It has happened again one Americas most popular bitcoin exchange Bitfloor ( bitfloor.com ) has been compromised and close to 250k USD or 25k bitcoins has been stolen from the sites servers in an attack which is turning out to be very embarrassing for the owner. View full post on Cyber War News
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Bitcoin hasn’t been having a great time lately, there have been a few high profile, large dollar amount hacks of Bitcoin Exchange sites (basically the Bitcoin banks). The latest involved $90,000USD and a high likelihood that the user database was compromised too. It seems like Bitcoin, despite all the hype, …
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Bitcoin exchange site Bitcoinica suspended its operations on Friday after hackers managed to steal 18,547 bitcoins — valued at about $90,000 — from its online wallet.
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The Bitcoin exchange Bitcoinica took its servers offline after they discovered $90,000 USD worth of bitcoins was stolen from its systems. This is the second time this year Bitcoinica have been targeted.
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BitCoin hacked, More than 18,000 Bitcoins Stolen
Bitcoinica, a Bitcoin exchange started by a 17-year old teenager Zhou Tong, has been shut down for security investigations. It’s believed that at least 18,000 BTC ($90,000 or 68,000 EUR) have been stolen.
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News of the hack was posted this morning by Bitcoinica’s founder, …
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A new version of the Waledac malware has been spotted on the Internet, but unlike previous variants, which were mainly used for spamming purposes, this one steals various login credentials and BitCoins, a type of virtual currency.
“The sample was originally detected on Feb 2nd and the first coverage by a major AV was not observed until Feb 13th,” researchers from network security firm Palo Alto Networks announced.
The original Waledac botnet was one of the top spam sources on the Internet until it was shut down by Microsoft in cooperation with other security vendors in March 2010.
However, the new version’s primary goal might no longer be spam, said Wade Williamson, a senior product manager at Palo Alto Networks. That’s because it also steals FTP, POP3 and SMTP user passwords, as well as .dat files for BitCoin wallets.
This is the first time that Palo Alto Networks’ firewall products have spotted Waledac-related activity since the original botnet was shut down two years ago, Williamson said.
The botnet’s two year inactivity was confirmed by antivirus firm BitDefender. “We have closely monitored the web space during international events such as the deaths of political leaders and calamities, moments when the Waledac botnet would run at peak capacity before the takedown, and did not notice any malicious activity on that front,” said BitDefender E-Threats Analyst Bogdan Botezatu.
It’s difficult to determine with certainty if the new version is the creation of the original Waledac authors, but its high similarity to the old variant suggests that it is the work of someone with access to the original source code, Williamson said.
“What it is sure is the fact that the newly added functionalities (email and FTP credentials harvesting) will contribute to an explosive development of the new botnet,” Botezatu said. “FTP accounts will likely be used to accommodate binary copies of the bots, while the email accounts will be used to propagate spam through not-yet-blacklisted mail servers.”
Palo Alto Networks researchers have determined that the new Waledac version is being distributed through web sessions, probably with the help of exploits hosted on compromised websites. According to Botezatu, BitDefender is also investigating this possibility.
“We recommend users to deploy and update a security solution with antispam and antivirus modules,” Botezatu said. “We also advise that users rely on SFTP and SSL when connecting to FTP and mail servers, respectively, in order to minimise the risk of network sniffing.”
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The Atlantic Wire – Related: Bitcoin Heist May Be Victim of New Moneygrubbing Malware
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This week, I would like to share with you some thoughts of the new online currency ‘Bitcoin’. Bitcoins are strings of encrypted code which are processed and calculated by computer which are connect to each other with a specific software which does not only function as a pool of calculate Bitcoins but also as a digital wallet.
To make it simple, you can buy and sell Bitcoins to real currencies such as US Dollars or Euros. If the shop you are buying something or the person you pay for his or her services accepts Bitcoins, they function as a real currency. Instead of transferring Dollars, you transfer the equivalent amount in Bitcoins. The metaphor of a digital wallet holds true especially because you do not need to register anywhere and when you pay it just shows that it has been transferred from a certain Bitcoin account but there is no proof of identity. Somewhat like if you go to a shop and buy something. The owner sees your face and your wallet but because you pay in cash there is no way he knows who you are. This is, of course, one of the points that make Bitcoins both interesting and dangerous (according to several governments).
Bitcoins are not connected to any particular country or bank and therefore are not governed. Due the anonymity, Bitcoins might be used to pay for cyber crimes and other illegal activities. That is what our country representatives say. Then again: Isn’t it the same with cash? Using Bitcoins scares governments because they don’t have any direct influence on it. Too bad, ha? When Wikileaks is the true journalism and Anonymous is the true voice of the people, Bitcoin is the true currency of the people.
From an economic point of view, it is also very interesting but not new. A currency (even though virtual) works if trust and acceptance is there. The more shops accepts Bitcoins, the more stable will the currency be. Additionally, Bitcoin is not linked to something like Gold (compare: US Dollar) or to the US Dollar (compare: some Asian currencies) but to the mere fact that at some point there will be no new Bitcoin anymore. At the current data, you can set up serves to calculate new Bitcoins (with the ‘Waller Program’) which is like working. Your computer works and if it generates a new Bitcoin it is yours. You just spent electricity and computing power. Because it is limited, it is more stable then if unlimited Bitcoins could be generated. No inflation by overload of currency is possible here.
At that point I always like to mention the ‘Beer Economy’ which is colorfully described in one of George Soros’ books. Some Pacific island group I think, came up with a new style of economy because the currency they where using up to that point was rendered useless. So they traded everything. To have a measure what is worth how much, they linked everything to bottles of beer. For example: a sack or rice is worth 5 bottles of beer. A loaf of bread is worth one bottle of beer. So five loaves of bread are worth one sack of rice. The Bitcoin works similar even though you cannot drink a Bitcoin (beer 1:0 virtual currency).
If you ask me, I hope the currency is sustainable enough. I hope it works the way it is supposed to be and offers a viable alternative to other ways of methods of payment. Last week was a good point of getting started, when the Bitcoin dropped from over 40 US Dollars to 29 US Dollars each…
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Security researchers have
uncovered yet another Mac Trojan in the wild, this time hiding inside pirated
versions of the Mac OS X image editing application GraphicConverter.
The pirated copy of
GraphicConverter 7.4 is being actively distributed on file-sharing networks and
torrent sites like Pirate Bay and contains the DevilRobber Trojan, Sophos
researchers reported Oct. 29. Once on the Mac OS X, DevilRobber creates a
backdoor for remote access and installs a Bitcoin miner that uses up spare
system resources and steals the content of the user’s Bitcoin wallet, according
to Sophos.
BitCoins
are anonymous, decentralized virtual currency commonly used online among people
interested in keeping their transactions secret. The BitCoin value is
determined on an online electronic exchange and generally hovers around $14 to $17
per unit. While often used for illegal transactions, BitCoins are used for
legitimate purposes as well, such as making donations to WikiLeaks.
“If your Mac computer
was infected by the malware, the first thing you might notice is performance
becoming sluggish,” Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos,
wrote on Naked
Security.
Security firm Intego said
the malware has been spotted in other pirated Mac applications, but declined to
identify the titles on the Mac
Security blog. The applications were generally being distributed by
BitTorrent, and Mac users should download only from trusted sites, Intego
warned.
If the user has Little
Snitch, a popular network traffic blocker, installed on the Mac, the Trojan
terminates, Intego said. Otherwise, it will launch on each reboot or log-in.
The application developers
are “victims,” as criminals are using their popular software as a
trap to infect Mac users who download software from unofficial sources, Cluley
wrote.
Some BitCoin users get in
the business of “mining,” or generating more of the currency to
increase the pool of available funds. The mining is done with a specific
application that runs mathematically intensive operations that require a lot of
time and computer-processing resources. The DevilRobber Trojan
“steals” processing power from infected Macs for this purpose.
“Yes, this Mac malware
is stealing computing time as well as data,” Cluley wrote, noting that
graphics processing unit (GPU) resources are much better than regular CPUs at
performing intensive mathematical calculations required for Bitcoin mining.
The malware also collects
system information such as shell and browser history, takes screen captures,
opens a proxy port and waits for the user to enter the user name and password,
performs a scan for private files on the system and on mounted encrypted volumes
using Spotlight, posting data files and looking for other infected Macs.
The Trojan also hunts for
any files that may contain adult content, but Sophos researchers were not clear
whether it was distributing the material or acting as a vigilante to uncover
objectionable material, according to Cluley.
The malware is
“complex,” as it can perform tasks associated with several classes of
malware, including a Trojan horse, backdoor, data-stealer and spyware, Intego
said. Another variant uncovered by Intego saves the user’s keychain files.
“Clearly, Mac
users—like their Windows cousins—should practice safe computing and only
download software from official Websites and legitimate download
services,” Cluley said, adding that Mac users need to start practicing
safe security instead of thinking the platform
is impervious to malware.
Recently, security
researchers uncovered a Mac Trojan that masqueraded as a Flash Player installer
and another that hijacked Mac OS X systems to launch
denial of service attacks against other computers.
Article source: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/New-Mac-Malware-Part-Trojan-Data-Stealer-Spyware-BitCoin-Miner-313602/
View full post on National Cyber Security » Virus/Malware/Worms
A new worm is threatening to turn computers it infects into miners for the Internet currency Bitcoin, a computer security firm warned Wednesday night (Manila time). Trend Micro said TDL4, a variant of the TDSS malware family that has become notorious for infecting a system’s boot sector to avoid detection, can propagate itself with a worm component. “In the past we’ve reported a couple of …
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