Nearly 3,000 Bitcoin Miners Exposed Online Via Telnet Ports, Without Passwords (bleepingcomputer.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bleeping Computer: Dutch security researcher Victor Gevers has discovered 2,893 Bitcoin miners left exposed on the internet with no passwords on their Telnet port. Gevers told Bleeping Computer in a private conversation that all miners process Bitcoin transactions in the same mining pool and appear to belong to the same organization. "The owner of these devices is most likely a state sponsored/controlled organization part of the Chinese government, " Gevers says, basing his claims on information found on the exposed miners and IP addresses assigned to each device. "At the speed they were taken offline, it means there must be serious money involved," Gevers added. "A few miners is not a big deal, but 2,893 [miners] working in a pool can generate a pretty sum." According to a Twitter user, the entire network of 2,893 miners Gevers discovered could generate an income of just over $1 million per day, if mining Litecoin.

Comments

Re: TELNET????

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh, hate to break this to you but ALL modern non-commodity currencies are "made up of thin air" if you THINK about it.

Do you think a few pieces of green paper are really a fair trade for a hamburger without that "magic" quality?

Why should bitcoin be any different than the ephemeral value of the fanciful and invented concept of the "dollar"?