Weekend Update – The BitCoin Edition

A quick Saturday digest of cybersecurity news articles from other sources.  This week, a round-up of crypto-currency articles


We are calling this the BitCoin edition because most people are familiar with BitCoin.  But we are also stalking stories about other crypto-currencies like Monero or Etherium, and a host of blockchain startups.


Bitcoin payments used to unmask dark web users

Researchers have discovered a way of identifying those who bought or sold goods on the dark web, by forensically connecting them to Bitcoin transactions.  Or see the report When A Small Leak Sinks A Great Ship


My cryptocoin startup vanished and all I got was this lousy penis

Cryptocoin startup Prodeum exit-scammed its investors out of millions of dollars, leaving just one thing behind on its website.


Federal Reserve staffer caught mining bitcoins at work fined $5,000

After using a server at the Federal Reserve to mine virtual currency, planting remote-access software so he could keep an eye on the workings from the comfort of home, and then trying (unsuccessfully) to cover his tracks by remotely deleting the software, a communications analyst for the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors in Washington wound up getting fired.


Bitcoin Blackmail by Snail Mail Preys on Those with Guilty Conscience

KrebsOnSecurity heard from a reader whose friend recently received a remarkably customized extortion letter via snail mail that threatened to tell the recipient’s wife about his supposed extramarital affairs unless he paid $3,600 in bitcoin.


Bitcoin exchange robbed by real-life bank robbers with real-life guns

On Tuesday morning, January 23, three armed men entered the office of an Ottawa Bitcoin exchange, Canadian Bitcoins, where they tied up four employees and demanded Bitcoins.


Website Glitch Let Me Overstock My Coinbase

Coinbase and Overstock.com just fixed a serious glitch that allowed Overstock customers to buy any item at a tiny fraction of the listed price. Potentially more punishing, the flaw let anyone paying with bitcoin reap many times the authorized bitcoin refund amount on any canceled Overstock orders.


Newly Detected Malware Uses NSA Exploit To Mine Monero, Over 500K PCs Infected

Cryptocurrency mining botnet malware Smominru has infected more than 526,000 computers using a leaked NSA exploit, The Hacker News reported on Jan. 31.


Starbucks Wi-Fi hijacked customers’ laptops to mine cryptocoins

Recent visitors to a Buenos Aires Starbucks didn’t actually have a choice: instead, a 10-second delay was foisted on them when they connected to the coffee shop’s “free” Wi-Fi, as their laptops’ power secretly went to mine cryptocoins (of which the Starbucks customers received nary one slim dime, of course).


$500m cryptocoin heist could be biggest cybertheft ever

Japanese cryptocoin exchange Coincheck has been hacked out of 523 million NEM coins, worth about a dollar each.


Cryptocurrency as the lure, an ISO as the attachment – why not open it?

Phishers are using the hot topic of cryptocurrency as a means to an end in cybercrime, not merely as the end itself…


Buying Bitcoin on your credit card? Not any more…

According to reports, buying crypto-currency will be that little bit harder from today.


 

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About the Author:

I am a cybersecurity and IT instructor, cybersecurity analyst, pen-tester, trainer, and speaker. I am an owner of the WyzCo Group Inc. In addition to consulting on security products and services, I also conduct security audits, compliance audits, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. I also teach Cybersecurity Awareness Training classes. I work as an information technology and cybersecurity instructor for several training and certification organizations. I have worked in corporate, military, government, and workforce development training environments I am a frequent speaker at professional conferences such as the Minnesota Bloggers Conference, Secure360 Security Conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, the (ISC)2 World Congress 2016, and the ISSA International Conference 2017, and many local community organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, and several school districts. I have been blogging on cybersecurity since 2006 at http://wyzguyscybersecurity.com
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