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Within two hours, Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Tech Bureau Corp. was hacked last September 14 which was unfortunately discovered four days after the culprits managed to steal 6.7 billion yen or 59.67 million dollars-worth of cryptocurrency composed of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Monacoin; more than half of which belonged to customers.

The cryptocurrency was stolen from internet-connected “hot wallets” which are more vulnerable than cold wallets that remain in the dark until connected.

The customers won’t have to wallow in despair though. Tech Bureau managed to merge with JASDAQ-listed Fisco Ltd. For a majority ownership investment amounting 5 billion yen in order to pay back the customers.

This comes after another massive cryptocurrency hack last January when crypto-exchange Coincheck lost a massive 530 million dollars-worth of digital currency. Coincheck in turn was absorbed by Japanese online brokerage group Monex Group Inc.

Amazing how resilient the industry remains, hack after hack. Despite these, over 160 entities express their willingness to enter the cryptocurrency exchange market, perhaps due to the recent Bitcoin surge. Bitcoin has since dropped but value remains at over 6,000 dollars.

Japanese crypto-exchanges have lately come under fire for lack of security and mismanagement, and will continue to burn more after the recent hack of Tech Bureau. The Japan Financial Services Agency has yet to approve the aforementioned cryptocurrency exchange applicants.

The FSA conducted an investigation and audit of various cryptocurrency exchanges and found that security was lax and management was sloppy. Apparently Tech Bureau hasn’t learned its lesson.

Further measures will be required to tighten security amidst Japan’s cryptocurrency regulation, the first country to do so. Regulation is seen by some as a threat to the openness and freedom of cryptocurrency much like the fledgling internet before censorship. But Japan sees it as more of an encouragement and a way to include much needed security measures much like cryptocurrency’s physical counterpart.

Photo by Ryo Yoshitake on Unsplash

[stackCommerce layout=”2″ count=”5″ sort=”best_sellers”][/stackCommerce]

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The malicious variant was detected by security researchers in the source code of the MEGA.nz Chrome extension version 3.39.4, released early Tuesday (04Sep2018) as an update and this has triggered a major security alert from the company. In response, MEGA announced the serious breach has affected an unknown number of users.

On the 4th September 2018 at 14:30 UTC, an unknown attackеr uploaded a trojaned version of MEGA’s Chrome extension, version 3.39.4, to the Google Chrome webstore,

it stated in a statement.

The New Zealand company says that whenever a user installs or auto-updates to the trojanеd extension, it seeks for permissions unlike the official extension. And this includes the ability to read and change ALL data on sites that the user visits. Experienced users may quickly suspect malicious activities but a vast majority of people would not have understood the risks.

Plеase note that if you visitеd any site or madе use of another extеnsion that sends plain-text crеdentials through POST rеquests, either by dirеct form submission or through a background XMLHttpRеquest (XHR) process while the trojanеd extension was active, considеr that your crеdentials were compromised on thеse websites and/or applications,

the company warns.

MEGA states that Google engineers have already removed the extension from the Chrome Web Store, and also disabled the variant extension for existing users.

Four hours aftеr the breach occurred, the trojanеd extension was updatеd by MEGA with a clеan version (3.39.5), auto-updating affеcted installations. Google rеmoved the extеnsion from the Chrome wеbstore five hours after the brеach,

the company explained.

According to an analysis about detecting the source of the trojaned extension, it was found that the malicious extension was programed to steal user credentials on specific websites like Amazon, Live (Microsoft), Google (Webstore), GitHub, MyMonero and MyEtherWallet web wallet services, as well as IDEX crypto trading platform.

While user data for these websites were specifically targeted, MEGA states that this is something serious due to the trojaned extension attempting to steal information. It would record usernames, passwords and other online session credentials that hackers would need to impersonate users. If it’s a cryptocurrency website, the hacker would be able to extract the private keys required to access users’ funds. The extension was also found to be sending all collected data to a server hosted in Ukraine and located at http://www.megaopac.host.

This serious attack affects mainly those who had the auto-update MEGA Chrome extension enabled and had it installed at the time of the incident, or anyone who freshly installed v3.39.4 of the extension (and accepted permissions).

The attack was first discovered by a security researcher called SerHack, who immediately tweeted a warning that the v3.39.4 had been breached before other security experts quickly jumped in, analyzed the extension and reported their findings.

Confirmed that it also extracts private keys if you login to MyMonero and/or MyEtherWallet in a browser with the extension installed. https://t.co/fpVK11zZ9Z

— Ric “el pony esponjoso” (@fluffypony) September 4, 2018

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The Smoke Loader campaign was uncovered by Microsoft Windows Defender R&D team that affected computers in Ukraine, Russia and Turkey. Defender team blocked the campaign before any severe damage could be done.

It took about 12 hours to spread the malware to a huge audience and it was not mentioned by Microsoft how this happened.

Few days back, once investigation took place Microsoft disclosed that the attack was targeted to update mechanism of MediGet software and pushed the trojanized software to users.

“A signed mediaget.exe downloads an update.exe program and runs it on the machine to install a new mediaget.exe. The new mediaget.exe program has the same functionality as the original but with additional backdoor capability,” the researchers team explain in a article post published on 14 March”

BitTorrent Software Update Hijacked 400,000 – PCs Last Week – Trojanized

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Initially known as VeChain, the platform has since rebranded into VeChain Thor to facilitate large-scale enterprise (B2B) adoption with a new consensus mechanism. Moreover, the rebranding envisions to create an anti-counterfeit business ecosystem that enables transparent information flow, efficient collaboration and high-speed value transferring.

“As one of the world’s earliest blockchain technology companies, our platform has been successfully implemented for real-world applications for a wide array of industries,” said Sunny Lu, CEO of Shanghai-headquartered VeChain on the launch of VeChain Thor at Monday, 26 February 2018.

In Lu’s opinion, the biggest hurdles for the Blockchain does not lie with the technology but rather on the real applications with real value. Thus, the cryptocurrency has to be adopted by various industries such as pharmaceuticals, liquor, auto, agriculture, luxury goods, logistics and cold storage.

Under VeChain Thor, a two-coin system will be introduced which allows VeChain tokens to generate Thor Power (THOR) or a smart currency used to execute smart contracts and transactions on the platform.

Then, the VeChain tokens will be used as quick payment as currency to run business activities on the blockchain. People who hold more VeChain (VET) tokens will be given higher priority and rights on the VeChain Thor blockchain.

“In VeChain, we believe application use guides products, and the products guide technology,” explained Lu.

Thus, VeChain has been active in forming industrial partnership such as with German carmaker, BMW as well as academic institution like Oxford University as part of the VeResearch project for the development of VeChain Thor platform. The company also makes footprints in South Korea through cryptocurrency exchange named Coinnest, where it had been added into the trading platform.

One of the latest partners that liaises with VeChain belongs to the global assurance services provider DNV GL. The partnership ensures the more transparency of product and supplier information in tracking transactions using blockchain technology.

“In DNV GL, our main business is to provide trust and confidence and similarly our partnership with VeChain is to provided trust and confidence via the use of Blockchain technology.”  said Luca Crisciotti, CEO of DNV GL – Business Assurance.

Overall, VeChain Thor holders can buy a wide variety of goods, not limited to BMW cars and the tokens did not hide transaction history as traditional purchasing currency and allow tracing of product through the supply chain.

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A new crypto-currency trading platform is poised to launch a crowdsale on this coming Saturday, 17 Feb 2017. The trading platform aims to become a bridge serving among the export and novice crypto participants.

The new platform is called Capdax, and the token generation event will have a maximum cap of USD 6.5 million available for whitelisted participants, running for more than four weeks till the token sellout.

The public crowdsale will have a total of 5 tiers, and when one tier has sold out, the following tier will be immediately activated, until all tokens are sold. Each tier consists of 1,300 ethereums based on USD price.

System testing for better security

After the public crowdsale, Capdax will then engage in Application Programming Interface (API) operational beta testing on the exchange backend and followed by the private beta testing on the exchange frontend system during the first quarter of 2018.

By Q2 2018, with sufficient testing on the exchange system, Capdax will go for official exchange launch, complimented with security audits and social trading development of the system.

The relentless testing on its system is for Capdax to deliver a robust platform that is safe for cryptocurrency participants to trade freely with less possibility of their account being hacked.

“The problems facing current cryptocurrency exchanges is at an all-time high.” stated Capdax on its whitepaper.

According to the whitepaper, many large cryptocurrency exchanges fail to service both the expert trader as well as the crypto novice, those who are just getting into the market. Plus, many exchanges faced the risks of being hacked with losses to the cryptocurrency values.

For instance, the list of hacked cryptocurrency exchanges listed from the recent Tokyo-based exchange Coincheck, to South Korea-based exchanges like Youbit and back to the Mt Gox hack where USD 460 million evaporated virtually into thin air.

Clear policies and good services to venture forward

Facing such threats, Capdax’s whitepaper has identified a series of areas for improvement to combat the dangers of running an exchange.

“Superb customer service, clear policies, and fully audited security standards create the necessary user trust, and an innovative copy-trading feature allows traders to seamlessly follow the portfolios of others automatically.” stated the whitepaper.

To facilitate user friendliness, Capdax will adopt a basic mode for newcomers to the crypto-currency world with less cluttered information and trading indicators. For the more experienced users, they can opt for “Expert Mode” where ticker data are streamed in real time, with detailed graphs and live trade feeds.

Security as the first priority

Perhaps security issue is the number one concern for all crypto-currency traders nowadays, given the bad industry reputations of data breaches among the various exchanges. For Capdax, the exchange system has been built from scratch with security in mind.

Capdax will also invest in “strong deep cold storage” system that kept user funds secure. Thus, only funds that needed immediately withdrawals will be placed at “hot wallet” where funds are kept at adequate level as withdrawals and deposits are processed.

While no system can ever be considered 100% secure, especially when one is connected to the Internet, Capex will run scans periodically of its balances and compares them to user wallets to identify any discrepancies.

Overall, all users and investors alike will want their investment to be safe and free from hacking. Just like storing valuables in a vault, where neither thieves nor robbers break in to steal. Thus, Capdax is literally using this model in enabling investors’ fund to generate more income and values in a safe environment.

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The buzz surrounding the cryptocurrency pointed to the meteoric rise of Bitcoin from valuation of around USD950 in January 2017, to jump nearly 20 times to USD19,200 in December 2017.

With huge amount of profits made at such a short period of time, the cryptocurrency has also attracted unwanted attentions as well.

South Korea’s cryptocurrency exchange hacked

Bithumb, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange was hacked and personal information of around 30,000 of its customers were believed to be stolen. The culprit was fingered as North Korean hacking sources, according to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) or simply the country’s spy agency.

Apparently, the attack dated back to February by targeting one of Bithumb employee’s home PC. Subsequently, the employee only found out in June, that its home PC has become a victim of hackers. Since then, the hackers have demanded a payment of USD 5.5 million from Bithumb in exchange for the deleting of traders’ personal information.

In addition, it was estimated that around USD 7 million of digital money was stolen by the hackers as well which may surge in valuation to USD 82.7 million by now.

According to NIS, Bithumb was not the only exchange targeted by hackers, another exchange, Coinis was on the hackers’ crosshair as well and had its system breached in September 2017.

Then, the South Korea’s spy agency had also identified second “trademark” North Korea’s hacking attack on Coinis in October 2017. However, the second attack was reportedly thwarted based on the local media reports.

One third of trading platforms hacked: U.S. Homeland Security

South Korea is not alone in these cryptocurrency exchanges breaches. As a study funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security indicated that nearly one third of the bitcoin trading platforms had been hacked since the creation of bitcoin from 2009 to 2015 period. Following the hack, almost half of the bitcoin trading platforms were forced to close within the first six years.

Moreover, one of the biggest heist occurred at Tokyo’s MtGox exchange in early 2014, where around USD350 million values in bitcoins were pickpocketed by the hackers. It was heard that two years after the attack, many investors had yet to recover their deposits lost to the hacking.

Verdict

As the saying goes, “no risks, no gains”, cryptocurrency market being a new market does come with its own set of risks, and offers high return as well. The anonymity nature of the cryptocurrency has also made its perfect target for hackers, especially among the big exchanges where huge amount of cryptocurrency were stored.

Regulating and policing of this industry are still in its infancy and may need more time for the various authorities to plan and implement them to mitigate the cryptocurrency risk effectively.

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The price dropped a little over the weekend, and is currently hovering just over $4100, according to reports from Coindesk.

The value of Bitcoin has been climbing throughout 2017, and has quadrupled in value since the start of the year, with the value almost doubling in August. Until now, Bitcoin had never managed to surpass the $3000 mark.

Bitcoin has been in rough waters during this month as a result of a fork, with the Bitcoin Cash spin-off emerging to challenge Bitcoin in a move that could have seen the value plummeting.

Despite tension amongst investors, Bitcoin demonstrated its resilience and only increased in value, whilst the competing fork Bitcoin Cash is currently floating far below it’s peak price.

Projections from Goldman Sachs estimate that the value of Bitcoin will top out just below $5000, and may well plummet to half that value immediately after.

This analysis is based on the ‘Elliot Wave’ principle, a trend in financial statistics that predicts; after five consecutive surges in price due to market impulses a product will enter a ‘corrective’ phase and it’s value and growth will normalize.

However, unlike most currencies, the total circulation of Bitcoin is fixed at 21 million digital Bitcoins. This suggests that as larger institutions and more people accept cryptocurrencies as an aspect of daily life, they will become far more in demand than could ever hope to be supplied. This will skyrocket the value of Bitcoin.

Many groups are already showing significant interest in securing vast quantities of Bitcoin, perhaps hoping to cash out at the perfect opportunity or those who need to hide their activities from increasingly pervasive state and corporate surveillance.

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