On April 10, 2020, Atlanta-based fintech firm Brightwell was navigating more than the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. It all started with a series of customer phone calls. That morning sometime between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., Brightwell received word from the customer service team that customers called to complain about missing funds, says Ernie Moran, at the…

While the culture and buzz surrounding Web3 can be overwrought, it’s more than hype: after all, the concept has won enthusiastic support from Silicon Valley giants and venture firms alike. Unfortunately, there is a darker side to the technology, that has been overlooked, especially when it comes to Web3’s novel file-exchange format: NFTs. Despite lofty…

In this video for Help Net Security, Michael Aminov, Chief Architect at Perception Point, talks about a recent Binance impersonation attack and, more broadly, the ongoing threat landscape impacting the cryptocurrency industry. Cryptocurrencies aren’t new, but they have become more mainstream: their use has increased significantly thanks to DeFi, gaming, NFTs, etc. In fact, according to…

A new report by blockchain analytics firm CipherTrace highlights the growing role that privacy-focused cryptocurrencies such as Monero are playing in the rising tide of ransomware. “Current Trends in Ransomware” delves into trends observed during 2021 but was only released this week. The firm revealed there was almost a 500% increase in “double extortion” ransomware attacks…

Russia is now the most-attacked country in the world and Russian citizens, who make up less than 2% of the global population, now constitute almost a fifth of all cyberattack victims. In fact, five times more Russian accounts were breached in March than in January as cyberattacks have ramped up significantly in 2022. Why? Anonymous declared…

Countries such as Russia and Iran may eventually use cryptocurrency mining to evade sanctions, the International Monetary Fund warned in a report. There’s a risk that sanctioned nations will leverage their energy resources — which can’t be exported — to power mining, an energy-intensive process of validating coin transactions, the IMF said. By expanding their mining…

NATO’s large, multiday cyber defense exercise is set to bring together technical experts from alliance countries and Ukraine nearly two months after Russia’s invasion. The annual cyber wargames, known as the Locked Shields exercise, will start Tuesday in Tallinn, Estonia. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Cooperative Cyber Defense Centre of Excellence organizes the event, which includes…

What a difference a year makes. The U.S. inflation rate was at 1.4 percent when Joe Biden was sworn in as President in January 2021. In just fifteen months, it has since risen rapidly to a 40-year high of 8.5 percent, the result of global supply chain issues. Many hoped that those issues would resolve themselves…

For modern enterprises, cybersecurity is key to success. Rapid digital innovation, fuelled by the pandemic, has led to countless new ways to connect with customers, employees and partners. However, it’s also seen the emergence of a multitude of new opportunities for cyber-criminals to gain access to data and take remote control of the critical business…

From Microsoft to AT&T to Home Depot, more companies are accepting cryptocurrency as a way to pay for products and services. This makes perfect sense as crypto coins are a viable revenue source. Perhaps the time is ripe for businesses to learn how to receive, process and convert crypto payments into fiat currency. Still, many questions…

The U.S. government has observed North Korean cyber actors targeting a variety of organizations in the blockchain technology and cryptocurrency industry, including cryptocurrency exchanges, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, play-to-earn cryptocurrency video games, cryptocurrency trading companies, venture capital funds investing in cryptocurrency, and individual holders of large amounts of cryptocurrency or valuable non-fungible tokens (NFTs). They…

Beanstalk, a credit-based stablecoin protocol built on Ethereum, is the latest DeFi project to suffer a major exploit. An attacker used a flash loan exploit to drain the protocol’s funds early Sunday. Etherscan data shows that they leveraged Aave’s flash loan feature to withdraw liquidity from the protocol and then used Uniswap to trade DAI, USDC,…

A third (33 percent) of developers believe data privacy and security are the biggest hurdles the metaverse has to overcome. This is according to a new study from Agora, which polled 300 developers to gain further insight into their thoughts and perceptions as it relates to the current state of metaverse and what the future…

London-based cryptocurrency exchange Exmo is the latest crypto trading platform to formally suspend its business in Russia and Belarus due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Exmo is selling its digital asset business in Russia and Belarus to a Russia-based software development company, which Exmo officially announced on Monday. At the time of writing, the new owner…

The coordinated attack by Russia on Ukraine has created a historic risk environment for operations in these countries, and for organizations around the world. Companies with interests in Russia, Ukraine and nearby eastern European countries, as well as multinational organizations, should be aware that the current situation is fluid and evolving. There could be potential…

Cybersecurity has taken on new levels of importance facing redoubled cyber attacks. The post-pandemic digital landscape is fraught with threats. In fact, these attacks peaked in December of 2021 with a slew of Log4j exploits. The popular Java-based logging utility is only one surprising cybersecurity weak point that business owners should look out for, however. Additionally,…

Currency.com confirmed that the crypto trading platform suffered a massive cyberattack attempt after it suspended its operations in Russia last week. The platform suffered a failed distributed ‘denial of service’ (DDoS) cyber-attack last Tuesday, it said in a press release shared with Finance Magnates. In addition, it stressed that the attack was unsuccessful and that…

Arthur Cheong has said that North Korea-linked hackers likely have the entire crypto space mapped out and scrutinized for potential vulnerabilities. DeFiance Capital founder Arthur Cheong has said that North Korea’s state-sponsored hackers have likely already penetrated all corners of the crypto industry and know precisely the kind of attacks to steal users’ funds. Arthur Cheong…

Crypto trading company Currency.com has announced it halted operations for clients based in Russia following the country’s “violence and disorder” imposed on the people of Ukraine. In a Tuesday announcement, Currency.com said that Russian residents would no longer be able to access its services following the platform’s decision to stop Russia-based clients from opening new accounts.…

In the early 2000s, Web 2.0 ushered in a new era of user-generated content with interactive websites and web applications. Data breaches, input validation attacks and social engineering defined the cybersecurity risk landscape of Web 2.0. With advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning accelerating at a breathtaking pace, the transition to Web 3.0 is on…

Big tech shows no desire to stop trying to make the metaverse happen, whether we want it or not. Whichever particular version will win out remains to be seen, and when (the arrival of virtual and augmented reality for the masses has been about five years away for about three decades now, after all). But…

The State Department announced Friday that it is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information about North Korean digital operations that help keep the regime afloat and fund its weapons programs. The department’s Rewards for Justice program will issue the money for “information on those who seek to undermine cybersecurity, including financial institutions…

Researchers have identified a security flaw in NFT marketplace Rarible that could have led to the theft of crypto wallets. If exploited, the vulnerability would have enabled a threat actor to steal a user’s NFTs and cryptocurrency wallets in a single transaction. Researchers at CheckPoint said that a successful attack would have come from a malicious…

Note: OODA Loop has been tracking and reporting on Metaverse trends since 2003. But for many, including the author of a piece we summarize here, it was Zuck who gets credit for reintroducing the concept to us all: In July 2021, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg re-introduced us to the concept of the “metaverse”, an interconnected…

$1.23 billion has been stolen or hacked across the crypto ecosystem during Q1 of 2022. That is up almost 700% from $154 million in losses in Q1 of 2021. Elephant Money, the DeFi protocol behind the ELEPHANT token, has said hackers have stolen $11.2 million worth of Binance Coin, a report said. The company was reportedly facing…

An executive at Russia’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called on the government to conduct cross-border settlements in cryptocurrencies and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Chamber President Sergei Katyrin sent a letter to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, providing a set of proposals for developing cooperation with African countries, the local state-backed publication TASS reported…

On March 23rd, the Ronin blockchain network underlying the popular NFT-driven game Axie Infinity was hit with a hack that saw the attackers walk away with an eye-popping $625 million in cryptocurrency. The Ronin hack was the largest amount of money that had ever been stolen from the type of service called a “bridge,” which connects…

The effects of war on the citizens of Ukraine have been immediate and horrific. As companies around the world seek to help in any way they can, they’re also trying to understand the likely secondary impact of the Russian invasion on their employees, customers, operations, and supply chain. Executive teams have struggled with a succession of…

Mark Karpeles, Co-Founder and ex-CEO of the defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox, recently announced his return to the world of cryptocurrencies with a fresh start-up called UNGOX. This clever christening indicates the undoing of his crypto exchange’s failure and his attempt to protect investor interest. “Following Mt. Gox’s bankruptcy, ‘goxed’ (sometimes written goxxed) has become…

High-profile crypto hacks are on the rise. Last month saw the DEFI protocols Agave and Hundred Finance stung in an $11 million raid, just one of a slew of crypto hacks of a similar hue. So what’s the deal? Does crypto suffer from security issues? Who’s hacking what? And is there anything you – the innocent…

The advancement of Russian forces into neighboring Ukraine has been met with significant international condemnation. While stopping short of military intervention, many Western nations and corporations have responded by imposing extensive sanctions, cutting off the country and its citizens from assets, services and vital revenue streams. While the impact of these sanctions on the outcome of…

An American cryptocurrency developer has been jailed for five years for helping the North Korean regime evade US sanctions imposed over its nuclear weapons programme. Virgil Griffith, 39, pleaded guilty last September to travelling to North Korea – officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) – to attend a blockchain conference in the capital…