With value reaching the range of hundreds of million rupiah/chip, bitcoin cryptocurrency is a tantalizing target for the criminals. Exchange bitcoin on the internet has long been the target of hackers. Later bitcoin-related crime widened into the real world.
One recent example is a series of robberies that hit some data centers in Iceland some time ago. A total of 600 units of bitcoin miner servers were escaped by thieves in four incidents near Reykjavik and Borgarnes airports.
Three robberies took place in December 2017, then the fourth in January 2018. Overall value of losses inflicted is estimated at nearly 2 million US dollars or more than Rp 27 billion. Stolen computers are manifold servers with high computing power and expensive taggers as well
"This is a massive theft on an unprecedented scale, "said local police commissioner Olafur Helgi Kjartansson, as summarized by KompasTekno from the Associated Press on Saturday.The Iceland authorities suspected the robbery was an action organized by organized crime perpetrators , a kind of mafia organization.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies rely on blockchain to record transactions and coin ownership of its users. The process of data blockchain is handled collectively by users around the world, using computer resources in a process commonly called "mine" (mining).
In return, computers that provide resources for the common good will be given a new bitcoin in a certain amount that is getting smaller and smaller. The mining process, therefore, consumes more and more computer and power resources.
Iceland becomes an interesting location to make a bitcoin miner computer center because it provides cheap and renewable energy source of various geothermal and hydroelectric power plants.
Police are trying to monitor the consumption of electricity in Iceland that could point to the location of the perpetrators of crime, if they turn on stolen computers to do the mining. Itupun if the garong flock is not necessarily sell the results of robbery to other parties. Until now hundreds of computers worth tens of billions of dollars is still not found.