The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Portland Division warned the public this week about a surge in scammers impersonating FBI agents and other government officials, demanding cash, gold, or cryptocurrency payments. The FBI stressed that federal agencies do not call or email individuals threatening arrest or requesting money. Scammers spoof caller ID information, making fraudulent […]
Bitcoin News
Craig Wright Wants His $2.5 Billion, Demanding For a Bitcoin Hard Fork
Judge Colin Birss of the London Court of Appeal on Friday, February 3, ruled that Craig Wright’s lawsuit against 14 Bitcoin developers has what it takes to go to trial.
Craig Wright: Free My Bitcoin
Craig Wright, through Tulip Trading, claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin. He is suing 14 developers, seeking to recover 111,000 BTC.
The haul is estimated to be worth around .5 billion at spot rates. However, the figure could be higher if BTC continues rallying.
In a lawsuit, Craig said he lost the private keys of his wallet after his home computer was hacked. Therefore, he can’t recover coins. Even so, through his company, Tulip Trading, Craig asserts that developers should intervene by introducing code changes for him to gain access.
Unlike ordinary cash transfers, Bitcoin transactions are irreversible once confirmed by special computers called “miners.” Miners are tasked with confirming transactions.
Because there is no third party in the system and all transactions are auto-verified, the sender must sign each transfer, ensuring that they own the wallet.
Behind each signature in a wallet is a private key that verifies ownership. Like in Craig’s case, it is virtually impossible to recover assets without a private key.
Regardless of the amount, coins that a private key cannot prove are considered lost. As it stands, Craig Wright’s 111,000 BTC is technically “lost,” levitating in the Bitcoin digital ether.
Opening A Pandora’s Box
This state of affairs would only change if developers “roll back” the Bitcoin network. For this to happen, miners and interested parties must find a consensus.
Considering Bitcoin’s decentralized nature, any attempt or request for “rollback” would likely be rejected immediately.
In 2019, Binance was hacked for 7,000 BTC. Its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, touted the idea of a Bitcoin rollback to recover coins. It was rejected.
Although the case was thrown out last year, the Court of Appeal ruling favors the plaintiff.
Precisely, it states that code writers now owe duties to coin owners, who are, in this case, BTC holders, including Craig Wright and Tulip Trading.
This puts pressure on developers of a public network and might discourage participation in the future.
Most open-source code writers behind platforms like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others were contributors, adding code to make the protocol better, stronger, and faster.
Whether or not this duty holds and open source network developers are responsible to token holders will be determined at full trial.
Why Hackers Are Demanding $4.5 Million in Bitcoin From a Travel Firm
Last week it emerged that travel management firm CWT paid a ransom demand of .5 million in Bitcoin.
Initially, hackers had demanded million to release the fix, saying this is likely cheaper than the legal action that would ensue if their demands aren’t met, not to mention the cost of the damage to the firm’s reputation.
Negotiations between the two parties saw the hackers agree to lower their demands, as CWT cited extended financial difficulties as a result of the ongoing pandemic situation.
Analysis of the blockchain showed the hacker’s wallet had received 414 Bitcoin on July 28. At the current market price of ,200 as per TradingView, 414 BTC is worth .63 million.
Chart of BTC's recent price action from TradingView.com
In a statement released by CWT, following the payment, the firm said that normality has now returned. They sought to reassure stakeholders by saying no breach of personally identifiable data had occurred according to their initial investigations.
“We can confirm that after temporarily shutting down our systems as a precautionary measure, our systems are back online and the incident has now ceased.”
The Importance of Cyber Security in Today’s Digital World
The criminals involved had used a strain of ransomware, known as Ragnar Locker, to steal files and takedown terminals.
According to IT security expert Tomas Meskauskas, this ransomware renames and encrypts files by tampering with extension names.
“Typically, victims of ransomware cannot decrypt compromised files without the correct tools held only by the cyber criminals who designed the program. Unfortunately, this is the case with Ragnar Locker ransomware.”
Victims have little choice but to pay up, but Meskauskas states that victims can often recover systems for free if they keep adequate backups.
On that, Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao commented that as we go increasingly digital, every business needs to update their IT practices to avoid such incidents from happening in the first place.
Source: twitter.com
What’s more, Zhao felt it necessary to delineate Bitcoin from the hack itself, bringing to light once more the association between cryptocurrency and criminality in the eyes of the public.
But this is a view that is wholly unjustified.
Bitcoin and Its Association With Criminality
When it comes to wrongful impressions, it doesn’t take much to see lawmakers and government bodies often hold incorrect information about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.
According to the World Government Summit website, criminals are drawn to Bitcoin due to its anonymity.
“To start with, the addresses of Bitcoin users are not linked to individuals or corporate identities, and the people or groups behind them are hard to trace.”
However, Dr. Tom Robinson dispels this myth by saying Bitcoin is, in fact, the most transparent payment method ever devised, describing is as pseudonymous, rather than anonymous.
“Any bitcoin transaction with a party that knows your identity leaks information that can be used to identify your activity, past and future, on the block chain. For example, if you transfer bitcoins to an online retailer, an exchange, or many of the other services that take customer identity information, you allow them to link that identity to your blockchain pseudonym.”
What’s more, in a recent study by Butler titled, “Criminal use of cryptocurrencies: a great new threat or is cash still king?” the author concluded that cash, not crypto, still reigns supreme as the criminal’s choice of payment method.
“Contrary to popular opinion, this article shows that cryptocurrencies are currently used in a very small percentage of crime and they are not the great future threat that many assert.”
Bitcoin is already struggling to gain acceptance as a legitimate asset class among the general public.
Not only must it contend with associations with criminality, but when governments exert their ill-informed trickle-down influence, it’s no wonder Bitcoin greatly divides opinion.
Hackers Breach Johannesburgs Civil Website Demanding BTC Ransom
n Hackers breach Johannesburgs online govt services and are demanding ransom in BTCn
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Deutsche Bundesbank Completes Demanding Performance Tests of Blockchain Prototypes
The post Deutsche Bundesbank Completes Demanding Performance Tests of Blockchain Prototypes appeared first on DCEBrief.
Indian Authorities Bring Charges Against Eight Police for Kidnapping, Demanding Ransom in Bitcoin
Following an incident on February 11th, eight rogue police officers and a lawyer in India’s western state of Gujarat have gone missing after allegedly kidnapping a local businessman and forcing him to transfer 200 Bitcoin — worth about .8 million at the time— to an as of yet unidentified account.
The criminal investigation department (CID) of the Gujarat police has filed a criminal complaint against all eight police officers, but was only able to arrest two of them on Sunday. The six others are reportedly on the run. According to the CID, charges have been brought against the team’s lawyer who was also involved.
“Two policemen — constables Babu Der and Vijay Vadher — were arrested on Sunday. All other accused have gone underground. Efforts are on to nab them,” Ashish Bhatia, director general of police, CID said.
The incident took place earlier this year in Surat, an industrial town in Gujarat, when eight policemen of Amreli district’s local crime branch unit and a lawyer allegedly abducted local businessman Shailesh Bhatt and took him to Gandhinagar. After forcing Bhatt to transfer the 200 Bitcoin, the crooks also demanded a ransom of .9 million to free him.
The abductees reportedly released the businessman the same day he paid them the ransom. After being freed, the businessman approached the police and filed a complaint later in the month.
India: Crime and Cryptocurrency
Following the massive surge in the value of cryptocurrencies last year, as well as the increased attention digital currency have received, cases of abduction and fraud for the coins have increased in India (and across the world). Last June, a group of six people were arrested on charges of abducting and demanding a ransom in Bitcoin from a businessman in the northern city of Mohali. In September, police arrested six people for kidnapping, assaulting, and robbing a New Delhi businessman who had gone to meet them in order to pay for Bitcoin in cash.
India’s Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Committee estimates that at least 4 to 5 million people in the country hold some kind of cryptocurrency, and that 60% of them entered the market between October and December 2017 when many digital currencies hit all time highs.
Indian authorities have issued repeated warnings to Indian citizens about digital currencies. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the country’s finance ministry believe Bitcoin and other digital currencies do not possess any intrinsic value. Authorities are also worried about fraud and robbery. Just last week, the RBI barred banks and regulated financial institutions from providing financial services to customers dealing in the coins.
Image Courtesy of Shutterstock
The post Indian Authorities Bring Charges Against Eight Police for Kidnapping, Demanding Ransom in Bitcoin appeared first on NewsBTC.
Australia Warns of Fake ‘Tax Collectors’ Demanding Bitcoin
The Australian Taxation Office issued a warning Monday alerting residents not to send cryptocurrencies to scammers claiming to be tax collectors.
CoinDesk
Indian Lawyer Files Petition Demanding Cryptocurrency Regulations
An Indian lawyer has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking to force action on the regulation of cryptocurrencies in the country.
CoinDesk
Hackers are remotely locking Apple devices and demanding bitcoin payments
Apple iCloud appears has been used to force activate the ‘Find My Device’ option.
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