Day: July 22, 2017

Credit card fraud has always been a problem for digital payments. It has become increasingly easy for criminals to obtain credit card information, either by keylogging user information or by hacking online retailers. It now appears Russian hackers have put together a compendium of sorts which allows anyone to abuse stolen credit card information with relative ease. Making card fraud easier for Russian hackers is the last thing the world needs.

Carding is a Serious Problem

It is quite remarkable to see how online crime has evolved over the past few years. Credit card fraud has always been a big problem. It appears this situation only gets worse as time goes by. The number of credit cards stolen from online retailers or through other cyber attacks has risen almost every single year. Putting a stop to the abuse of stolen card information continues to be a very steep uphill battle.

When security researchers stumbled across a six-week online course teaching Russian hackers how to card goods and services using stolen credit card information, things took a turn for the worse. This course is open to anyone as long as they speak Russian well enough to understand its guidelines. An online fraud and carding course is not something to be taken lightly, and it poses a significant security risk to credit card holders worldwide.

This particular online course is called WWH and costs participants about US$760, payable in either Bitcoin or WebMoney. WebMoney essentially supports Bitcoin as well, giving cryptocurrency enthusiasts two separate ways to pay for this course with Bitcoin. There is an extra $200 fee for all of the course materials required to successfully complete this “educative program.”

Over the course of six weeks, the WWH course touches upon twenty different topics, all of which pertain to credit card fraud. There is a strong focus on how one can find vulnerable shops for carding purposes, as well as how to abuse PayPal, E-Gifts, dropshipping, and much more. The final session explores carding on eBay, which has become somewhat of a carder’s heaven in recent years. Credit cards are an integral part of eBay and PayPal, making them prone targets to carding attempts.

This online course is about much more than just reading PDFs containing tips and tricks. Students will interact with five different expert instructors through live webinars. It is unclear how these webinars take place. This WWH course is on par with regular university courses, as it oozes professionalism and the intent to share knowledge. The “teachers” claim they will continue to update course materials on a regular basis.

Courses like these are designed to take carding to a whole new level. Not every cyber criminal is cut out for hacking or malware distribution. Credit card fraud and carding are accessible to anyone and everyone, especially now that we have a dedicated course in place to teach the basics. It will be interesting to see what kind of effect this course has on online payment fraud over the next few years. The total amount of financial damages will probably continue to rise.

Bitcoin users have kept a close eye on the BIP91 lock-in period. This lock-in has now been secured with relative ease. However, there is no reason to get your hopes up just yet, as this lock-in period means nothing until things change on the network itself. Signaling intent for a solution and effectively supporting its activation are two very different things. Things can still take a very different turn from here on out.

Where Do We Go From Here After Locking in BIP91?

Locking in BIP91 was an enormous feat. It required over 80% of the total hashpower to signal intent for this solution, and one can safely say the mining pools and community came together for the greater good. At the same time, this was only a small victory in a lengthy war and things are not set in stone.  

With the lock-in secured, the Bitcoin network is now in a grace period. There will be a period of time until non-SegWit blocks are rejected by the network. This is a big change, even though the majority of the network is seeming to signal SegWit blocks. SegWit2x and USF signals are both considered “valid,” whereas pools or miners signaling Bitcoin Unlimited, for example, will see their blocks rejected. This rejection period will go into effect very soon.

Despite all of this positive momentum, there is no guarantee for a successful SegWit activation. It could be activated instead as BIP141. While BIP91 signals intent to support BIP141’s SegWit, it is merely based on hashpower. If mining pools and miners were to pull out suddenly, there would be nothing anyone could do to prevent it. Considering how very few economic nodes support BIP91 right now, it seems unlikely we will see a “pure” activation of Segregated Witness.

If the majority of miners changed their mind, they would risk being forked off the main Bitcoin blockchain. That would result in the chain split people are so desperately trying to avoid. BIP91 was introduced to make SegWit2x and the UASF compatible to avoid a chain split. However, it could end up being the catalyst for an actual network split, which is still a possible outcome at this stage.

For the time being, there is no evidence to suggest that miners would suddenly turn their backs on BIP91. However, just because this small milestone has been reached does not mean everything will be smooth sailing. The miners will follow the largest chain, regardless of whether or not it supports “pure” Segregated Witness. It also means the minority supporting the BIP91 soft fork can be ignored by the rest of the network in a few weeks from now.

This “public intent to signal for something” is nothing more than an empty promise by miners and mining pools. Now is the time for these individuals to put their money where their mouth is and make Bitcoin scale properly, regardless of political shenanigans.  Assuming things remain as they are now, we will see the first steps toward activating SegWit in about a week’s time.

Miners Beware – FairCoin Activates Cooperative Blockchain

Combining content creation with blockchain technology makes perfect sense. This is especially true when one is looking to create a timestamped proof of authenticity which cannot be altered by a third-party service provider. Po.et, a new platform focusing on providing blockchain-based timestamped metadata for digital publishers, announced four different partnerships. One of the partners is none other than The Merkle.

Po.Et Welcomes The Merkle and Others as Partners

Digital publishers must always look for new ways to embrace disruptive technologies. Any digital publisher should be looking into utilizing blockchain technology, but that is much easier said than done in most cases. To that end, Po.et aims to provide a convenient service to all. The startup utilizes blockchain technology and timestamped metadata to create new licensing opportunities. It is an ingenious system which will change the world of digital publishing.

Po.et’s team wants to pursue a few main objectives over the coming years. The platform is designed to bridge the gap between digital publishing and blockchain technology. Its team aims to provide publishing, licensing, and authentication of digital assets moving forward. Document integrity, for example, can be a problematic aspect when relying on traditional records and safekeeping methods. Thanks to Po.et, that will no longer be a problem.

Their entire platform is based on the Bitcoin blockchain. Many people would expect a service such as Poet to focus on Ethereum technology, yet the team has made a conscious decision to choose Bitcoin instead. That is not entirely surprising, since the Ethereum blockchain lost its immutable factor once the DAO hard fork was introduced a year ago. The Po.et team will use smart contract functionality and applications to facilitate the distribution of digital creative works.

As exciting as this new project sounds, its developers are already looking to add future improvements. A digital media licensing marketplace will be added in a future version of the Po.et project. There will also be an asset wallet for all creative digital assets, which will open up new opportunities for licensing and monetization. The end goal is to create an open blockchain-based protocol for decentralized media applications. 

Now that Po.et has four partners on board already – including The Merkle – things can start moving quickly. Every partner will display a verification badge on articles registered on the Bitcoin blockchain in the form of an asset. This asset will include information such as its title, owner, author, and tags. There will also be a historical timeline of events for every recorded asset to create complete transparency regarding the entity responsible for registering the asset in question. As a digital publisher, The Merkle is proud to partner with Po.et and benefit from time-stamped articles recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Services such as Po.et show how the world of blockchain technology is evolving on a global scale. It also shows the Bitcoin blockchain can be used for so much more than just payments and financial solutions. It will be quite interesting to see how Po.et decides to integrate their future smart contract technology. Even though the platform is still in its alpha version, Po.et has the potential to change digital publishing irreversibly.

Wanna Go to College with Bitcoin?

The Hansa darknet marketplace has been shut down by law enforcement officials. This news comes as a big surprise, considering the AlphaBay platform disappeared not too long ago as well. These are troublesome times for darknet users, as law enforcement officials seemingly have their finger on the pulse of every marketplace in existence right now. So what is the next step will be for both the darknet and its users?

Hansa is No More Thanks to Law Enforcement Agencies

It is not entirely surprising to see two of the top darknet marketplace be put out of business quickly. The disappearance of AlphaBay was more than just a coincidence, and it became clear that this was the work of law enforcement agencies. They arrested several people, including the alleged operator of the AlphaBay darknet market itself. That person later on committed suicide in his cell.

Late last night, news broke that the Hansa darknet marketplace was taken offline through a similar action. Considering the Hansa team only recently announced they would ban Fentanyl sales altogether, this was a surprising development.  Many people felt this would send a positive signal to other darknet marketplace operators. Getting rid of one of the most dangerous types of drugs in the world is a smart decision, but it did not prevent law enforcement officials from shutting down the marketplace. Many people will be disappointed that Hansa is gone.

Law enforcement agents were able to successfully infiltrate the Hansa marketplace. This joint venture by Europol and the US Department of Justice has resulted in eliminating one of the largest threats the world has seen to date. These two agencies were also aided by the Dutch police, the FBI, and the DEA. This goes to show it takes a lot of coordination and effort to bring down these marketplaces successfully.

The most intriguing aspect is how authorities were able to shut down Hansa before they focused their attention on AlphaBay. This might confuse some people, since Hansa was still online for days after AlphaBay went offline suddenly. That was merely a ruse, as the Hansa market was infiltrated well before AlphaBay, thanks to the help of a Lithuanian hosting provider. Control of the Hansa servers fell into the hands of agents back on June 20th, yet they purposefully kept the darknet marketplace online to collect more information.

This also means all of the users who frequented both AlphaBay and Hansa have been exposed to law enforcement agencies. It is believed over 10,000 user records and profiles have been collected from both operations, which means thousands of people can expect a visit from their local police officers. Whether or not any action will be taken against these users, remains to be seen.

The darknet is undergoing some major changes, although they will affect users negatively. Law enforcement agencies need to crack down on darknet users, and not just the people who actively sell goods and services. Any marketplace which has gained a lot of traction is currently at risk of being infiltrated by law enforcement agents. It is unclear if additional operations can be expected in the future, but the war against the darknet is far from over.

The Japan Cryptocurrency Business Association has announced its plans in response to the BIP91 lock-in. Thirteen Japanese bitcoin exchanges are now prepared to halt bitcoin deposits and withdrawals earlier than the original date of August 1.

Also read: 13 Japanese Exchanges Agree to Suspend Bitcoin Service on August 1

Responding to BIP91 Lock-In

The Japan Cryptocurrency Business Association (JCBA) on Friday announced its response to the lock-in of BIP91 which occurred on Thursday. The notice followed the association’s announcement on Tuesday regarding the suspension of bitcoin deposits and withdrawals at Japanese bitcoin exchanges on August 1.

The JCBA’s response applies to bitcoin exchanges which are members of the association. They are Bitbank, Bitpoint Japan, Quoine, Fisco, Coincheck, Btc Box, Tech Bureau (Zaif Exchange), Gmo-Z.com Coin, Campfire Corporation, Bit Trade, Bitcrements Bitcoin Exchange, Tokyo Bitcoin, and Minnano Bitcoin.

Bitcoin Service Suspension Moved to July 23

The 13 exchanges originally planned to suspend bitcoin services on August 1, when the Bitcoin network split was expected. However, the association has moved the suspension date ahead of schedule because “there is a growing possibility that it [Bitcoin fork] will be introduced on July 23,” Nikkei reported the association saying. “Because we can not read the impact on the transactions, we will stop the transactions ahead of schedule.” The publication added:

The virtual currency exchanges that have joined the association will stop all deposits and withdrawals of bitcoins on the 23rd.

The association states that “the date and time shall be determined by each member’s judgment.” Some bitcoin exchange members have already announced their plans independently.

Coincheck, for example, announced on Friday that in the event of a fork on July 23, it will suspend bitcoin services that morning at 12:00 AM Japan time. The suspension affects bitcoin deposits and withdrawals as well as Coincheck payments service. “On July 23, 2017, the event of a fork of the Bitcoin protocol may happen. Initially, it was intended to happen on August 1st, but it may happen faster than anticipated,” the exchange wrote, adding that:

The resume date is unspecified, but we expect to resume our services within several hours to several days only when we know that users’ assets are safe for sure. Also, if we decide that a Bitcoin fork will not take place on July 23, 2017, 12:00 am, the suspension of services will not happen.

Other exchanges including Bitpoint, Bit Trade, Fisco, Zaif, and Gmo-Z Coin have also announced that they will suspend bitcoin services on July 23, if a fork occurs. None of them have posted a date of when their services will resume. “If we judge that accepting and withdrawing bitcoins is no longer a problem, we will promptly notify you,” Gmo-Z Coin wrote.

What do you think will happen on July 23? Let us know in the comments section below.

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