US State Prosecutor Paid Off Ransomware Hackers with Bitcoin
- Even American authorities are not safe from hackers and forced to pay in bitcoin like common victims.
While newer privacy-focused cryptocurrencies are already considered to be more secretive than Bitcoin Bitcoin While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that , the first Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe has kept its role as the payment method of choice for operations on the dark web. It seems that cyber criminals are only willing to accept bitcoin from their victims due to its wider availability and greater accessibility to the uninformed general public.
To unlock the Asian market, register now to the iFX EXPO in Hong Kong.
Reports of individuals, corporations, banks and even hospitals falling victim to ransomware are nothing new these days, but now we learn that the office of a US state attorney has also been blackmailed for bitcoin. The Allegheny County district attorney, Stephen Zappala Jr., has confirmed to The Associated Press that his office paid off hackers from the infamous Avalanche network to gain back control of his system.
The officials fell victim to a phishing attack that caused their computers to freeze and they were forced to send bitcoin to the hackers according to court documents filed against Avalanche. According to reports, Avalanche has been in operation as early as 2010 and has spread its tentacles to half a million computer systems globally. A number of undisclosed people are now held in alleged connection to it in various countries around the world.
In June we reported that 33% of UK firms said they were buying bitcoin in order to be able to pay off future ransomware attackers.
While newer privacy-focused cryptocurrencies are already considered to be more secretive than Bitcoin Bitcoin While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that , the first Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe has kept its role as the payment method of choice for operations on the dark web. It seems that cyber criminals are only willing to accept bitcoin from their victims due to its wider availability and greater accessibility to the uninformed general public.
To unlock the Asian market, register now to the iFX EXPO in Hong Kong.
Reports of individuals, corporations, banks and even hospitals falling victim to ransomware are nothing new these days, but now we learn that the office of a US state attorney has also been blackmailed for bitcoin. The Allegheny County district attorney, Stephen Zappala Jr., has confirmed to The Associated Press that his office paid off hackers from the infamous Avalanche network to gain back control of his system.
The officials fell victim to a phishing attack that caused their computers to freeze and they were forced to send bitcoin to the hackers according to court documents filed against Avalanche. According to reports, Avalanche has been in operation as early as 2010 and has spread its tentacles to half a million computer systems globally. A number of undisclosed people are now held in alleged connection to it in various countries around the world.
In June we reported that 33% of UK firms said they were buying bitcoin in order to be able to pay off future ransomware attackers.