entrepreneur, and was identified by Wired and Gizmodo as the potential anonymous creator of the digital currency.

Somebody or a group of people using the name Satoshi Nakamoto invented bitcoin in 2009. Bitcoin is a type of digital currency that uses cryptography to move money and records it in a ledger without the need of a bank.

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Dr Wright has disappeared in the wake of the accusations, scrubbing all digital records of himself and becoming unreachable at his home.

In 2008, a Craig Wright posted to the BugTraq security list that he had found software vulnerabilities with his internet connected Jura F90 Coffee maker.

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It appears to be the same Wright linked to bitcoin, as DeMorgan, a company run by the Dr Wright, mentions the incident on its website.

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DeMorgan/Business Insider/Screenshot

Business Insider tried both of the telephone numbers listed on the BugTraq posting, but both were disconnected. An email to the address used got a bounce back.

The coffee maker, which costs around £900, connects to the internet via a local computer to enable remote engineers to diagnose problems and try to fix them. It also lets the user remotely adjust the strength of their coffee.

But Wright found that: "The software allows a remote attacker to gain access to the Windows XP system it is running on at the level of the user. Compromise by Coffee." The story was picked up by CNET at the time.

The above screenshot from DeMorgan's website also mentions hacking of a Boeing 747. That appears to relate to a blog post Dr Wright authored in 2011.

Dr Wright says he was contracted to test the systems on a Boeing 747 and managed to access the engine control system via the plane's video system. Security researcher Chris Roberts reportedly hacked into a plane's engine systems through the in-flight entertainment system earlier this year.

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