I know it's been said many times before, but we're only going to see a rise in bitcoin thefts. With the price being over $100/coin and you're stealing virtually untraceable currency, I'm honestly just surprised that there hasn't been more thefts. I'm sure the security team at Mt. Gox is top notch as they probably have dozens of hack attempts per day.
I for one believe the barrage of attacks and attempted thefts will inevitably make Bitcoin safer. Just like Google Chrome's pwning contests, eventually nobody will be capable of claiming the prize.
It's not really comparable to Pwn2Own. Pwn2Own's only vector of attack is by finding flaws in the software directly.
All of these wallet service companies employ people and many, many successful hacks are performed by exploiting the people involved / mistakes the people make.
So while software with enough hardening can eventually get to a state that's quite safe, as long as people are an active part of the security chain, you're going to have valid attack vectors.
There have also been attacks on Bitcoin companies that exploited their hosting company's procedures or lax handling by their employees. Securing this stuff is fundamentally hard.
The bitcoin community spends a ton of time trying to educate people on cold-storage wallets and two-factor authentication for online wallets.
MtGox has even given away free YubiKeys in the past to help keep people's accounts secure. Does Chase or BofA anyone else offer that kind of security? :)
The thing is, Chase and BoA are often capable of reversing fraud and catching the people behind it. Bitcoins don't really allow for that sort of restitution.
Bitcoin is not a bank, and does not replace banks.
There's nothing stopping anyone from setting up a bank that handles your bitcoin transactions, and therefore can reverse transactions between two parties.
Replace "Bitcoin" with "Dollar" and you see how strange your statement is.
I think the issue would be more that bitcoin is philosophically incompatible with services like that.
Bitcoin is anonymous, so I could transfer my money to my account at another bank, report fraud, and the bank could never know unless the other bank told them. If the other bank tells them, or you set up a centralized register of transfers or accounts, you're just mirroring the current systems.
Bitcoin doesn't have The Man, so there's no motivation not to do so fraudulently - what's the worst that happens if a bank realizes you're trying to defraud them? You've already moved your money elsewhere.
Eh that is nothing, just imagine when people who have no ability to steal it and thus no awareness of how it might be stolen get pulled in by the hype.
Not to mention the costs that security brings, a friend of mine is locked out of what is now $50k worth of bitcoins, just can't remember the password on the encrypted store.
