Day: August 28, 2017

“If you want to succeed, you have to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you” is something we frequently hear from business gurus, entrepreneurs or VCs. And it’s true; even the most capable leaders will fail if they don’t find people who simply have more knowledge and experiences to help them maintain focus. … Continue reading WHY DOES BITCOIN LEGEND CHARLIE SHREM BELIEVE IN VIBERATE

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Consumers are growing increasingly concerned about the impending robot revolution. Not only could these machines take our jobs away, but the technology is also in the process of being weaponized by militaries worldwide. At the same time, however, robots can also bring a lot of joy to people’s lives. A new Guinness World Record has been set for the largest robot dance in the world. It looks like a lot of fun.

Dancing Robots are Oddly Cute

While Elon Musk and other industry leaders urge the UN to ban weaponized robotics altogether, other companies are looking to harness this technology for different purposes. Although Dobi robots are not necessarily designed to break world records, they somehow succeeded in doing exactly that. The company recently set a world record for the most simultaneous dancing robots. It looked as cute as it sounds, and also showed how this technology can be used for positive purposes as well.

Believe it or not, it is not the first time we have seen companies attempt to create dancing robots. There are many things one can do with robotics, other than trying to automate processes and potentially take people’s jobs. Robots are also designed to serve as companions to humans of all ages. Dancing robots are a great way to restore the public’s confidence in robots altogether, as the reputation of robotics has taken a serious hit over the past few years.

Breaking a Guinness World Record with dancing robots is not an easy task. The previous record involved quite a large number of simultaneously dancing robots, and breaking that record was quite challenging to say the least. In this case, Witoys deployed 1,069 F8 Dobi intelligent Humanoid Voice Control Multifunction RC Robots to demonstrate how cool a flash mob of dancing robots could look in the end. The result was pretty impressive, as you can see in the video below this article.

No one will be surprised this new record has been set in China, since the country is on the cutting edge of robotics development. China-based Witoys chose the Guangzhou location to successfully conduct its world record attempt. All of the robots used in this experiment were programmed by WL Intelligent Technology Co, Ltd. It turns out this entire venture was quite a success, although it could have easily failed as well. Some robots tipped over and were not counted as part of the final tally.

It is rather interesting to take a closer look at the Dobi robots themselves. With 17 different movable joints, they can pull off some of the more advanced dancing moves right now. They are also capable of completing other tasks, including singing, boxing, playing football, and pulling off some sick martial arts moves. It’s an all-around impressive robot, to say the least, and it more than warrants the US$330 price tag. Deploying over 1,000 of these robots is quite the marketing stunt by the company.

All of this goes to show there are plenty of positive impacts of robots as well. Events like these demonstrate the robotic industry should not only be feared, but also embraced as a complement to our human society. Given the skills and moves these particular robots can provide to the masses, interesting things will await us in the future. Although not everyone will buy a dancing robot, they demonstrate the artistic power of the robotic sector.

Vnesheconombank is partnering with the Russian government to establish a new blockchain and quantum computing research hub.

It has been a rough few weeks for the internet. Governments worldwide have been slowly surrounding and closing in on internet rights. China, Russia, and the United States have been the most audacious in their attacks. Let’s take a look at what has been going on in the fight for internet rights.

China Requires Name Verification for Commenting

Just a few days ago, China’s internet regulatory body announced that it would not be possible for unidentified citizens to comment on internet forums or in comment sections. Name verification will be required for prospective commenters. The new rules go into effect October 1st and apply to anything online that has an interactive communication aspect to it. If I am not mistaken, that would mean any Chinese citizen who would comment on even this very article would have to verifiy their name and online presence. That is outrageous and an egregious violation of the UN’s Declaration of Universal Human Rights.

China has a storied history of trying to control its citizens’ internet usage and consumption. The country has erected the notorious “great firewall of China,” banned VPNs, and even suggested social credit scores. This latest development adds to an already long list of internet rights violations.

Russia Arrests Internet Freedom Protesters

Ever since the Russian government voted to outlaw services like VPNs and proxies that its citizens were using to circumvent governmental bans, many in Russia have been up in arms about it. Some brave protesters took to the streets this past weekend in Moscow to let their government know their displeasure. They stayed out in the rain and a few were subjected to arrest by the Moscow police.

Protesting someone taking away your rights to information and privacy is an extremely noble endeavor. In fact, efforts by governments to restrict those rights in the digital age just seem futile. There will always be a way around such bans. This is especially true in the digital age, with many coders and other crafty internet users pushing back when someone says “you can’t see this.” Necessity is the mother of invention, and I suspect that Russia’s latest attempt to quell internet dissidence will be ineffectual.

The FCC Continues to Attack Net Neutrality

This is far from the first time that the Merkle has spoken out about net neutrality, but it is important to provide our readers with relevant updates that will affect them. Ajit Pai, the FCC chair, is championing the dismantlement of a 2015 regulatory order that kept ISPs from manipulating internet connection speeds and load times for specific sites. This was a flagrant violation of internet users’ rights because it allowed ISPs to make it incredibly difficult to access a site that may have a dissenting opinion, or a site that isn’t on a special list. Make no mistake: violations of net neutrality are violations of U.S. citizens’ first amendment rights and violations of the UN’s Universal Human Rights.

We will continue to monitor this front for our readers and provide updates as significant developments arise. For now, just remember that wherever you are in the world, the internet is your right. Do not forfeit it.

Connecticut-based REX ETF wants to offer investors a way to short the bitcoin market, according to new SEC filings.

A few industries are more prone to cyber attacks than others. Criminals are purposefully targeting the healthcare and education sectors as a way to improve their chances of scoring a big payday. According to Proofpoint researchers, the Defray ransomware family plays a large role in this new wave of attacks. Although there have only been two small attacks so far, there is plenty of reason to be concerned about what this ransomware family can achieve.

Defray Ransomware is a Big Problem

It was only a matter of time until cybercriminals started targeting the healthcare and education sectors again. We have seen various attacks against hospitals and schools over the past few years. Most of those ransomware distribution campaigns netted the criminals thousands of dollars, all of which was paid in Bitcoin. It now appears the criminals are back with a new tool, identified as Defray ransomware. It is quite a problematic development, even though there have only been two very small campaigns involving this malware so far.

The name “Defray” was not chosen randomly by researchers either. Though developers may have given it a different name, researchers refer to this family as Defray due to the name of the command & control server being used to communicate with the malware. This server appears to reside on the 000WebHostApp domain for the time being, although it may very well be taken down in the coming weeks. A centralized server makes it a bit easier for security researchers to combat ransomware outbreaks, even though it remains a tedious process.

So far, the distribution of this particular payload shows some intriguing and worrisome characteristics. First of all, it is distributed through Microsoft Word documents sent out through email campaigns, which is not surprising. However, we are not talking about massive waves of spam emails, but rather controlled amounts of messages. Recipients reside in the UK and the U.S. for the most part, which is pretty significant. It goes to show the developers are putting a lot of work into distributing the ransomware to their intended targets rather than going after consumers worldwide.

Once a victim downloads and executes a Microsoft Word attachment, the malware payload will be installed on the system. The victims will see a file called FILES.TXT in virtually every folder on their computer systems, which contains information on how they can restore file access. It appears victims are asked to get in touch with the criminals via email using one of three different email addresses. There is also an option to communicate through the BitMessage application if needed.

Right now, victims are asked to make a ransom payment of US$5,000 in Bitcoin. Given the current Bitcoin price, that means they will pay slightly over 1.15 BTC. Although the Bitcoin amount itself is pretty low, a US$5,000 payment is still quite substantial for any affected company. It may be possible to negotiate a smaller amount depending on how the communication with the criminals evolves. Interestingly, the ransom note also mentions how the infected victims should maintain offline backups of their files to prevent future attacks of this magnitude. This does feel like salt in the wound for victims. 

The Defray ransomware is a professionally developed ransomware strain. It is unclear if it uses any source code from other projects which have made a name in the past. The ransom note claims that this payload is custom-tailored to infect one’s particular system, which would make it incredibly difficult to come up with a free decryption tool. It is far less obnoxious compared to most malware attacks, which also makes it a much bigger threat for enterprises and companies in specific industries. It will be interesting to see if this malware is successful in the long run, though.

The world’s first 3-in-1 platform for ICO’s, crowdfunding and crowdinvesting – KICKICO – will make KickCoin a “Smart token” and will offer Bancor “Smart token” solution to all the projects raising funds on the platform, bringing hundreds of new tokens to Bancor network. Together they stand: Bancor is becoming the strategic partner for KICKICO and … Continue reading Together they stand: Bancor is becoming the strategic partner for KICKICO

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East Asia-based digital currencies NEO, OmiseGo, and TenX are experiencing slow movement after the “Ghost month” has started.

According to Canadian news sources, there is a new type of Bitcoin-related scam making the rounds. A story on the CBC website mentions how a woman was asked to make several cash deposits to cryptocurrency ATMs over several days. It is estimated around C$17,000 was obtained from just this one victim. The criminal’s choice to use Bitcoin raises a lot of questions, especially considering that the largest cryptocurrency is anything but an anonymous payment method. Police officials claim they cannot track the relevant transactions, though.

Bitcoin ATMs Involved in Canadian Scam

Criminals are getting craftier when it comes to scamming people out of their money. Locking computer files and encrypting them has proven to be a very lucrative business model over the past few years. However, there are plenty of other options waiting to be explored as well. According to the CBC, one such method involves scammers having victims deposit cash using Bitcoin ATMs.

One worrisome aspect of this story is how a bystander observing an older person putting cash into a Bitcoin ATM automatically assumed a connection to criminal activity. This goes to show how the public image of Bitcoin and all its related services are extremely skewed. The woman in question was also holding a CRA legal notice, which made things even more suspicious. It turns out she had allegedly been contacted by a person falsely claiming to work for the local police department. This seemingly hints at quite a complicated scam, although specifics are impossible to come by right now.

Once the police showed up and confronted the woman, her phone rang. During the call, the criminal identified herself as Mary Jones with the police department. The criminal also successfully spoofed the phone number to resemble the non-emergency line of the Hamilton police. For the time being, it remains anybody’s guess if this was a cop gone rogue or someone with some advanced skills successfully pulling off one of the biggest Bitcoin cons in years. After all, there is a history of law enforcement agents going rogue when Bitcoin is involved.

Further information revealed that the victim made several cash deposits to other Bitcoin ATMs in the same area. Canada has seen a rapid growth in the number of Bitcoin ATMs, although no one expected they would be used for nefarious purposes so soon. Around C$17,000 worth of Bitcoin has been purchased from the various machines, although no one knows for sure where the money was sent to. Hamilton, Ontario police officials claimed that transferring money into Bitcoin made it very hard to track. That is not exactly the case, as all Bitcoin transactions are recorded publicly in real time.

There are various blockchain analysis companies who will gladly help out any police team looking into suspicious Bitcoin transfers. There is some work to do for sure, but it goes to show there are many ways to find out who is behind this scam. The biggest concern is how this perpetrator can successfully imitate police officials – at least over the phone – and trick people into using Bitcoin ATMs to transmit significant sums of money in mere days. The letter in question must have appeared pretty legitimate to the victim, although no further specifics have been provided at this time.

The general public needs to be properly educated on how official government or administrative officials will never call or text people to force them to make payments, especially not with Bitcoin. It appears the Hamilton police have a major scammer on their hands who is more than willing to put them in a bad light right now. This sort of thing is what gives Bitcoin a bad reputation. It remains strange that criminals would opt for the one cryptocurrency which has no privacy or anonymity traits whatsoever.

Blockchain data storage startup Bluzelle has raised $1.5 million in new funding from a trio of venture capital firms.

Blockchain database generator Bluzelle has closed a $1.5 mln Series A funding round with several contributors.