Ransomware grew 300 per cent in 2017 in comparison with 2016 and in the current year such attacks are set to become even more vicious, according to a Quick Heal report on Monday.


Ransomware set to become more vicious in 2018: Quick Heal


IANS Automatic

Photo: Reuters

The current mining process is indeed resource-intensive and wasteful, but there is no magic fix in sight

Energy-sapping Bitcoin mining is here to stay despite the 'wasteful' method

The Conversation

Taiwan police have arrested four men over a bitcoin robbery worth 5 million Taiwanese dollar (USD 170,000) in what they said was the first case of its kind on the island.
Bitcoin is a virtual currency created from computer code that allows anonymous transactions and its value has soared since it came into being in 2009.
Taiwan police said three men in their early twenties lured a man surnamed Tai to the central city of Taichung, pretending to be interested in buying bitcoins.
After Tai showed proof of his bitcoins on his phone, the scammers assaulted him and his friend, then transferred 18 bitcoins worth 5 million Taiwanese dollar from Tai's account via his phone.
The suspects attempted to pass off the heist as a drunken row by forcing the victim to drink Kaoliang, a strong Taiwanese liquor, Taichung city police said in a statement.
Police arrived at the scene after receiving a call about a dispute and one man was detained. The other two had fled.
"The police saw bloodstains at the ...

Four arrests over Taiwan's 'first' bitcoin robbery

PTI Automatic

The annual cost of cybercrime has hit USD 600 billion worldwide, fuelled by growing sophistication of hackers and proliferation of criminal marketplaces and cryptocurrencies, researchers said today.
A report produced by the security firm McAfee with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies found theft of intellectual property represents about one-fourth of the cost of cybercrime in 2017.
Russia, North Korea and Iran are the main sources of hackers targeting financial institutions, while China is the most active in cyber espionage, the report found.
The researchers said ransomware is the fastest-growing component of cybercrime, helped by the easy availability of marketplaces offering hacking services.
The global research report comes days after the White House released a report showing cyberattacks cost the United States between USD 57 billion and USD 109 billion in 2016, while warning of a "spillover" effect for the broader economy if certain sectors are hit.
Globally, ...

Global cybercrime costs USD 600 bn annually: study

As businesses try to comply with new European Union privacy laws that come into force this year, they are set to face increased ransomware, cryptocurrency mining and business email compromise (BEC) extortion attacks, a report said on Wednesday.


Cybercriminals set to extort money as firms comply with new EU laws


Venezuela has formally launched its new oil-backed cryptocurrency in an unconventional bid to haul itself out of a deepening economic crisis.
The leftist Caracas government put 38.4 million units of the world's first state-backed digital currency, the Petro, on private pre-sale from the early hours.
During the first 20 hours of the pre-sale, which runs through March 19, Venezuela received "intent to buy" offers to the tune of USD 735 million, according to President Nicolas Maduro.
"The Petro reinforces our independence and economic sovereignty and will allow us to fight the greed of foreign powers that try to suffocate Venezuelan families to seize our oil," he said.
A total of 100 million Petros will go on sale, with an initial value set at USD 60, based on the price of a barrel of Venezuelan crude in mid-January -- but subject to change.
Economist and cryptocurrency expert Jean-Paul Leidenz told AFP prices during the pre-sale "will be agreed privately," and will then fluctuate ...

Venezuela begins selling oil-backed cryptocurrency

Bitcoin

Cryptocurrency has become an increasingly discussed topic among jihadist groups in the Middle East

New currency for extremism? Here's why jihadists see Bitcoin as a boon

The Wall Street Journal

Choe Heungsik, governor of South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service, told reporters he wants to see normalized trading of digital assets

South Korean government says will support 'normal' cryptocurrency trading

Bloomberg

In a first, Koinex, a digital assets exchange, announced that it will be listing two global crypto-assets (tokens) - OmiseGO (OMG) and Request on their exchange.Both these token are sought after assets in the global market mainly because of their efficient and 'future ready' technology which promises to bring a disruptive innovation in the areas of online payments, banking and e-commerce.These tokens (crypto-assets) will be listed on the Koinex exchange, across platforms, the portal and the app, by 2:00am on Thursday. However, consumers can start trading on them by early Friday."The overall crypto-market is at an exciting juncture at this point of time and the optimistic outlook of the global digital-assets sector is slowly rubbing on the domestic market here. After careful evaluation, we have brought these tokens to the Indian market and we are very buoyant and assured that they will gain a lot of market prominence in the near future," said Koinex co-founder and CEO, Rahul Raj."Both .

Koinex to list two global crypto-assets on their exchange

ANI Automatic

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Malaysia-based firm HelloGold has received a sharia-compliant certification for its gold-backed cryptocurrency and plans to launch its online gold platform in Thailand later this year, the company said.

Malaysian firm adds Islamic certification to cryptocurrency

Reuters Automatic

Whether you believe in cryptocurrencies or not, the asset class has gained a lot of traction and acceptability among market participants. India is becoming one of the biggest trading hubs of cryptos and things will only get bigger once policymakers lay out a clear regulatory framework for this space.


Important to build robust, comprehensive framework to regulate crypto space: Koinex CEO (IANS Interview) (Lead, correcting name in para two)


Cracking the cryptic world of virtual currencies

Monero mining is spreading because -- unlike most coins out there -- it can be produced with a typical device most people already own

Not into cryptos? Your phone may already be mining one without you knowing

They went through a shocking decline recently. Bitcoin, the leader in cryptocurrencies, fell from its high of under $20,000 in mid-December to around $6,000 in value in less than two months.


Cryptocurrencies: Caveat Emptor, though stakeholders say they are here to stay


Kaspersky Lab researchers have uncovered cyber attacks being carried out by a new piece of malware using a zero-day vulnerability feature in the Telegram Desktop app.The vulnerability, Kaspersky said, is being used to deliver multipurpose malware, which, depending on the computer, can be used either as a backdoor or as a tool to deliver mining software. According to the research, the vulnerability has been actively exploited since March 2017 for the cryptocurrency mining functionality, including Monero, Zcash, and others.Social messaging services have long been an essential part of our connected life, designed to make it much easier to keep in touch with friends and family. At the same time, they can significantly complicate things if they suffer a cyberattack.According to the research, the Telegram zero-day vulnerability was based on the RLO (right-to-left override) Unicode method. It is generally used for coding languages that are written from right to left, like Arabic or Hebrew. ..

Telegram messenger being used to spread multipurpose malware

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck Inc, under pressure to better safeguard investors after the daring theft of $530 million of digital money last month, said it had on Tuesday filed a report with regulators on the hacking. 

Coincheck reports to regulators over cryptocurrency heist as investors withdraw $373 million

Japan's Coincheck reports to regulators over $530 million cryptocurrency heist

bitcoin, cryptocurrency

The ten traders will file the claim at the Tokyo District Court over Coincheck's freezing of cryptocurrency withdrawals

After $530-mn cryptocurrency theft, traders to sue Japan's Coincheck

Reuters

TOKYO (Reuters) - A group of cryptocurrency traders will file a lawsuit against Coincheck Inc on Thursday over last month's theft of $530 million in digital money from the Tokyo-based exchange, a lawyer representing the claimants said.

Cryptocurrency traders to file lawsuit against Coincheck on Thursday: lawyer

Coincheck Inc was stung by the theft of $530 million of digital money in January

$530 million cryptocurrency heist: Japan's Coincheck to report to regulator

TOKYO (Reuters) - After the Mt. Gox cryptocurrency exchange was stung by a half-billion dollar theft in 2014, Japanese regulators swung into action. 

Coincheck heist sheds light on Japan's rush to create cryptocurrency rules

Coincheck

Coincheck was among the exchanges that didn't win approval. By the time it filed its application in mid-September, bitcoin was surging towards a record high of $19,458, which it hit in December

$530-mn Coincheck heist sheds light on Japan's rush to create crypto rules

market news, market live, stock market, share market, bse, nse, sensex nifty, forex commodity market news, stock market rates, stock share value, markets stocks, broker research reports, investment, ipo analysis

Page 67 -