Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Bitcoinica Breach Nets Hackers $87,000 In Bitcoins

Posted by Soulskill on from the stealing-your-imaginary-money dept.

dynamo52 sends this quote from Ars about a breach involving a Bitcoin exchange: "More than $87,000 worth of the virtual currency known as Bitcoin was stolen after online bandits penetrated servers belonging to Bitcoinica, prompting its operators to temporarily shutter the trading platform to contain the damage. Friday's theft came after hackers accessed Bitcoinica's production servers and depleted its online wallet of 18,547 BTC, as individual Bitcoin units are called, company officials said in a blog post published on Friday. It said the heist affected only a small fraction of Bitcoinica's overall bitcoin deposits and that all withdrawal requests will be honored once the platform reopens." Reader linhares points out a forum post discussing how the attacker(s) hinted at a 'mass leak' in the near future. This attack comes shortly after a leak of a different sort — an FBI document (PDF) about Bitcoin found it way onto the internet. It seems they're worried about the virtual currency's potential use in criminal activities.

7 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. Re:And nothing of value was lost. by Xtifr · · Score: 4, Informative

    Another Bitcoin story, another opportunity to learn about pyramid schemes and how they never work out for most people...

    "It is completely incorrect to describe Bitcoin as a 'pyramid scheme.' Technically, it’s a 'pump-and-dump.'"

    From: http://newstechnica.com/2011/06/18/bitcoin-to-revolutionise-the-economy/

  2. Re:And nothing of value was lost. by Statecraftsman · · Score: 4, Informative

    If Bitcoin were a pump and dump don't you think it would have disappeared after the initial bubble? The fact that it continues to grow in transaction volume and in price stability doesn't count for anything?

  3. Re:That last bit there in the summary... by bmo · · Score: 3, Informative

    Indeed.

    There was a jeweller in town who is in prison for the rest of his life and a few hundred years after that because he did conversion of cash to gold and back to cash for the mob.

    Exchanging cash for gold is not illegal
    Exchanging gold for cash is not illegal
    Exchanging cash -> gold -> cash in order to help someone hide where his cash came from is so illegal it is more illegal than most crimes of violence and more illegal than the original crimes of drug dealing, numbers running, bookmaking, etc.

    --
    BMO

  4. Re:As someone who pumped and dumped... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    THIS.

    So... Let me get this straight... The OP AC thinks BTC is "a failed experiment" because it can't be used to get free money anymore?

    WTF?

  5. they're not untraceable by YesIAmAScript · · Score: 4, Informative

    And they're not designed to be untraceable.

    --
    http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
  6. Re:And nothing of value was lost. by makomk · · Score: 4, Informative

    Not just financial service providers either. Apparently the #1 seller on Silk Road, the anonymous drugs marketplace, recently did a runner with the Bitcoins he was paid over the 4/20 rush and didn't actually fulfill any of his orders. Turns out that anonymous reputation systems aren't sufficient to protect against scammers. Whoever would have guessed?

  7. Re:And nothing of value was lost. by Xtifr · · Score: 3, Informative

    Geeze, did you even see the headline here on Slashdot? It explicitly refers to "$87,000 in Bitcoins", which pretty strongly suggests that there is a non-zero value to a bitcoin.

    In any case, if you don't like the line I quoted, go bitch at the guy who wrote the NewsTechnica article, not me. Though I might try investing in a sense of humor first, so the joke doesn't go over your head again. :)