The bitcoin rate continues to beat records: the most popular crypto currency by November 20 overcame the $ 8 thousand line, and its market capitalization exceeded $ 104 billion (data of coinmarket.cap). Many financial experts urge to be cautious about the markets of the crypto-currency and consider them to be similar to financial pyramids.
But the excitement around bitcoin continues to grow. It is not surprising that cybercriminals are focused on virtual operations. In this market, the discrediting of personal data is increasingly recorded, coupled with financial losses.
In summer unknown hackers attacked the largest South Korean bitcoin-exchange Bithumb. It accounts for three quarters of national payment transactions and up to 10% of the world’s turnover of crypto-currencies. Hackers took possession of data of almost 32 thousand users, which is about 3% of the client base.
Attackers took possession of such information as names, phone numbers, e-mail addresses. Apparently, these data are used for phishing. It is known that one of the users lost about $ 8,700 when an unknown person called him on behalf of Bithumb and asked him to name a one-time password sent by e-mail.
The break-in of Genesis Mining’s cloud mining service became known at the end of July. Security experts recorded unauthorized access to the “hot wallet” (a hot-card-address, permanently connected to the Internet, through which the owner can conduct transactions with his funds at any time).
The amount of funds deduced by the hacker is not reported. The company claims that it found no evidence that personal data of users, including email addresses, were compromised during the attack. In addition, Genesis Mining emphasizes that they never collected or stored information about credit cards of customers.
Inviolability of confidential information of clients is also violated by the services themselves, the InfoWatch analytical center reports. In early August, the public was widely publicized on Bitcoin.de, the largest German bitcoin-exchange. It turned out that at the request of the police, in January 2017, she transferred personal data to users, although she was not obliged to do this without the sanction of the prosecutor or the court’s decision.
In total, the exchange handed over to the law enforcement agencies records related to eight customer addresses: real names and nicknames, mailing addresses, e-mail, order quantities, transaction data, IP addresses and account logging history. These users were suspected of buying drugs for crypto currency at the already closed chemical love site, but their involvement in illegal operations could not be established.
Hackers, as technologically savvy and receptive to new trends of personality, even ransom from their victims demand in bitcoins. So, in Belgium, an unknown person kidnapped telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and other data from half a million patients from the hacked Digitale Wachtkamer medical resource. In a letter to the site administrator, the hacker demanded 42 bitcoins for the return of the stolen database (about 85,000 euros at the exchange rate at that time).
Operations with other popular crypto-currencies have also repeatedly become the target of hackers. For example, criminals hacked the site of the Israeli startup CoinDash, which launched the procedure for the initial placement of tokens (ICO), and changed the address of the official purse Etherium (the second most popular crypto currency) on its own. The damage amounted to about $ 7.5 million, informs CoinDesk.
