There has been a recent wave of ransomware attacks across the globe.
From the major data theft of a few months ago affecting thousands of companies, to the more recent pirating (pun intended) of the new Pirates of the Caribbean film.
In each case, ransomers were able to hack into the company's data base and steal valuable intellectual property.
In many of the recent cases, the hackers are demanding Bitcoin as their preferred means of payment. They want Bitcoin for several reasons, a major one being it's anonymity.
How common are these ransomware attacks?
Ransomware attacks have gotten so common and wide spread that companies have been arming themselves with a little side pool of bitcoins just in case it happens to them.
Check out this statistic from companies polled in the UK:
Roughly a 3rd of UK companies are buying Bitcoin in case of ransomware attacks.
That is a startling high number.
Why are they paying the ransom you might ask?
Companies want to be able to pay the fee and get back to business as quickly as possible, especially in cases where their data might be needed in a timely manner such as a hospital and certain financial institutions.
For them it makes MORE sense to just comply with the demands of the hackers than it does to try and fight them.
The hackers in turn know this, and target those organizations specifically.
I touched on this a few weeks ago if you'd like to read more:
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@jrcornel/an-unexpected-source-of-demand-for-bitcoin
However, there is one little caveat to keep in mind. In most cases where the company has paid the ransom, their data was never returned back to them. So, there is that...
This is where "Tools for the Investigation of Transactions in Underground Markets" (TITANIUM) steps in.
A group of government agencies, law enforcement, and academic researchers have all partnered on a new digital currency surveillance project backed by over $5 million dollars from the European Union. The project, dubbed TITANIUM (as mentioned above), will be conducted over the next 3 years.
According to the news release, the specific participants are as follows:
"Interpol, Interior Ministries from Spain and Austria, Finland's Bureau of Investigation, and the University College London, among a handful of others."
This sounds all well and good, but what about privacy rights?
That is the big question.
One of the major allures of cryptocurrencies is their anonymous transactions. If these things start leaving a paper trail, do they lose much of their luster?
TITANIUM pledges not to violate users privacy rights, although that seems like a tall order.
Specifically, the duty of the group is as follows:
"The consortium will analyze legal and ethical requirements and define guidelines for storing and processing data, information, and knowledge involved in criminal investigations without compromising citizen privacy."
Basically it sounds much like what Russia was talking about a few days ago. It sounds like they are looking at ways to regulate the currencies at least to some degree.
It's not surprising the EU is taking this action given all the ransomware attacks of late.
It will be interesting to see how effective it is though, and it will also be interesting to see exactly how this effects cryptocurrencies and their users desire to remain mostly anonymous.
The times they are a changin!
<div style="position:relative;height:0;padding-bottom:56.25%"><iframe src="
style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;left:0" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>Stay informed my friends!
Sources:
http://www.coindesk.com/eu-commits-e5-million-fund-blockchain-surveillance-research/
Image Sources:
http://www.socialistworkeronline.net/ireland-and-the-case-for-a-left-exit-from-eu/
Follow me: @jrcornel
Good post. Its time for a global war against cyber terror attacks. However hackers / cyber criminals are very smart therefore governments should spend more on cyber security. Good move by the EU...thanks for sharing
Nice post and I appreciate your detailed information!
Thank you!
Thank you for sharing...sometimes I wonder if they "stage these news events" only to come out with laws that limit freedoms -- like cryptos -- just a thought
Haha it's possible... in the sense that anything is possible :)
they call it "problem - reaction - solution" --- they have prepared what they want --- now they drive the people this way to accept it thru drama and trauma events --- and boom "here is the solution" to your woes
How true
we will watch and see ....sad to say
absolutely! the ridiculous story of the wannacry attack on hospitals was fabricated for this end no doubt.
governments want our money and will be desperate to find a way to tax and regulate the cryptocurrency market.
I bet they'll have more bogus attacks planned, especially to depict the privacy coins as something used by criminals and terrorists.
they have no choice but to plan .....but really ...with what they are doing to the dollar ...how can them blame Bitcoin??? They are frustrated they can't print it I guess
Governments regulate everything and they use fear to do it. I wouldn't be surprised if this whole thing is designed to create fear and make cryptos look bad to the average person.
It's possible. Although I think they mostly just want a piece of the action (taxes).
Really interesting @jrcornel! I'd like to stay informed on this. So another article will lead to another upvote ;). I am also curious to see whether they will be able to "stand up" to these hackers with "just" a 5 million budget. I think the fiercest of white hat guys will come at quite a price.
I think so too. It was 5 million euros I believe, so over $5 million dollars, but I agree it needs a lot more money thrown at it. It sounds like this committee is simply coming up with plans on how to counter the hackers.
It could be a pretense to start a serious "it defense force" but otherwise i agree that they won't come a lot further than making some plans
Great article. Solid reporting. By the way, I tried to inspire a dialogue about privacy rights. Doesn't seem like anyone was interested in privacy here and they posed quite a few good arguments to back up their beliefs. Still, every upvote here is a transaction or trade of sorts, right? I am new here. Still learning. https://steemit.com/steemit/@magick323/steemit-question-of-the-day
Nice post... Very interestibg @jrcornel
Thank you!
😉
Congratulations @jrcornel!
Your post was mentioned in my hit parade in the following category:
nice...your post deserve upvote and resteem...
i got a lot of emails lately, that want me to to login to coinbase.
i once filled in my credit card information on a faked paypal site. i luckily could change my credit card number before any damage aroused.
Forward EU! Hope that one day EU unites in every politics matter and against all threats.
I think the governments keen on regulating underestimate how difficult it is to regulate cryptocurrency.
As companies + govts get better at tracing Bitcoin transactions (which is still very hard and costly to do) those distributing ransomware will simply ask for payment in Monero, ZCash or other anon coins.
The whole point of these coins is they are impossible to trace.
Good posts !!
Upvote & Resteem ^_^
Good job @jrcornel
@jrcornel Dang :O
The EU is a bull without balls, but a lot of Gender-Studies in an Alzheimer brain.
Goverments, not gonna do a damn thing, they gonna accept crypto as everyone else out here.
Anyways, kinda interesting article , thanks for sharing with us.
Didn't they release the master key for the ransomware
When I hear news like this I can't help but think it could be a false flag.
They still haven't learnt anything about the law of unintended consequences...
They think they are gaining back some ground. But what they are really doing is spending $5M of public money to help promote a wider use of ring signatures and zSnarks in the crypto community. If they try hard enough, we may even make a major breakthrough in homomorphic encryption!
This is true, they'll evolve the space. They would be better off not announcing what they intend to do because people can see it and develop new tech.
That said it is not an option to do nothing.
Great post,upvoted and followed, tme to invest in internet security company ETF's ?.
IT'S just that the 'EU' is an illegitimate, unlawful organization. It has no lawful powers and any edict handed down from the dictatorial technocracy must be disobeyed and it's promoters publicly identified as the traitors to the nation state and the people of Europe. The EU, I dare say, is a terrorist organization.
Nice post, well appreciated!
Upvoted and Followed!
Thank you for sharing.
The best I can think of is they can set up honeypots to try to set traps.
I cannot imagine how a bureaucracy like EU will be capable of doing anything useful against malware attacks. If the Wannacry(pt) story is real we should keep in mind that it was caused by government software (from NSA) they were unable to keep inside their own offices.
Excellent read my friend!
I just wonder what would happen to cryptos if governments brought the hammer down on them. Could they be blocked to some extent?
Great post. I found the information useful and of course I will have to review again to make sure I understand everything correctly. Thanks for taking the time to make this post. DR
my freind had faced a problem regarding ransomware virus , but fortunately he had a backup of those data.
great post mate @jrcornel
please check my blog :)\upvote