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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.

4 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. 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
  4. 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?