Month: July 2017

Ripple, the distributed financial ledger solution for the mainstream banking industry has witnessed an implementation of its technology for remittance between Thailand and Japan. The new payment channel was recently set up by two of its partners, SBI Remit and Siam Commercial Bank. Cryptocurrencies are known to offer cheaper remittance options, thanks to their universal … Continue reading SBI Remit and Siam Commercial Bank Promote Remittance over Ripple Protocol

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New Guidance on Privacy from Blockfolio

In the world of biology, there are many different things we have yet to understand. Ants, for example, are one of the most ingenious species on the planet. Researchers have been baffled by how these insects find their way back to the nest and how this can be replicated. It appears using a tiny treadmill for ants solved a large part of the mystery.

Tiny Treadmill Results in Great Understanding

For those people who are unaware, ants often find their way back to the nest by using the sun as a navigational tool. Moreover, they also memorize the number of steps they have taken since leaving the nest. Whenever possible, ants will try to follow a direct path back to their home as a way to be more productive. Researchers have now developed tiny treadmills for ants to study their behavior more closely.

Creating a tiny treadmill to accommodate ants was not an easy feat, to say the least. Scientists relied on a Styrofoam ball and held the ants upright with dental floss. It sounds rather barbaric, but it doesn’t appear to be harming the ants in question. The construction of such a treadmill was planned well in advance, as the same method was used to figure out how other animals walk or run.

Desert ants are of great interest to scientists, as they have been for several decades. The unusual treadmill contraption has provided them with a lot of valuable insight. For example, we now know how desert ants find their way back to the nest. A mix of counting steps and using the sun for navigational purposes puts them on the mark nearly every single time. Unfortunately, ants can also get “lost,” which is something no scientists had considered up until this point.

What is rather remarkable is how the scientists had to effectively “tether” the ants to Styrofoam ball. Dental floss proves to be a great ally in this regard, as it seems to do the job just fine. One would somewhat expect ants to remain upright while walking over a slowly rotating ball, but that does not appear to be the case. Additionally, this contraption allowed the researchers to successfully record every movement made by the desert ant in question.

Plenty of people will be surprised to learn ants shared walking gaits and a change of walking pace with their human counterparts. It is rather odd to think of ants as having a gait, but that is evidently the case. Knowing ants are conscious about the number of steps they take to find their way back to the nest is quite fascinating as well, to say the least. Using the sun for orientation is how our ancestors traveled as well, which is rather remarkable.

Ants also have a “search mode” which is triggered one they realize they can’t get back to their nest in a straight line. As a result, they start to move around in loops until they pick up the orientation again. Because the Styrofoam ball changes directions in accordance with the ants’ movements, a lot of valuable data was recorded by the researchers.

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Image Source: BBC

Bankruptcy for Bancor Popular and two Italian banks has been averted. More bailouts anticipated.

Today, ATMs must reinvent themselves.

Everyone in the world is well aware of how consumer privacy is only taken semi-seriously by most service providers. Some companies do a better job than others, but there are very troublesome exceptions on the other end of the spectrum as well. One Hong Kong-based online retailer feels password protection is optional. Users can sign into their private account by just providing an email address. This platform is evidently asking for trouble.

A Bad Password is Better Than no Password

We live in the year 2017 and for some reason, there are still sites who feel passwords are an optional security measure. While it is true a lot of consumers use terrible passwords to protect their accounts and information, the option should always be there as a minimum security measure. Strawberrynet, a well-known Hong Kong online retailer, feels passwords are a thing of the past. Instead, they let users log in with just an email address, which is anything but secure.

It is unclear why the company cares so little about customer privacy, though. Considering the platform is often visited by people who want to buy things – and store their payment information accordingly – such a lack of protection is absolutely disgusting. An express checkout feature is one thing, but not asking for any form of proper authentication is just mind boggling.

One could argue this is a temporary measure which is currently being addressed by the Strawberrynet site developers. Unfortunately, that is not the case, as the entire platform has been built purposefully to avoid using passwords for the express checkout system. There is no reason anyone can justify such a decision, that much is certain. Moreover, it is impossible to comprehend no one pointed out this issue before and made a big deal of it.

In fact, one security researcher started investigating the platform in August of 2016. By correctly “guessing” an email address, he was able to view that particular customer’s name and address, as well as home and mobile phone numbers. Thankfully, no payment information was exposed, even though this clear lack of protection is still quite worrisome. Moreover, the researcher could modify existing account data except for payment information, which is not a good sign.

Don’t be mistaken in thinking Strawberrynet is not aware of this problem. The researcher reported his findings to the company, who promptly replied how “authenticating with just an email address provides sufficient security.” Such a lackluster stance toward proper consumer information protection is absolutely unacceptable. The company started obfuscating customer information, but a click “View Source:” of the web page still shows sensitive information stored in clear text values.

After facing a ton of public backlash for this security issue, it now appears Strawberrynet will finally let customers opt-in to enable password security. It only took them nearly a full year to finally implement a security feature which should have been present from day one. Anyone who takes their online privacy seriously and uses Strawberrynet for shopping purpose should move to a different platform asap.

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It is never a good sign when a popular online wallet service provider gets hijacked. Ethereum Classic enthusiasts may have heard about what happened to ClassicEtherWallet. It appears cybercriminals successfully hijacked the website, which means users could risk losing funds. For the time being, those who run the software client on their computer should not be affected by this problem.

ClassicEtherWallet.com Is Not Safe Right Now

Late last night, the ClassicEtherwallet domain and website were successfully hijacked by an unknown attacker. A new piece of code had been implemented on the website, which is a clear attempt to steal users’ private keys. It is unclear who is behind this attack, but it is evident a lot of Ethereum Classic enthusiasts had funds at risk. Rest assured there will be a fair bit of speculation regarding this attack over the coming days.

Classic Ether Wallet domain has been hijacked via social engineering. Do NOT use to send tx's or to view address. Will result in loss.

— Ethereum Classic (@eth_classic) June 30, 2017

It is important to note this hijacking never affected the API on MyEtherWallet, the project’s GitHub page or the associated Chrome extension. This particular issue only affects the ClassicEtherWallet website, and anyone who was unfortunate enough to pass their wallet’s private key on the platform during the time of this attack. There are still a lot of uncertainties regarding whether or not the issue has been rectified so far, although a cautious approach remains more than warranted for now.

According to various sources, someone successfully hijacked the ClassicEtherWallet domain name through social engineering. This means someone has been in contact with the domain registrar and successfully provided enough information to gain ownership of the domain name. No one knows for sure what information has been provided or how it was obtained in the first place, though. Social engineering attacks are not all that uncommon, unfortunately.

All of this highlights the importance of using a proper cryptocurrency wallet at all times. We recently highlighted different Ethereum Classic wallet solutions, including ClassicEtherWallet. All of the other alternatives are still safe from harm for the time being. A hardware wallet solution, such as the Ledger Nano S, will always be the best option, though. It keeps private keys and funds safe from harm at any given time.

Additionally, the upcoming Ethereum Classic Emerald Wallet may alleviate a lot of these concerns as well. We will know more once the beta version of the wallet is released, which is expected to take place in the coming weeks. Secure solutions are in high demand, that much is evident. Anyone who keeps funds in ClassicEtherWallet is still safe, as long as they have not logged in by pasting their private key over the past 24 hours. For now, it is anybody’s guess if and how much ETC may have been stolen due to this hijacking attack.

Thankfully, the Classic Ether Wallet team has gotten some help from Cloudflare to resolve this issue. More specifically, the ClassicEtherWallet.com website is now marked as a suspected phishing site, until the platform is fully operational again. It is always better to warn people about a potential phishing site even if the threat has subsided. For now, the ETC community is anxiously waiting to see how this situation will develop.

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While most people have all but forgotten about the WannaCry ransomware attack, residents of the Ukraine are dealing with a clone of this destructive malware. More specifically, it is one of the many ransomware campaigns targeting Ukraine specifically, which is quite problematic. This new clone does not have an official name yet, but it shows clear similarities to WannaCry.

Ukraine is a big Target for Ransomware Attacks

It is unclear why we currently have so many malware campaigns targeting Ukrainian consumers and corporations. Four different distribution campaigns have been discovered so far, although it is possible that number will continue to increase over the coming months. More specifically, the latest distribution campaign spreads a clone of the infamous WannaCry ransomware to as many people as possible. That is quite a problematic development, to say the least.

So far, several samples of this unnamed malware have been submitted to VirusTotal. A preliminary analysis shows it is flagged as a WannaCry clone, although no one knows for sure who is behind this particular malware strain. It does appear the malware has been in circulation since Monday, which makes it a precursor to the recent NotPetya global cyber warfare attack.

Security researchers have uncovered one particular aspect of this WannaCry clone, though. It appears the ransomware component can be found in a program directory on the hard drive which is specific to the M.E.Doc IS-pro software. More specifically, this particular software is a very popular accounting tool in the Ukraine. It is not the first time the program’s update servers have been used to launch malware attacks this year. This seems to hint at how someone has successfully hijacked the update server for malicious purposes.

The company responsible for developing this accounting software denies any allegations of hosting trojanized versions of its app. That is quite interesting, considering multiple security research companies have confirmed the ransomware attack is originating from their servers. An official investigation is underway to get to the bottom of this problem and make sure no further attacks can be linked to the company.

It is evident this new ransomware is designed to look like WannaCry, even though it offers nothing spectacular. It is a visual clone, but that is where the similarities end. Under the hood, it is a very different type of malware, considering it is coded in .NET rather than C. It also doesn’t use an NSA exploit to spread itself, which makes it less of a threat to the entire world. It is evident a lot of ransomware developers want to ride the coattails of popular malware types.

The bigger question is why someone is deliberately targeting the Ukraine with so many ransomware attacks right now. It is almost as if someone has an actual grudge against the entire country, for some unknown reason. Four different ransomware attacks against one country in the span of just a few months is very problematic, to say the least. It is certainly possible this is all part of a larger cyber warfare threat which remains shrouded in mystery for the time being.

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A new proposal from Ethereum Foundation developer Nick Johnson takes aim at what some are calling chronic issues with ICOs.

Source

Considering how the Internet is for porn, and Bitcoin is the internet of money, it is evident BTC and adult content mix well. Quite a few adult content platforms accept Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payments, for obvious reasons. We have taken a look at some of the top platforms accepting Bitcoin to date, which can be found below. Do keep in mind there are a lot more adult content companies who accept Bitcoin, though.

6. Livejasmin

Everyone who has ever browsed the internet for adult content will have come across the Livejasmin platform. The company is famous for its live webcam stream of adult content, where users can pay to interact with the streamer. Over the past decade or so, Livejasmin has become a household name in the adult content industry. The company started accepting Bitcoin payments quite some time ago, and it appears they are doing quite well since making this switch.

5. Chaturbate

One of the many popular adult websites to accept Bitcoin payments goes by the name of Chaturbate. The platform has been around since 2011 and built up a solid reputation in the industry due to their live streams of erotic and pornographic performances. It is a platform where people can chat with others and have a good time, so to speak. User spend Bitcoin in the form of “tips” to make streamers perform specific actions. It has proven to be quite a popular business model to date, and that will not come to change anytime soon.

4. Xotika

When the Xotika platform launched, Bitcoin community members were quite impressed. It offers everything one would expect from an adult content platform, with a large focus on live interaction with streamers. Xotika started accepting cryptocurrency payments from day one and has quickly grown to become a big player in the cryptocurrency-adult content industry. Future improvements will be made to the platform over the coming years, as the company is only just getting started, by the look of things.

3. Playboy Plus

Although technically not your typical adult content website, Playboy Plus is quite popular among adult content enthusiasts. The company started accepting Bitcoin payments a few years ago, thanks to the integration of BitPay services. There are multiple membership plans to choose from, which include access to HD photos and videos. It is good to see such prominent companies pay attention to Bitcoin as well.

2. Porn.com

It is not entirely surprising to see Porn.com accept Bitcoin payments. This adult content service provider feels Bitcoin has a bright future in the adult sector, thus accepting it as a payment for their premium service makes a lot of sense. Using Bitcoin as a payment method gives users access to unlimited HD streaming, no advertisements, and a very large DVD archive library. Considering how the platform offers a vast library of adult content, Bitcoin users have taken a liking to this platform for obvious reasons.

1. Naughty America

If there is one major pornographic video content creator everyone knows, it has to be Naughty America. This particular company has been around since 2001 and continues to bring quality adult content to the industry as a whole. Knowing such a major player in the industry accepts Bitcoin payments is quite significant, to say the least. Bitcoin and the adult industry create a very powerful mix, that much no one can deny.

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The church/charity ecosystem is in the billions of dollars globally. The Waves based Krosscoin project is a multifaceted project and multinational team that aims to bring much needed and overdue solutions to the church and charity space. Krosscoin will assist big ministries in migrating to the blockchain where products and materials can be paid for by krosscoin or their native asset.

Krosscoin will also create a matching pair with them to promote liquidity. Krosscoin innovative products will also have a global market with applications for different purposes. Ribbon is its first product and will be released at the end of July.

Ribbon is the world’s first multilingual in-messaging app. It boasts of other features which the Krosscoin core team will disclose shortly before its release.

The Krosscoin team however being the first coin to provide solutions for Churches, NGOs and Charities, actually has a global outlook. They plan to participate in the disruption of several industries such as ecommerce ( a product is being developed for that already), banking, business solutions, media, gaming, government, transportation, oil and gas and international remittance. They also aim to merge virtual gaming with real time charity, an interesting thing to see.

Krosscoin has a very strong community on Facebook and on its slack channel, comprising of people from all over the world. The Waves platform and community is definitely benefiting from the strong Krosscoin ecosystem.

Mark Zuckerberg announced on Instagram  that Facebook is changing its mission to not just merely connect the world (which they have done very remarkably) but to also promote unity and togetherness, to connect vitally. Krosscoin seems to be at the forefront in this regard to make this possible. It’s logo ‘’Lets make good happen’’ underscores the team’s mission.

Discalimer: This is not trading advice. If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.