Tag: Bitcoin (BTC)

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Crypto News

Canadian City Affected By Ransomware Attack To Pay The Hackers To Regain Access To Computer Systems

The Canadian city of Midland, in Ontario, has suffered a ransomware attack on its computer systems earlier this month, which has left all the city’s documents encrypted. Now, the city’s officials decided to pay the ransom in Bitcoin (BTC).

According to a press release published by the Midland People’s Council, the authorities, together with a group of cybersecurity experts, are carrying out the payment in Bitcoin (BTC) to the group of cybercriminals to get back the control over the town’s computer systems.

The press release doesn’t specify how much Bitcoin (BTC) the authorities of Midland will pay. However, the officials affirm that the city has an insurance policy that is created explicitly for this kind of situations.

“Under the guidance of cybersecurity experts, we have begun the process of paying the ransom in exchange for the decryption keys. Although not ideal, it is in our best interest to get the system back online as quickly as possible. The people had previously secured an insurance policy to cover such circumstances. Deciphering efforts are underway,” state the Midland Town Council.

Canadian city affected by a ransomware attack decided to pay the cybercriminals in Bitcoin (BTC)

The ransomware attack occurred on September 1st at 2 AM and took over the computer systems throughout the city of Midland, in Ontario, for 48 hours. Then, the majority of the administrative services became limited, even though the hackers did not affect critical systems such as waste management and fire response services, which could have endangered human lives.

Similarly, authorities say that this ransomware attack demanding for Bitcoin (BTC) took them by surprise as they were just planning to implement infrastructure changes to improve their systems’ security by the end of 2018. However, thanks to this unfortunate experience, informational security become a priority for the officials of the Canadian city of Midland, in Ontario.

The ransomware attacks are becoming increasingly popular in the world, as according to a study by Sophos, a British IT security firm, the creators of SamSam ransomware managed to raise $6 million from ransomware attacks. Also, one of the most potent ransomware of 2017, WannaCry, generated multimillion-dollar losses across Europe.

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Crypto News

Iran Legalizes Crypto Mining, Causing Bitcoin (BTC) To Surge To $24,000 on Exir Crypto Exchange

The Iranian government publicly recognized crypto mining as an activity that forms part of the financial industry. The announcements were released on Tuesday, September 4th by Iran’s National Cyberspace Council. Consequently, Bitcoin (BTC) surged to $24,000 on Exir crypto exchange.

The recognition of cryptocurrency mining as a lawful activity in Iran comes from the ministries of Communications and Information Technology, Industry, Mining and Trade, Energy, Economic Affairs and Finance. These institutions, in conjunction with the Central Bank of Iran, are responsible for building the legal framework that will serve to regulate the mining activity in Iran.

Abolhasan Firoozabad, the secretary of the National Council of Cyberspace, said in an interview that the legal framework for crypto mining activity is still under construction and that “no final decisions have been taken,” but they plan to present the bill by September 22nd.

At the moment, no draft has been publicly presented that would allow the growing Iranian Bitcoin (BTC) ecosystem to know what the possible measures would be implemented.

Bitcoin (BTC) price surged to $24,000 on Exir thanks to the Iranian government’s acceptance of crypto mining

In April of this year, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) outlawed the use of Bitcoin (BTC) across Iran, considering it to be a tool for money laundering. As a result, the country’s crypto exchange platforms lost the banking support of the national financial institutions.

However, this restriction was limited, but not eliminated, as the exchange of Iranian Real (IRR) for Bitcoin (BTC) is now possible on peer-to-peer platforms such as LocalBitcoins. On the other hand, Exir, another crypto exchange platform, noted that government recognition of crypto mining in Iran triggered the price of Bitcoin (BTC) to surge to about $24,000 (in IRR) on its portal.

Iran’s new decisions regarding the cryptocurrency ecosystem, as well as the plan on releasing a national crypto token, would function as a mechanism to circumvent the economic sanctions imposed against the country from the United States.

So far, no official information is known about the upcoming Iranian national cryptocurrency, but rumors pointed out to Hyperledger Fabric as the underlying technology for Iran’s token.

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Crypto News

BlockFuse Launches CoinMesh To Facilitate DApps Development On Bitcoin (BTC) And Litecoin (LTC) Blockchains

BlockFuse, a project dedicated to the development of decentralized applications based on the blockchain, has announced the launch of its new tool, CoinMesh, which specializes in the integrated development of applications in the Bitcoin (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC) networks. The instrument is an open source platform dedicated to the automation of the nodes of both blockchains, as well as providing layers of adaptation to interact with data from Bitcoin and Litecoin networks with greater ease.

CoinMesh is an integrated development environment (IDE) that provides different levels of infrastructure for the constitution of a DApp project in a straightforward manner. In this way, the company aims to facilitate the work of developers, since the constitution of decentralized applications in these networks is difficult and there is very little knowledge about it.

BlockFuse says it has developed a platform that will help the interaction of a product with the blockchain, providing automated data sources and adapters for the creation of a DApp.

BlockFuse’s CoinMesh platform for DApps development on Bitcoin (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC) blockchains is in its Alpha stage

The platform provides available client support, including Bitcoind, Litecoind and Lightning Labs, so that developers can connect directly to the blockchains’ databases without having to create a link from scratch.

“CoinMesh automates the Data Source and Adapter layers in minutes. In this way, developers can go directly to the creation, iteration, and validation of their projects instantly,” stated BlockFuse.

At the moment, CoinMesh is in the Alpha stage and only recognizes JavaScript language. However, the BlockFuse team hopes that new components will soon be added to the tool for large-scale operation. Currently, the applications and development tools specialized in Bitcoin (BTC) have experienced a wave of interest.

In this sense, BlockFuse considers that the recent popularity of decentralized applications (DApps) is because these tools constitute “the branches of cryptocurrency economy,” which is why their development is vital for the ecosystem.

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Crypto News

Three Crypto Hackers Arrested In China, Accused Of Stealing $87 Million In Bitcoin (BTC) And Other Cryptos

Three crypto hackers, suspected of committing the most massive theft related to cryptocurrency in China, were arrested by Chinese police after a coordinated operation in several cities, according to local press reports. The hackers stole Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptos with a total value of 600 million yuan (about $87 million) after they hacked into people’s and companies’ computers.

According to the Chinese news agency Xinhua, the police investigation began in late March, when a citizen named Zhang went to the Xian City Public Safety Office to report that his computer had been hacked. The victim stated that in the attack he was robbed of 100 million yuan, about $15 million, in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).

With the help of several undisclosed internet companies, the investigators followed up on the transactions that led them to a suspect identified as Zhou. Subsequently, Zhou’s communications led to two alleged associates in the criminal operation.

The three cybercriminals reportedly used sophisticated computer techniques to access their victims’ computers remotely and then cover their tracks, leaving little trace of the cyber attacks. In this way, they were able to steal approximately 600 million yuan, equivalent to $87 million, in digital assets, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), from multiple personal and business computers.

The crypto hackers arrested in China for stealing $87 million in Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptos used sophisticated techniques to avoid detection

The local South China Morning Post noted that “the three suspects had been studying hacking technology since they were 12-13 years old and had worked for major Internet companies.

The Chinese police also reported that hackers divided the proceeds from the sale of stolen cryptocurrencies into smaller units and conducted multiple transactions in an attempt to avoid detection. This operation required the analysis of 30,000 pieces of evidence, according to the local news portal.

The suspects were arrested on August 5th during a joint and simultaneous police operation in Hunan, Changchun and Beijing provinces. The case will remain open until further investigations.

About a month ago, cybercriminals in China were hit by another blow, as the Chinese police arrested 20 people belonging to the technology firm Dalian Shengping Network Technology for spreading crypto mining malware on over one million computers. This activity brought hackers illicit profits of $2 million over the past two years.

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Crypto Markets News

Turkish Lira Collapse Highlights Bitcoin (BTC) Relative Stability

The current currency crisis in Turkey is being used by the mainstream media to make a comparison between the national currency and the leading cryptocurrency in the market. The latest contribution to this is a demonstration of relatively low volatility Bitcoins (BTC), published by Bloomberg today, on August 13th.

Turkish lira fluctuations compared with those of the Bitcoin (BTC)

Under the heading “Turkey’s collapse is driving the volatility of the lira comparable to Bitcoin,” Bloomberg reveals the full extent of the devaluation of the Turkish currency this year and writes the following:

The 10-day fluctuations of the Turkish lira relative to the US Dollar now exceed those of Bitcoin (BTC) in the midst of the escalating currency crisis in Turkey.

Bloomberg

However, Turkey citizens turned to Bitcoin (BTC) for investment

Turkey has seen an increase in consumer interest in Bitcoin (BTC) since the lira, which has been depreciating against the US Dollar since January, fell to unprecedented lows within a brief time due to various geopolitical factors.

According to data from Google Trends, the Turkey residents’ interest in Bitcoin (BTC) increased significantly in August, while local cryptocurrency exchange platforms experienced a trading volume increase of over 150 percent, this week alone.

The situation of cryptocurrency is not yet evident in Turkey

While legislators carry out capital controls, the status of cryptocurrency in the country remains uncertain, in general. Despite Turkey’s official position that Bitcoin (BTC) is not compatible with Islam, local cryptocurrency exchange platforms have the full support of the Landesbanken, as an article released by Forbes reported earlier this week.

The markets in Turkey have seen rising volatility for some time, while operators such as BtcTurk Bitcoin are currently trading at prices with around $500 more per BTC than on the other leading foreign cryptocurrency exchange platforms.

This trend could continue, some analysts indicated, if the country’s economic situation does not stabilize and the Turkish lira doesn’t surge.

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