03-19-2013, 05:40 PM
|
|
|
Purveyor, Fine Asian Porn
Industry Role:
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Posts: 38,323
|
From Wired (Dec 2012):
Quote:
The FBI sees the anonymous Bitcoin payment network as an alarming haven for money laundering and other criminal activity ? including as a tool for hackers to rip off fellow Bitcoin users.
That?s according to a new FBI internal report that leaked to the internet this week, which expresses concern about the difficulty of tracking the identify of anonymous Bitcoin users, while also unintentionally providing tips for Bitcoin users to remain more anonymous.
The report titled ?Bitcoin Virtual Currency: Unique Features Present Distinct Challenges for Deterring Illicit Activity,? (.pdf) was published April 24 and is marked For Official Use Only (not actually classified), but was leaked to the internet on Wednesday.
In the document, the FBI notes that because Bitcoin combines cryptography and a peer-to-peer architecture to avoid a central authority, contrary to how digital currencies such as eGold and WebMoney operated, law enforcement agencies have more difficulty identifying suspicious users and obtaining transaction records.
|
Quote:
|
?If Bitcoin stabilizes and grows in popularity, it will become an increasingly useful tool for various illegal activities beyond the cyber realm,? the FBI writes in the report. ?For instance, child pornography and Internet gambling are illegal activities already taking place on the Internet which require simple payment transfers. Bitcoin might logically attract money launderers, human traffickers, terrorists, and other criminals who avoid traditional financial systems by using the Internet to conduct global monetary transfers.?
|
Quote:
There have been several cases of hackers using malware to steal the currency in the virtual wallet stored on a user?s machine.
Last year, computer security researchers discovered malware called ?Infostealer.Coinbit? that was designed specifically to steal bitcoins from virtual Bitcoin wallets and transfer them to a server in Poland.
One Bitcoin user complained in a Bitcoin forum that 25,000 bitcoins had been stolen from an unencrypted Bitcoin wallet on his computer. Since the exchange rate for bitcoins at the time was about $20 per bitcoin, the value of his loss at the time was about $500,000. A popular web hosting company called Linode was also infiltrated by an attacker looking to pilfer bitcoins.
And there have also been cases of hackers attempting to use ?botnets? to generate bitcoins on compromised machines.
|
Caveat emptor... 
ADG |
|
|