Day: August 15, 2017

Legendary Bitcoin trader who called 2013 bubble and subsequent bear market believes that a wild ride is coming, as Bitcoin prices will soon reach five figures.

AdEx, an international decentralized advertising network that is developing a blockchain-powered infrastructure for online ad market has announced it has partnered with NEO, a China-based open source blockchain.

Earlier AdEx planned to use Ethereum blockchain, however, it has seemingly opted otherwise after studying what NEO has to offer.

ADX, the platform’s native token issued over the course of the campaign, has peaked several times so far, and is currently traded at the price of $0.80, which is the coin’s all-time high. Its exchange rate skyrocketed immediately after the partnership was announced.

Neo was initially founded in 2014 under the name of Antshares. After the rebranding, it has become the country’s biggest blockchain infrastructure. The project claims that its main goal is to promote the emergence of what it calls ‘smart economy’.

AdEx has recently released their core smart contracts on Ethereum that would underlie its advertising network, AdEx Core.

“We see the huge potential of NEO and this is why we are aiming at becoming the first NEO-based DApp,” Ivo Georgiev, CEO and founder of AdEx, commented. “We are excited about porting the AdEx core as we are convinced this will increase the efficiency of our advertising network.”

AdEx is now engaged in developing a prototype of their service. Even though the project’s roadmap suggested that it would be released as early as next February, the team expects to finish it a few months earlier.

Tony Dao, the secretary general of Neo Council, added:

“We are looking forward to AdEx moving its core to the NEO ecosystem. We are positive that DApps will help us push the Smart Economy further, and AdEx is an excellent trailblazer for this.”

AdEx seeks to tackle issues found in contemporary online advertising, which includes ad fraud, privacy problems, and the issue of informed consent.

The news on the newly announced partnership come in the wake of a successful token creation event held by AdEx which raised 40,008 ETH.

Bitcoin price gains are impressive. But when compared to traditional asset investment, how big is big, and are there downsides?

Not too long ago, we received word that one of India’s largest Bitcoin exchanges had been affected by a data breach. Contrary to what most people expected, the main objective of the hackers was not to steal funds directly from the company. Rather, they were after the email addresses of customers, who were swiftly bombarded with emails pertaining to a nonexistent cryptocurrency ICO. 

Cryptocurrency ICOs are a Tool for Criminals

It was only a matter of time until nefarious individuals looked to utilize cryptocurrency ICOs for their own gain. Even though various ICO projects have suffered from hacks and scams over the past few months, it looks like some criminals are upping their game. The email vendor for India’s UnoCoin exchange was recently targeted in a successful hack. It is not the first time a Bitcoin exchange has been compromised by criminals, but it does not often happen that the criminals will fail to extract funds when they do so.

That is exactly what transpired with UnoCoin recently. Although UnoCoin avoided a disaster, the criminals were not seeking financial gain in the first place. Instead, they were after a far more valuable commodity in the form of customer email addresses. These addresses were successfully obtained from the company’s email vendor. Third-party service providers always pose a security risk.

Those email addresses could easily be obtained through other methods. Cryptocurrency users are often targeted by phishing campaigns trying to redirect them to fake Bitcoin wallet websites or bogus exchanges. In the case of UnoCoin customer email addresses, they took an entirely different approach. All of these users received an email regarding the so-called UnoCoin ICO. Considering how the Indian exchange has no ICO plans, this message was received with a lot of skepticism and confusion alike.

NOTICE: A hacker is attempting to solicit customer funds by stating that Unocoin is undergoing an ICO, this is NOT an email from our team.

— Unocoin (@Unocoin) August 12, 2017

The email in question contains a link to a website posing as a legitimate ICO organized by the Unocoin team. It is possible some of the platform’s users will fall for the trick as the page looks fairly professional. The company has warned its users about this fake email and reiterated that no one should participate or send any money to the purported ICO address.

Given the rise in popularity of cryptocurrency ICOs, it is not surprising to see this development. A lot of dumb money and uneducated investors have flocked to these opportunities over the past few months. Anything that looks even remotely legitimate will draw people’s attention these days. That is especially true if a big name such as UnoCoin is allegedly behind the ICO even though this is not the case.  It is likely we will see more such scam ICOs in the future.

Cryptocurrency users really need to consider the potential impact of cryptocurrency ICOs on the overall ecosystem. Everyone and their dog is trying to raise money for projects that may never succeed in the long run. Some of those projects may turn out to be utter scams in the end. Always be wary of emails regarding ICOs sent to you by unknown entities. The fact that it seemingly has a company name attached to it does not mean it’s legitimate.

The post Enterprise Ethereum Alliance Expands Legal Industry Working Group appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Recent disclosures by members of Ukraine’s legislature revealed that three lawmakers have a combined wealth in bitcoin worth more than $45 million.

The digital age has redefined many different aspects of what it means to be human. One of those areas is education, with the advent of online classes and online degrees. A specific type of online class is the MOOC, and it is a really interesting concept. No, MOOCs are not a goofy name you use disparagingly with your friends. Rather, they are well-respected and often very popular forms of online education. Let’s take a few minutes to learn what a MOOC is and how it can be beneficial to users (like you!).

What is a MOOC?

MOOCs are Massive Open Online Courses which hope to have large amounts of participation and reinvent the way we think about further education. Taking these courses generally is much cheaper than attending brick and mortar campuses, and can often be free if they do not offer certifications. For those people who wish to learn for the sake of learning, these are the sort of courses they have been looking for. For those who want to acquire an accreditation or certificate for their newly learned skills, they will often find that MOOCs are an affordable alternative to universities and other traditional forms of learning.

Just because MOOCs are not based on brick and mortar campuses and are usually less expensive does not mean that they necessarily suffer from a lower quality of education. Many well-renowned schools offer MOOCs of their own for public participation. Stanford, MIT, University College London, and other prestigious schools all offer MOOCs. The main goal of MOOCs is clear, though: to shake up academia and open access to knowledge for everyone with an internet connection.

While there are a plethora of platforms where MOOCs can live including proprietary school websites, most people will probably be familiar with the site Coursera. On sites like Coursera, hundreds of MOOCs from different sources are available to users. Non-certificate courses are completely free, and certificate courses are reasonably priced.

Why are MOOCs Important?

Everything that digital technology touches is irreversibly altered. MOOCs and other forms of online classes have the potential to help educate the entirety of the world. Much like how Bitcoin and the blockchain empower people worldwide to be their own banks and free themselves from centralized institutions, MOOCs and other open learning courses are helping individuals learn valuable skills and gain useful knowledge in more decentralized settings. Indeed, there are even entire MOOCs devoted to teaching people about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

While brick and mortar campuses will always be bastions of knowledge, they are not for everyone and higher learning need not be limited within their walls alone. We are witnessing the beginning of the educational revolution where everyone with internet access can have similar academic opportunities to those attending physical schools. Additionally, MOOCs offer things that other forms of education cannot, like flexible class schedules and remote learning.

Decentralization and the digital age are some of the most disruptive forces changing the status quo for the better. MOOCs are just another example of how decentralization can empower people on a global scale.

EEA welcomes new members to its legal group.

Cybercriminals have been targeting specific communities in recent days. Polski ransomware has mainly targeted Polish users. NotPetya targeted Ukrainians. IsraByte is a new tool designed to make life difficult for Israelis. It is a data wiper disguised as ransomware, making it a highly potent threat. Security researchers came across this malware not too long ago, and it appears a dedicated distribution campaign is underway.

IsraByte is a Serious Threat

No one should take IsraByte lightly right now, as it could prove to be a major problem for any infected user. The malware is designed to steal and wipe data from infected systems, even though it disguises itself as a new ransomware strain. It appears that IsraByte has been around since last month but only recently gained attention. This malware will cause a lot of problems in the future; that much is evident.

New types of malware are never released without a well-thought-out plan. In the case of IsraByte, the distribution of this malware comes at a time at which Israel has suffered from the umpteenth major political incident caused by the country’s officials. Israeli officials installed new security measures at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, which was widely considered a major intrusion at a major Islamic holy site. Indeed, security cameras at one of the world’s most famous mosques sound like something designed to stir up the community.

This does seem to indicate that Palestinian developers are behind the IsraByte malware, although that has not been officially confirmed. Considering that it is a data wiper toolkit, its consequences could be quite significant. IsraByte is a modular type of malware, meaning it can take on many different functions. In fact, the functionality of this data wiper is presently spread across five different executables.

Once the IsraByte executable is launched, it will start slowly deleting files on the infected system. It will also get rid of any information stored on attached drives, including USB and Internet-connected shares. Indeed, no data is safe. All of the files will have their contents replaced by a random string which includes “Fuck Israel” and the threat that files will “never be recovered until Israel disappears.” It is a disturbing concept that clearly gets the message across.

And that is why IsraByte is not your average ransomware strain. No files are encrypted, but they are utterly destroyed and rendered useless. After all files on the computer and drives are destroyed completely, four new executables will be launched. Every executable has its own purpose, including changing the desktop wallpaper and copying the IsraByte executable to the root of other drives in order to spread the malware. This malware has a lot of potential in the long run, although it will continue to target Israelis first and foremost.

The final executable will display a ransomware screen. However, there are no payment instructions provided. Rather, the criminals simply inform victims that they can only recover files once Palestine has been recovered and security cameras at the Al-Aqsa mosque are removed. It is doubtful that will happen anytime soon, and thus the malware will not succeed at achieving its goal. This is a worrisome trend regardless, as data wipers are a very real threat nowadays.