Hackers Steal Millions in Cryptocurrency from Cryptopia
June 15, 2019
As the use of cryptocurrency continues to grow, more hackers are inspired to rob the digital vaults.
Medium reveals, “Hackers Allegedly Steal Millions from Cryptopia, a Cryptocurrency Exchange in New Zealand.” Naturally, local authorities and New Zealand’s high-tech crimes unit are on the case, but have not named a suspect. Writer Asgardia.space tells us:
“On January 13th, 19,391 ETH (Ethereum) worth around $2.5 million and 48,029,306 CENNZ tokens (Centrality) worth about $1.18 million were transferred from Cryptopia exchange to unknown wallets. As of now, the owner of the wallet is not yet confirmed. It could be the exchange itself or the hackers. The growing number of exchange hackings has caused a negative reputation to spread with cryptocurrencies. In 2018, CoinCheck, a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, was hacked, and approximately $500 million of funds were stolen. If these crimes continue to happen then newcomers in the crypto space will lose trust in cryptocurrencies and in turn, the whole cryptocurrency market will suffer.”
Gee, who could have foreseen that digital currency would be vulnerable to cyber criminals? Industry leaders now advise that anyone brave enough to continue using cryptocurrency choose decentralized exchanges, which are considered safer than centralized exchanges. For its part, Cryptopia remains shuttered until the problem is resolved.
Cynthia Murrell, June 15, 2019
FnaS or Fake News as a Service Is Now a Thing
January 30, 2018
The above acronym “FNaS” is our own invention for “fake news as a service”; if you did not catch on it is a play on SaS or software as a service. We never thought that this was a possible job, but someone saw a niche and filled it. According to Unhinged Group in the article, “Fake News ‘As A Service’ Booming Among Cybercrooks” describes how this is a new market for ne’er do wells. It does make sense that fake news would be a booming business because there are many organizations and people who want to take advantage of the public’s gullibility.
This is especially true for political and religious folks, who have a lot of power to sway those in power. Digital Shadows, however, conducted a research survey and discovered that fake news services are hired to damage reputations and cause financial distress for organizations through disinformation campaigns.
How does this work?
The firm’s research stated that these services are often associated with “Pump and Dump” scams, schemes that aggressively promote penny stocks to inflate their prices before the inevitable crash and burn. Scammers buy low, hope that their promotions let the sell high, then flee with their loot and little regard for other investors.
A cryptocurrency variant of the same schemes has evolved and involves gradually purchasing major shares in altcoin (cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin) and drumming up interest in the coin through posts on social media. The tool then trades these coins between multiple accounts, driving the price up, before selling to unsuspecting traders on currency exchanges looking to buy while prices are still rising.
One “Pump and Dump” service analysis discovered that they made an equivalent of $326,000 for ne’er do wells in less than two months. Even worse is that Digital Shadows found more than ten services that sell social media bot software for as low as $7.
It is not difficult to create a fake “legitimate” news site. All it takes is a fake domain, cloning services, and backlinking to exploit these fake news stories. Real legitimate news outlets and retailers are also targets. Anyone and anything can be a target.
Whitney Grace, January 30, 2018
FNaS Or Fake News As A Service Is Now A Thing
January 24, 2018
The above acronym “FNaS” is our own invention for “fake news as a service”; if you did not catch on it is a play on SaS or software as a service. We never thought that this was a possible job, but someone saw a niche and filled it. According to Unhinged Group in the article, “Fake News ‘As A Service’ Booming Among Cybercrooks” describes how this is a new market for ne’er do wells. It does make sense that fake news would be a booming business because there are many organizations and people who want to take advantage of the public’s gullibility.
This is especially true for political and religious folks, who have a lot of power to sway those in power. Digital Shadows, however, conducted a research survey and discovered that fake news services are hired to damage reputations and cause financial distress for organizations through disinformation campaigns.
How does this work?
The firm’s research stated that these services are often associated with “Pump and Dump” scams, schemes that aggressively promote penny stocks to inflate their prices before the inevitable crash and burn. Scammers buy low, hope that their promotions let the sell high, then flee with their loot and little regard for other investors.
A cryptocurrency variant of the same schemes has evolved and involves gradually purchasing major shares in altcoin (cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin) and drumming up interest in the coin through posts on social media. The tool then trades these coins between multiple accounts, driving the price up, before selling to unsuspecting traders on currency exchanges looking to buy while prices are still rising.
One “Pump and Dump” service analysis discovered that they made an equivalent of $326,000 for ne’er do wells in less than two months. Ever worse is that Digital Shadows found more than ten services that sell social media bot software for as low as $7.
It is not difficult to create a fake “legitimate” news site. All it takes is a fake domain, cloning services, and backlinking to exploit these fake news stories. Real legitimate news outlets and retailers are also targets. Anyone and anything can be a target.
Whitney Grace, January 24, 2018
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