Category: bitcoin

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Identifying the Person Behind Bitcoin Fog

Posted on By infossl
anonymity, bitcoin, crime, cryptocurrency, dark web, de-anonymization, fbi, identification, Security technology, tracking, Uncategorized

The person behind the Bitcoin Fog was identified and arrested. Bitcoin Fog was an anonymization service: for a fee, it mixed a bunch of people’s bitcoins up so that it was hard to figure out where any individual coins came from. It ran for ten years. Identifying the person behind Bitcoin Fog serves as an … Read More “Identifying the Person Behind Bitcoin Fog” »

Illegal Content and the Blockchain

Posted on By infossl
bitcoin, blockchain, botnets, censorship, cryptocurrency, economics of security, essays, Security technology, tor, Uncategorized

Security researchers have recently discovered a botnet with a novel defense against takedowns. Normally, authorities can disable a botnet by taking over its command-and-control server. With nowhere to go for instructions, the botnet is rendered useless. But over the years, botnet designers have come up with ways to make this counterattack harder. Now the content-delivery … Read More “Illegal Content and the Blockchain” »

On the Twitter Hack

Posted on By infossl
bitcoin, encryption, essays, hacking, nationalsecuritypolicy, scams, Security technology, socialmedia, twitter

Twitter was hacked this week. Not a few people’s Twitter accounts, but all of Twitter. Someone compromised the entire Twitter network, probably by stealing the log-in credentials of one of Twitter’s system administrators. Those are the people trusted to ensure that Twitter functions smoothly. The hacker used that access to send tweets from a variety … Read More “On the Twitter Hack” »

Dark Web Site Taken Down without Breaking Encryption

Posted on By infossl
bitcoin, childpornography, cryptocurrency, cryptography, darkweb, forensics, Security technology

The US Department of Justice unraveled a dark web child-porn website, leading to the arrest of 337 people in at least 18 countries. This was all accomplished not through any backdoors in communications systems, but by analyzing the bitcoin transactions and following the money: Welcome to Video made money by charging fees in bitcoin, and … Read More “Dark Web Site Taken Down without Breaking Encryption” »

Blockchain and Trust

Posted on By infossl
academicpapers, bitcoin, blockchain, cryptocurrency, cryptography, essays, Security technology, trust

In his 2008 white paper that first proposed bitcoin, the anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto concluded with: “We have proposed a system for electronic transactions without relying on trust.” He was referring to blockchain, the system behind bitcoin cryptocurrency. The circumvention of trust is a great promise, but it’s just not true. Yes, bitcoin eliminates certain trusted … Read More “Blockchain and Trust” »

New Attack Against Electrum Bitcoin Wallets

Posted on By infossl
bitcoin, cryptocurrency, fraud, hacking, Security technology, twofactorauthentication

This is clever: How the attack works: Attacker added tens of malicious servers to the Electrum wallet network. Users of legitimate Electrum wallets initiate a Bitcoin transaction. If the transaction reaches one of the malicious servers, these servers reply with an error message that urges users to download a wallet app update from a malicious … Read More “New Attack Against Electrum Bitcoin Wallets” »

Nicholas Weaver on Cryptocurrencies

Posted on By infossl
bitcoin, cryptocurrency, riskassessment, risks, Security technology

This is well-worth reading (non-paywalled version). Here’s the opening: Cryptocurrencies, although a seemingly interesting idea, are simply not fit for purpose. They do not work as currencies, they are grossly inefficient, and they are not meaningfully distributed in terms of trust. Risks involving cryptocurrencies occur in four major areas: technical risks to participants, economic risks … Read More “Nicholas Weaver on Cryptocurrencies” »

Regulating Bitcoin

Posted on By infossl
academicpapers, banking, bitcoin, cryptocurrency, economicsofsecurity, Security technology

Ross Anderson has a new paper on cryptocurrency exchanges. From his blog: Bitcoin Redux explains what’s going wrong in the world of cryptocurrencies. The bitcoin exchanges are developing into a shadow banking system, which do not give their customers actual bitcoin but rather display a “balance” and allow them to transact with others. However if … Read More “Regulating Bitcoin” »

Tracing Stolen Bitcoin

Posted on By infossl
academicpapers, bitcoin, blockchain, Security technology, theft, tracing, tracking

Ross Anderson has a really interesting paper on tracing stolen bitcoin. From a blog post: Previous attempts to track tainted coins had used either the “poison” or the “haircut” method. Suppose I open a new address and pay into it three stolen bitcoin followed by seven freshly-mined ones. Then under poison, the output is ten … Read More “Tracing Stolen Bitcoin” »