Bitcoin News

Boston Legal System Damaged After BTC Ransomware Attack

Published

2 months ago

March 16, 2019

Stefan

The Boston Public Defenders system suffered a bitcoin ransomware attack a couple of days ago but they still chose not to send the bitcoins that the attacked demanded. They decided to use the system’s back-ups to restore the services and in today’s cryptocurrency news we find out more about the attack.

According to the Boston Globe, the decision not to pay the ransom means a massive slowdown of the system that will affect everyone within the system. The private attorneys started their work for indigent clients and now receive a small fee from the government. The ransomware attack also managed to interrupt the payments taking place at the moment and also locked up all of the essential digital services of the organization including e-mail usage.

As a security measure, the organization went offline in order to clean the viruses. An official statement reads:

“CPCS’s computer systems have been attacked and are not working properly. We are still representing clients. In addition, there is no evidence that confidential information from clients has been released as a result of these attacks.”

Initially, the attack happened on February 27. The organization believed that paying the ransom means a waste of money so they decided to restore the systems manually. Two weeks after, the entire justice system in Boston can feel the damaging effects. The agency cannot really say how long the delay will last or when they will get back online. In the meantime, people working in the agency cannot use their email or enter the agency’s website.

Ransomware attacks became popular in 2015. The attackers mainly targeted police agencies that end up paying the ransom. The public infrastructure is always a target of ransomware attackers since the offer public services and cannot end up being crippled because the people are the ones who pay the higher price.

The public defenders didn’t say how much money the attackers demanded. However, the cost to unlock a computer could start from $100 up to thousands of dollars. The attackers usually target victims individually but law enforcement agencies or other government agencies are not excluded.

Last year, a couple of Dutch hackers were sentenced to community service after attacking more than 1,000 computer systems and gathering over $11,000.

Related Topics:after attack Boston BTC damaged featured legal Ransomware System

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Stefan

Stefan has been a Bitcoin Specialist for over 5 years. Providing daily news and updates for DC Forecasts.

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Bitcoin News

BTC Price To Visit $9,569 Before 2020: Hedge Fund Executives

Published

23 hours ago

May 22, 2019

Stefan

The BTC price is a topic which is constantly in the main headlines of many best cryptocurrency news sites these days. According to top-tier hedge fund executives, Bitcoin will continue its rise of 114% in 2019 and visit the mid $9,000 region before the year ends. In a prediction that was first published on the US comparison website Finder which surveyed ten FinTech capitalists including executives from hedge funds Arca and BitBull Capital on Friday, the news showed that a majority of these execs expected that the BTC price would pull back from the $8,000 level. However, their prediction is strong and says that a rebound in June will push the cryptocurrency's price to as high as $9,659 by the end of the year. The reason why this is in the latest cryptocurrency news - and why the execs are so bullish - is quite simple. The April and May trading session alone saw an increase of 50% in the BTC price, making it rise from $4,000 to above $8,000. At the same time, a lot of mainstream financial markets underperformed which owed to escalating the economic tensions between the United States and China. https://twitter.com/Mashinsky/status/1128609266926014464 The Finder survey participants were also very quick to notice the relationship between the two events - the coming altcoin news show. Around a half of them said that mainstream investors diverted their capital from interim bearish equities to Bitcoin - as a strong sign of risk management. Meanwhile, the institutional investors are also seen as the ones who got in the rat race and have been building new services around the Bitcoin market - and as such were one of the main drivers in the latest BTC price rally.

“Eight out of 10 panelists think the price of bitcoin increased due to cryptocurrency-related announcements made at Consensus 2019 in New York City,” said Finder in the survey.

After the Consensus event finalized, the BTC price surged by more than 77% as a result of the positive news. The COO at Kinetic Capital which is a cryptocurrency trading firm, David Wills, recently said that the Bitcoin price is due for gains because of its potential for broader adoption as a currency.

“Last year, the bear market was in part caused by the fallout from many loss-making, unsuccessful initial coin offerings, and the participation by [a number of] questionable players that attracted regulatory scrutiny in cryptocurrencies,” Wills told the South China Morning Post.

Bitcoin News

Bitcoin Whitepaper Copyright Registration Filed By Craig Wright

Published

1 day ago

May 21, 2019

Stefan

Bitcoin whitepaper copyright registration was filed earlier today by the self-proclaimed creator of Bitcoin Craig Wright. He also filed registration for the Bitcoin code with the US Copyright Office and we are reading more about in the latest cryptocurrency news today. In his attempt to prove that he is the real creator of Bitcoin, Wright filed the copyright registration. Since 2015, he continuously claimed that he is the real Satoshi Nakamoto but he was not able to provide any hard evidence. The Bitcoin SV proponent was asked to provide a list of Bitcoin addresses by the court in order to back up his claims. Wright filed the bitcoin whitepaper copyright registrations for the 0.1 version of the early software of the cryptocurrency. In the text below you can read the two registrations in full:

‘’U.S. copyright registration no. TXu 2-136-996, effective date April 11, 2019, for the paper entitled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, with year of completion 2008. The registration recognizes the author as Craig Steven Wright, using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.’’ ‘’U.S. copyright registration no. TX-8-708-058, effective date April 13, 2019, for computer program entitled Bitcoin, with year of completion 2009 and date of first publication January 3, 2009. The registration recognizes the author as Craig Steven Wright, using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Wright wrote most of version 0.1 of the Bitcoin client software, and the registration covers the portions he authored.’’

However, according to the executive director of Coincenter Jerry Brito, anyone can register a copyright claim. This does not prove the ownership by the US Copyright Office itself. The registration is just a formality. The CO does not look into the validity of the claim but they simply register it. Unfortunately, there is no way to challenge that registration since the Office will just register each one. Many in the community believe that Wright is not the real creator of Bitcoin. Some of the largest industry players have called him a fraud and gave him the nickname ‘’Faketoshi.’’ Wright launched a series of lawsuits as reported in our altcoin news against all of those who called him a fraud. The copyright registration will be the new weapon for Wright to support his claim to the name Satoshi.

Altcoin News

Most Altcoins Report Moderate Gains, Bitcoin Reaches $8,000

Published

2 days ago

May 21, 2019

Stefan

Most altcoins, especially the top 20 are reporting moderate gains on the day as the largest cryptocurrency approaches the $8,000 price point again. As noted in all of the altcoin news headlines, Bitcoin increased up to 2 percent on the day. The largest cryptocurrency is trading at $7,957 at press time according to the data from CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin is up by 2 percent on the day and by looking at its weekly chart the cryptocurrency is up by 2.55%. The proximity of the biggest cryptocurrency is $8,000 which comes as the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reported a few days ago that they are ‘’still in information-gathering mode’’ regarding the VanEck bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Most altcoins among the top 20 are reporting notable gains and one of the biggest winners is Bitcoin SV (BSV) which increased up to 102 percent at press time. As reported in the latest cryptocurrency news, Bitcoin SV promoter and the self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto-Craig Wright, has officially filed U.S copyright registrations for Bitcoin’s whitepaper and code. Ethereum (ETH) on the other hand, is clinging to its position as the largest altcoin by market cap which is currently standing over the $26.7 billion price point. The second largest altcoin XRP now has a market cap of $16.6 billion. Following the data from CoinMarketCap, we can see that the price of ETH increased by 3.1 percent over the past day. At press time, ETH is trading at $253. By looking at the weekly charts, Ethereum seems to have increased by over 18.5 percent. Ripple’s XRP is nearly three percent over its previous price in the last 24 hours and is now trading at $0.401. Over the week, the altcoin increased by about 4.50 percent. At press time, the total market cap of all cryptocurrencies combined is $248.5 billion which is three percent higher than the one reported week ago. Most of the oil futures and indexes saw some mixed signals over the day with WTI Crude going down by 0.13 percent. Brent Crude dropped by 0.08 percent and Mars US by 0.13 percent at press time. The Canadian Crude index saw some increase action by 0.6 percent at press time.

Bitcoin News

Teen Bitcoin Millionaire: BTC Will Die If 4 Major Issues Are Not Solved

Published

2 days ago

May 21, 2019

Stefan

Teen Bitcoin millionaire Erik Finman predicts once again that the number one cryptocurrency could ‘’ die’’ if four major issues are not resolved. According to the latest cryptocurrency news, Finman stated that the problems are ‘’sticky’’ and must be solved immediately. While speaking to Yahoo Finance, Finman explained the issues: the complexity of use, high transactions fees, fights among the developer teams and slow-processing speeds. He pointed out:

‘’It’s facing four big problems. One, its high transaction fees. Two, it takes a long time you know to kind of send anything. And then three, the people that are trying to solve those problems… it’s fragmented, it’s cultish, it’s really kind of a lot of group in-fighting. And I think the fourth one is it’s really hard to get into bitcoin. It’s really not easy.’’

Even before the interview, the teen bitcoin millionaire outlined the problems of the currency on social media. He first purchased bitcoin at the age of 12 after his grandmother gave him $1,000. Over the years, he was trading cryptocurrencies and now has about 457 bitcoins which is nearly $3.6 million. Finman also pointed out that the future for bitcoin as a leading cryptocurrency is not guaranteed. Bitcoin is ‘’facing a lot of stiff competition and I think it really has to respond to that.’’ Erik also revisited his statement which was deemed as extremely controversial in 2018 when he pointed out that the ‘’long-term bitcoin is dead.’’ He defended the statement saying that the cryptocurrency needs to have one or two more bull runs in order to be set for the better future. As reported in the altcoin news last week during the MarketWatch, Finman raised his concerns about Bitcoin. He even stated that Litecoin was also afflicted since the altcoin decreased over 95 percent since its record high. Despite his pessimistic view, Finman is bullish on blockchain technology as well. He added that anyone who failed to become a billionaire by investing in crypto or in blockchain, in ten years from now they would have themselves to blame. Among the top cryptocurrencies that Finman believes have the best chances of success include ZCash and Ethereum. He praised Bitcoin Cash’s technology but he says the altcoin is poorly marketed.