Bitcoin Forum

Yet another shameful article linking Bitcoin to (cyber)criminals:

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601643/companies-are-stockpiling-bitcoin-to-pay-off-cybercriminals/

Damn, this kind of thing is what makes bitcoin will never be accepted by all circles of society, and make government more incentive would prohibit bitcoin in their country.  >:( >:( >:(

Any article that says that Bitcoin is being used by a certain group is a bad article.

Flash news : Al-Qaeda is using cars and phones. Contestation marchs are being organised in all the country to ban these shamefull things !

who are the companies

Linked article, implies that shit IT security practices are the norm, hence the need for ransom money when they inevitably get attacked

http://www.professionalsecurity.co.uk/news/case-studies/ransomware-attack-study/

This kind of news will pop out now and then until more anonymous coins will become trusted by the bad guys. And then the news will stop, since those cannot be traced.

Silly to think this is negative for bitcoin's reputation. How many times has fist been used as a ransom, countless times.

This are bad news for bitcoin image, and for It professionals. This companies need to invest more in security (the big problem is the low security on its network) if criminals see that they pay all the ransoms, they will ask for bigger amounts. Paying criminals never is a good decision.

This comment is golden ^^^

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

I don't care who they are. But could I have their wallet private key?  ;D please?  ;D

There are two ways to improve security:
1. Wear body armor every day, practice judo (what you propose).
2. Ask jackbooted thugs to rid the streets of criminals, i.e. "shoot all potential criminals in the face, pl0x!" (how modern society deals with crime).

Well, it should be remotely apparent that the article merely comments on companies stockpiling Bitcoin, not that Bitcoin is directly the cause of anything. Just like Bitcoin being linked to terrorists, it's just another medium that is used, though admittedly is more effective and efficient for cyber criminals to use.

Nonetheless, whatever is the target of that article, it still produces bad image for BTC. This type of journalism produces a somewhat negative effect to our beloved coin. Hopefully, they will also provide more articles about the good usage of BTC.

Exactly.  Pay no attention to it, fiat is just as bad.  They also need to back up this claim with more facts and names.

if the company is good, they are not going to be infected in the first place to need to pay anything off to the criminals, and by the way these companies usually don't pay anything to the criminals because this can happen the next day of payment just as easily.

been accusing bitcoin since the start but it never stop us from using bitcoin though. would we stop today when the price is now souring? the development of cryptocurreinces are on its way so there's no stopping this train anymore no matter how bad these publicity are.

Right, Some media,blog, or websites are exaggerating with bitcoin. So they make dropped article to bitcoin. Make bitcoin has a bad name in the community.

Wrong. This is a kind of thing that shows just how dumb the people in charge of these companies are (assuming that the story is not made up).

Allegedly, these companies use the following logic:
Instead of creating and keeping backups (which everyone should do for their own data) which costs X amount of money, we will buy X*k (k - number of incidents) amounts of Bitcoin to keep paying the cybercriminals. ::)

They DO back up their claims with facts and name, what's wrong with you?

And yeah, fiat is behind more crime than bitcoin. That's because it's roughly a billion times bigger than bitcoin.


Excellent point.
If you don't wanna get raped, disfigure your face & cover yourself in pig shit. If you walk around without taking these basic precautions, don't blame the rapist, it's your own damn fault.

has anyone actually read the article and clicked the so called research??.. i know Lauda hasnt

ok here is the summary..
1. an MIT blog failed miserably at research.
2. it said that based on a survey 250 it professionals were surveyed.. well the "research" is a blog from citrex that said two thirds of the FTSE350 companies are using citrex's 10 step guide.. yet if you actually go to the guide https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2016/06/01/ten-steps-to-cyber-security-guidance-for-business/ and then use the "find" tool to find the word bitcoin.. guess what.. no mention of bitcoin whatsoever.

they even mention it has been updated in 2015.. and published it on the UK governments website
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cyber-risk-management-a-board-level-responsibility/10-steps-summary

so use "find" .. oh look no mention of bitcoin again

here they even made it into a glossy image... can someone point out the word bitcoin?
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/image_data/file/35242/10_steps_to_cyber.png

short version
this is a non-bitcoin story i think the OP is trying to twist to actually make people subtly think that big businesses are going on a bitcoin purchasing rampage. i think its a failed attempt at trying to spark a bitcoin price rise by suggesting lots of bitcoins are being bought up

Te article cites a survey (http://www.professionalsecurity.co.uk/news/case-studies/ransomware-attack-study/) "commissioned by Citrix and carried out by Censuswide – quizzed 250 IT and security specialists in companies with 250 or more employees across the UK to look at their strategies to defend against cyber and ransomware attacks. ... The poll also found that a third (33 per cent) of UK companies are now building a ready stockpile of digital currency (for example, Bitcoin) in case of ransomware attack."

Unless you feel these companies are stockpiling Ethers or BBQcoins, you're simply dead wrong :)

Obviously it's time the UK stopped using American software. :)

LOL im guessing you didnt go deep enough..

https://i.imgur.com/3LH5dTW.jpg

its the 10 step guide that two thirds of the FTSE350 are using... like i said
its the 10 step guide that both the original and updated guide DONT MENTION BITCOIN... like i said.

so instead of saying i am wrong.. try to find the citrex report/survey/poll that actually mentions bitcoin.. rather then blog posts written by random people

here ill even quote citrexs only advice about ransomware

The link is to Citrix, the company which commissioned the survey. Why does that trouble you?

"Research – commissioned by Citrix and carried out by Censuswide – quizzed 250 IT and security specialists in companies with 250 or more employees across the UK to look at their strategies to defend against cyber and ransomware attacks."

For all I know, Citrix also tells car owners not to use Carnauba wax. What does that have to do with anything?

And why all the rage? Are you suggesting that the numbers are inflated? Or that Bitcoin ransomware isn't a thing?

bitcoin ransomware is a thing.. but the numbers are non-existant

im just addressing the fact that there is a lack of actual research, and that the OP along with alot of people re blindly believing this stuff just because of a headline that has nothing to back it up but opinion.

there is no actual research that 250 companies are stockpiling bitcoin in the UK purely for ransomware attacks.
there is just someones blog who wrote an opinion, and tried to make it sound real by quoting a article. and the article quoted research unrelated to stockpiling bitcoins.. but neither of these two actually show that 250 or even two thirds of FTS350 are actually stockpiling bitcoins.

people who blindly take a headline as being true without researching it are the same kinds of people who should never be in a court jury. with the mindset being "he must be guilty of the crime otherwise he wont be standing in court in the first place" and not even look at the evidence

Now my take on this is that the more bitcoin is linked to nefarious activities,  the greater the allure.   Any news is good news for bitcoin as far as adoption goes by the masses.  That might not be true as far as government regulation goes,  though.

any news can be used positively. but this example should not be one to try sparking a price rise, as its bases lacks merit.
there is no need to go on a speculation price war thinking that millionaire profiting companies are grabbing bitcoins this week..

There is a survey, "commissioned by Citrix and carried out by Censuswide [that] quizzed 250 IT and security specialists in companies with 250 or more employees across the UK"
From [what I believe to be an exhaustive] list below, which do you believe? (you may chose more than one):
1. Citrix never commissioned Censuswide to conduct a survey; Citrix lied.
2. Citrix commissioned Censuswide to conduct a survey, which Censuswide never conducted; Censuswide lied.
3. A survey quizzing "250 IT and security specialists in companies with 250 or more employees across the UK" is not research.
4. Fuck U h80r, leave bitcoin alone!
???

5. there was a survey.. about IT security guidelines of the FTSE350 companies where 2 thirds use the guidelines... but nothing in the guidelines is related or mentioned stockpiling bitcoins!!
thats the third post i have said these words..

this whole thread is just playing a game of chinese whispers to distort real information and then use naivety and lack of research as a bases to try and suggest that big companies are starting to hoard bitcoin.

its like suggesting that someone had sex with another persons mother.. trying to show no actual proof but if they tell enough people that the proof would be that everyone knows about it.

It's been scientifically proven that bitcoin exposure turns you into a deviant.

The moment my first satoshis arrived i touched my grandma inappropriately and it's developed from there.

I for one embrace this new phase in my life wholeheartedly.

Link to the Censuswide study & why you think it's the study being referenced by the article.

Funny because it's true?
It's not that bitcoin turns people into scumbags, but that those attracted to bitcoin are already latent scumbags. Sawed off shotguns don't turn people into criminals, but odds are the guy carrying a sawed-off is one.

That's nonsense, if you compare the amount of crime done in cash compared to Bitcoin, you will realize how it's less than 1% of crime committed in Bitcoin, compared to cash.

In any case, governments will be forced to use Bitcoin if they want to get rid of ramsonware, deal with it.

These companies are just as fictitious as the article... not to be taken seriously. If someone did the research to acquire the knowledge to buy Bitcoin, they would have known that it takes nearly no time at all to

buy Bitcoins. I would much rather just invest in a good backup system, with incremental offline backups stored off site. The smaller companies with no IT staff and security experts, will probably go this route to

save some downtime, but that would be foolish to give into these ransom demands. Just make backups regularly, and you will be fine.  ;)  

Well no. Europol: Bitcoin accounts for over 40% of criminal-to-criminal online payments (https://bitcointalk.org/Europol-Bitcoin-accounts-for-over-40-of-criminal-to-criminal-online-payments-97270). And bitcoin is only about one one-billionth the size of fiat. So yeah, fewer crimes involve bitcoin than fiat, but that's like saying your trailer park is safer than NYC because fewer murders happened in your trailer park than in the city of New York :(
Oh, they will, they will. And remember: banning is so much simpler than regulation :)

This is the companies own fault and (if) they're stockpiling on Bitcoin because they want to. If they can afford to put money where there are still risks, they can afford to hire good IT technicians that are permanently monitoring the network and that work to make it as robust and secure as possible. Looks like companies never heard of "better safe than sorry" or they simply prefer to be sorry everytime.


This is a very concerning reality that's been present for quite a long time. If companies don't protect themselves, it's their loss: they'll eventually get hacked and people will request money from them (Bitcoin or fiat), unfortunately.

I don't think that's the case at all if you take that proportionally. To deny that Bitcoin was and it's still fueled by black market, tax evasion, illegal trading and other activities is naive at this point. This all started with Silk Road, that image of BTC will be forever linked to that for average consumer.

bullish

it is shamful because fiat has been used by criminals for years and i dont here anyone complaining about that.....

anyone can twist a story. that can contain some half truths.. but mostly exaggerations to make it sound interesting.
here is one.
headline: bitcoin used for terrorism
terror is the act of using force, torture or intimidation to leave people feeling terrified.
recently US Marshals had a hoard of bitcoins which they subsequently used to fund their training, weapons and court costs to be able to go and terrorize citizens threatening them with weapons to open the door or they will kick it down. removing peoples property. many people can easily admit if they heard a banging at a door from guys with guns threatening to break the door down they would be terrified. and this has been funded by bitcoins.

Damn how hard would it be to hire an IT professional who would be doing a daily backup of the company's vital data on a dedicated server? Surely a couple of hard drives and an average salary would be cheaper than a huge random ransom out of the blue one day right? I think companies should up their cyber security and not waste resources on paying criminals in the first place. How can companies with so much capital fall victims to ransomware attacks? Is it just negligence form their side or the hackers are just that good nowadays?

Why not share your vast IT sec expertise with these companies? I'm sure they'll appreciate it :)

Sure you did, Friend, sure you did. Regular folk just don't call it called fiat, they call it "money."
All them crime dramas on the telly about bank robbers and meth cooks? Yeah, those are about fiat.

I'm hoarding some nice weed, for my friend who may visit one day. My friend is a criminal.
It's not for me.

Can In get tax relief on that? Hope my bank manager wont mind.