Uber is a staple of the gig economy, for better or worse, and a disruptor that once sent shockwaves throughout the mobility space. Now, however, Uber is being taken for a ride. The company is handling a reportedly far-reaching cybersecurity breach. According to the ride-hailing giant, the attacker has not been able to access sensitive user data, or at least, there is no evidence to suggest otherwise. Whether or not sensitive user data was exposed, this case points to a persistent issue with today’s apps. Can we continue to sacrifice our data — and thereby our privacy and security — …
Binance announced the existence of its Global Law Enforcement Training Program in a blogpost on Sept. 27. The creation of the program could be considered retroactive, since the company’s investigations team has been holding workshops for law enforcement for the past year. Binance expanded its investigations team a year ago, and has held one-day workshops in numerous countries since then, according to the company’s blog. It mentioned Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Netherlands, Philippines, Sweden, South Korea, and the UK by name. The workshops were intended to help law enforcement detect and prosecute financial- and cybercrimes. Related: 74% of …
Crypto mining malware has been sneakily invading hundreds of thousands of computers around the world since 2019, often masquerading as legitimate programs, such as Google Translate, new research has found. In an Aug. 29 report by Check Point Research (CPR), a research team for American-Israeli cybersecurity provider, Check Point Software Technologies, the malware has been flying under the radar for years, thanks partly to its insidious design which delays instaling the crypto mining malware for weeks after the initial software download. .@_CPResearch_ detected a #crypto miner #malware campaign, which potentially infected thousands of machines worldwide. Dubbed ‘Nitrokod,” the attack was …
Binance Australia is tightening up its onboarding process for new users as part of a push to protect users it's flagged as most vulnerable to financial crypto crime. The new measures were mentioned in Binance Australia’s June quarter Economic, Social, and Governance (ESG) report on Aug. 29, which noted that the exchange was working on a “stringent and user-focused onboarding experience” aimed at groups with a higher occurrence of financial crime. Speaking with Cointelegraph, Binance Aus CEO Leigh Travers and Zachary Lu from the exchange’s Financial Crime, Risk and Compliance unit, noted the company has been actively working on ways …
The U.S Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a fresh warning for investors in decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, which have been targeted with $1.6 billion in exploits in 2022. In an Aug. 29 public service announcement on the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, the agency said the exploits have caused investors to lose money — advising investors to conduct diligent research about Defi platforms before using them, while also urging platforms to improve monitoring and conduct m rigorous code testing. The law enforcement agency warned that cybercriminals are out in force to take advantage of "investors' increased interest in …
The last few years have seen blockchain platforms becoming the centerpiece of many tech conversations across the globe. This is because the technology not only lies at the heart of almost all cryptocurrencies in existence today but also supports a range of independent applications. In this regard, it should be noted that the use of blockchain has permeated into a host of novel sectors, including banking, finance, supply chain management, healthcare and gaming, among many others. As a result of this growing popularity, discussions pertaining to blockchain audits have increased considerably, and rightly so. While blockchains allow for decentralized peer-to-peer …
Cybersecurity analyst Serpent has revealed his picks for the most dastardly crypto and non-fungible token (NFT) scams currently active on Twitter. The analyst, who has 253,400 followers on Twitter, is the founder of artificial intelligence and community-powered crypto threat mitigation system, Sentinel. In a 19-part thread posted on Aug. 21, Serpent outlined how scammers target inexperienced crypto users through the use of copycat websites, URLs, accounts, hacked verified accounts, fake projects, fake airdrops, and plenty of malware. One of the more worrisome strategies comes amid a recent spate of crypto phishing scams and protocol hacks. Serpent explains that the “Crypto …
The hackers behind the $625 million Ronin bridge attack in March have since transferred most of their funds from ETH into BTC using renBTC and Bitcoin privacy tools Blender and ChipMixer. The hacker’s activity has been tracked by on-chain investigator ‘₿liteZero’, who works for SlowMist and contributed to the company’s 2022 Mid-Year Blockchain Security report. They outlined the transaction pathway of the stolen funds since the Mar. 23 attack. The majority of the stolen funds were originally converted into ETH and sent to now sanctioned Ethereum crypto mixer Tornado Cash before being bridged over to the Bitcoin network and converted …
The world is still struggling to comprehend the geopolitical and human impact of the Ukraine war. With more than 10 million people fleeing their homes and 6 million seeking refuge in foreign countries, it's been a time to support a sovereign country under attack. It has also proven to be the moment where cryptocurrency proved its true value to real people. Not as the high-concept tech toy for the wealthy elite as many had previously dismissed it, but rather as an empowering force for good in a dangerously unstable world. When the Russian invasion began in February, Twitter accounts belonging …
High-profile security incidents continue to be a theme in 2022 as the Acala Network joined a long list of stricken platforms to fall prey to exploits. Acala’s aUSD token, which acts as the native stablecoin for the Polkadot and Kusama blockchains, saw its value plummet 99% after a misconfiguration of the iBTC/aUSD liquidity pool was exploited after its launch on Aug. 14. Initial estimates from Acala noted that 1.2 billion aUSD were minted without the necessary collateral - seeing the token’s value depeg from its 1:1 USD ratio to a bottom of $.01. Acala put its network in maintenance mode …
Fewer people have fallen victim to cryptocurrency scams in 2022 so far due to falling asset prices and the exit of inexperienced crypto users from the market, a new crypto crime report reveals. According to an Aug. 16 report from Chainalysis, total crypto scam revenue year-to-date is currently sitting at $1.6 billion, equating to a 65% decline from the prior year period, which appears linked to the declining prices of cryptocurrencies. “Since January 2022, scam revenue has fallen more or less in line with Bitcoin pricing. [...] it’s not just scam revenue falling — the cumulative number of individual transfers …
Cross-chain bridges have been the target of more than a few hacks this year, but new data from blockchain analytics provider Elliptic alleges one has been used to launder over half a billion dollars in ill-gotten crypto assets. According to an Aug. 10 report, crypto bridge RenBridge has facilitated the laundering of at least $540 million in proceeds of crime since 2020 through a process known as chain hopping — converting one form of cryptocurrency into another and moving it across multiple blockchains. Elliptic said that decentralized cross-chain bridges provide “an unregulated alternative to exchanges for transferring value between blockchains.” …