April 5, 2019 @ 7:47 am By Cali Haan  |  

An alleged drug dealer from the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, who pleaded guilty in December to using Bitcoins to buy drugs and a gun on the Dark Net, has had the bulk of his Bitcoins seized this week by a Toronto court, The Toronto Star… Read More

April 5, 2019 @ 7:19 am By Cali Haan  |  

Amit Bhardwaj, accused of masterminding an elaborate Bitcoin-based $300 million Ponzi scam that spanned 90 countries, has been granted interim bail in India, Inc42 reports. Bhardwaj’s lawyer, Deepak Prakash told the outlet, “… Amit Bhardwaj has been granted interim bail based on…health ground(s).” The accused reportedly… Read More

April 4, 2019 @ 10:38 am By Cali Haan  |  

By most estimates, “cryptojacking”  and “shadow mining,” the secret mining of cryptocurrencies on other people’s machines, are increasing as hackers have started to favour them over confrontational ransomware and other hacks. But Security Information and Event Management firm Exabeam says that most IT professionals they… Read More

April 4, 2019 @ 8:29 am By Cali Haan  |  

Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ: RIOT), a company formed in the fall of 2017 when directors decided to shut down endeavours at BiOptix Diagnostics Inc. and pivot into cryptocurrency mining and investing, has reported a net loss of $58 million in 2018. Riot Blockchain managed to generate… Read More

April 4, 2019 @ 6:28 am By Cali Haan  |  

In a reportedly very brief session, the Supreme Court of India ruled in recent days to delay making a decision in cases challenging the Reserve Bank of India’s ban on cryptocurrency trading,  Asia Times reports. In February, the Supreme Court ordered the Indian government to draft… Read More

April 3, 2019 @ 7:24 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Pakistan legislators introduced proposed laws to regulate Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs) at a ceremony held at State Bank of Pakistan offices Monday in Islamabad, The Tribune reports. The rules were reportedly created at the behest of the country’s Financial Action Task Force and are intended to… Read More

April 3, 2019 @ 9:59 am By Cali Haan  |  

An anonymous trader who recently placed $100 million USD worth of concurrent Bitcoin buy orders on Coinbase, Kraken and Bitstamp probably triggered a ‘frenzy’ of automated buys, a source to Reuters claims. These factors contributed to Bitcoin’s recent price jump of up to 20% on… Read More

April 3, 2019 @ 8:36 am By Cali Haan  |  

Cryptomining company Bitfarms (formerly Blockchain Mining) lost $18.2 million during the 2018 crypto bear market and will shortly be delisted from the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE), Isreali news outlet Globes reports. Meanwhile, the company has reportedly sought to establish a foothold in Ontario, where… Read More

April 2, 2019 @ 10:21 pm By Cali Haan  |  

A number of high-profile ransomware attacks in the early months of this year have put a spotlight on the importance of firms working to prevent them. In March, operations at Norwegian aluminum producer Norsk Hydro and American chemical companies Hexion and Momentive were interrupted by… Read More

April 2, 2019 @ 9:18 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Despite raising only a few thousand dollars in bitcoins thus far, Hamas, a militant organization that has fought for years to restore Palestine, is continuing to encourage supporters to make donations using cryptocurrencies, Forbes reports. Israeli press outlets initially sounded the alarm about Hamas crypto… Read More

April 2, 2019 @ 8:30 pm By Cali Haan  |  

41% of cyber attacks are deployed against healthcare entities, Canadian Underwriter reports, whereas only 20% of attacks are leveled at financial firms. The information comes from specialist insurer Beazley in its Beazley 2019 Breach Briefing. The reason healthcare targets are preferred, says Beazley, is because unlike… Read More

March 30, 2019 @ 5:43 pm By Cali Haan  |  

A man who secretly mined cryptocurrencies on the computers of people visiting his websites has been acquitted by a judge in Japan, Japan Today reports. The man was arrested last year and charged with violating Japanese laws that prohibit the dissemination of computer viruses. But… Read More

March 30, 2019 @ 5:34 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Global insurance firm Hiscox is the now second insurance firm known to have refused to pay out a company damaged in a NotPetya cyberattack, Verdict reports. It is believed that Hiscox has made the refusal because the Russian government was accused by the UK of… Read More

March 30, 2019 @ 7:10 am By Cali Haan  |  

“(Cryptomining) Attackers are following the money to the UAE,” says Hussam Sedani, Middle East manager for the cybersecurity firm Symantec. And according to UAE media outlet The National, instances of malware-based cryptojacking, in which personal devices are “zombified” and forced to mine cryptocurrencies, are twice… Read More

March 30, 2019 @ 6:08 am By Cali Haan  |  

Prosecutors in Japan have decided not to appeal a Tokyo court’s decision to acquit disgraced former Mt Gox Bitcoin exchange CEO Mark Karpeles on charges of embezzlement, Mainichi reports. Carpeles was, however, found guilty of manipulating Mt. Gox bitcoin trade data between February and September… Read More

March 30, 2019 @ 4:07 am By Cali Haan  |  

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has issued a statement intended to guide issuers, intermediaries and investors engaging with security token offerings (STOs). In short, STO issuers and intermediaries: must be Type 1 licensed or registered to deal securities in Hong Kong or… Read More

March 29, 2019 @ 6:31 am By Cali Haan  |  

“Talking one’s bag” is common in crypto, and crypto proponents, many of whom were early investors in the cryptocurrencies they talk up, display an almost pavlovian fervour for their preferred coins. But just in case it’s not obvious, developer Luke Childs has created a Chrome or… Read More

March 29, 2019 @ 5:30 am By Cali Haan  |  

Cyberpolice in Ukraine say they have arrested a 32-year-old Bukovina resident accused of using “cryptojacking” software against a million individuals without their consent. Police allege the man deployed the software surreptitiously to the computers of individuals visiting websites run by the man. The sites reportedly… Read More

March 29, 2019 @ 4:44 am By Cali Haan  |  

61 people have been arrested and 50 Darknet accounts shut down following a joint operation against Dark Net opioid markets executed by J-CODE, the Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement team. According to an FBI press release, the arrests were made as part of Operation… Read More

March 29, 2019 @ 3:32 am By Cali Haan  |  

Operations at the American chemical firms Hexion and Momentive were disrupted March 12th when company computer systems were locked up by LockerGoga ransomware, Motherboard reports. LockerGoga is the same ransomware experts believe was used to cripple operations at American and European aluminum smelters run by… Read More