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Title: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: alyssa85 on October 25, 2016, 04:15:19 PM https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/22/city-banks-plan-to-hoard-bitcoins-to-help-them-pay-cyber-ransoms
Quote Several of London’s largest banks are looking to stockpile bitcoins in order to pay off cyber criminals who threaten to bring down their critical IT systems. The virtual currency, which is highly prized by criminal networks because it cannot be traced, is being acquired by blue chip companies in order to pay ransoms, according to a leading IT expert. On Friday, hackers attacked the websites of a number of leading online companies including Twitter, Spotify and Reddit. They used a special code to harness the power of hundreds of thousands of internet-connected home devices, such as CCTV cameras and printers, to launch “distributed denial of service” (DDoS) attacks through a US company called Dyn, which provides directory services to online companies. DDoS attacks involve inundating computer servers with so much data traffic that they cannot cope. There is no evidence that Dyn was the subject of extortion demands but it has become apparent that hackers have been using the code to threaten other businesses into paying them with bitcoins or risk becoming the target of similar attacks. Dr Simon Moores, a former technology ambassador for the UK government and chair of the annual international e-Crime Congress, the global body that brings together IT professionals, said the scale and ferocity of the attacks meant some banks were coming round to the view that it was cheaper to pay off the criminals than risk an attack. Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: tmfp on October 25, 2016, 04:17:04 PM https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1658795.0 too.
Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: Milkduds on October 25, 2016, 04:41:41 PM When it comes to any wacky stories about limiting peoples rights or hoarding for a potential issue they should be ready for or not openly acting like they are walking around naked,it never fails to be the U.K! Just really hope that most the things they are attempting are shown to be foolish.
Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: franky1 on October 25, 2016, 05:22:15 PM this is all old news from atleast 6 months ago
the news paper article is resurrecting old news and written to confuse the matter they mention one bunch of hackers/script kiddies that do DDoS attacks and another group of hackers/script kiddies who throw ransomware at employee's who use their work pc's to look at dodgy sites and download dodgy things. many banks have been informed by security advisors months ago that it might be worth keeping a stash of bitcoin in the event that the second scenario happens. but this still does not mean the banks will do this. its just a recommendation from security analysts as a precaution.. and an old recommendation at that. it seems due to the bitcoin price moving forward, some people thing they should use this as a way to push the price forward more by showing why everyone should buy buy buy, via news articles 'reporting' that some whales are soon gonna buy.. though the reality is the news articles are about 6 months behind the story they are resurrecting Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: Shiroslullaby on October 25, 2016, 06:24:46 PM It may make sense to buy some Bitcoin for any organization that has a large IT operation.
Many companies see computers, shared drives etc get hit by ransomware and they may not always have backups of that data. (Especially if you are talking about individual users laptops etc) I don't think that any of these companies are going to be buying and hoarding enough coins for it to make a difference in the price of BTC, but its an interesting topic to discuss, at least. Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: Yakamoto on October 25, 2016, 06:33:02 PM Doesn't really surprise me, however I don't know if that's a good choice for them in the longer-run to be honest. Until they can get a better solution I would say go for it, but just /gg'ing it and giving the randsomware user what they want might be too simple of a solution.
Then again, considering the nature of randsomware, they might not have many other options. Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: socks435 on October 25, 2016, 06:39:07 PM It may make sense to buy some Bitcoin for any organization that has a large IT operation. Honestly i experience that ransome ware before i dont have my backuo also my electrum wallet has gone and many files.. i thought that my latpop is corrupted but its a ransomeware virus pop uping in my screen that if i want to recover my files i need to pay something for passphrase to open up all my files.. but i did not pay them.. since im a technician so im challenge i found a tool from kaspersky are working and i think i remove them all and recover my files.. after that i install trial version of kaspersky and now i am using it since its work well and compatible in crypto. it helps me right now to prevetn those virus..Many companies see computers, shared drives etc get hit by ransomware and they may not always have backups of that data. (Especially if you are talking about individual users laptops etc) I don't think that any of these companies are going to be buying and hoarding enough coins for it to make a difference in the price of BTC, but its an interesting topic to discuss, at least. Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: cpfreeplz on October 25, 2016, 06:41:52 PM A simpler solution would be to have mandatory automatic backups of everything at work. I know of rabsomware where they wanted a certainly amount to decrypt some files that they had been encrypting without the owner's knowledge.
There's no point in sending the bitcoins though because even if you do who's to say you'll get your files back? And as previously stated, this is very old news. It didn't make a din the price and I wouldn't expect a surge because of it (although we've had some nice rises lately ;)). Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: JasonXG on October 25, 2016, 07:17:06 PM I dont believe this a single bit. Why on earth would they remove the virus after getting the Randsom ? If you stupid enough to pay a random then you deserve what you get. Paying random is the most stupid thing I habe ever heard of. Whilst we at it why not god in to terrorist demands too ? Let's make it easy for criminals and encourage them by paying them . wow, you can't get much more stupid. Also the article is from the guardian which speaks for itself.
Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: countryfree on October 26, 2016, 10:04:22 PM I find it difficult to believe that banks are preparing to pay a ransom, but I know that banks invest in many fields. Properties, shares, bonds, so it's not surprising at all they're buying a few BTC.
Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: Shady on October 26, 2016, 10:49:44 PM Banks now have no choice since most old devices can easily throttle domains down.
Let's hope they can fix this issue so they don't have to worry about it anymore. In all honesty there tends to be hassle dealing with hackers about secret information so paying ransom still might not stop them. Although this is a tempoary issue, there's more ways to stop it soon before you think... Most hack attacks only work once or for a limited amount of time before some more are released. Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: Junko on October 27, 2016, 12:16:05 AM Or maybe they are just using the possible threat of ransoms as an excuse to hoadr bitcoin while at the same time saving face while doing so.
Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: shinratensei_ on October 27, 2016, 01:38:51 AM I find it difficult to believe that banks are preparing to pay a ransom, but I know that banks invest in many fields. Properties, shares, bonds, so it's not surprising at all they're buying a few BTC. Bank are already having a large of domination in all of the fields in this day, with their money power every section in every country are controlled by bank and including the bank can influence the government for taking the decision are pro into the bank parties and that's why a lot of people are hating him. this news is already 6 month ago and i think they have more in this time.Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: Slark on October 27, 2016, 01:45:02 AM Do we have any confirmed information that some bank actually paid the ransom already?
Or they stockpiling Bitcoin just in case of some crazy ransomware will infect their whole system or something? Anyway it is another argument to ditch old school banking technology and switch to blockchain based financial tech. Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: tmfp on October 27, 2016, 07:37:10 AM Do we have any confirmed information that some bank actually paid the ransom already? I haven't found any, but I guess it's not the sort of thing they'd shout about due to the "Payers List" scenario http://observer.com/2015/09/symantec-says-not-to-pay-when-data-gets-caught-in-ransomware/ Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: thepo1m on October 27, 2016, 08:09:35 AM I don't believe these people, they may be hoarding Bitcoin coins for different purpose, may be they are trying to edge against some risk, because to me there is no need to hoard Bitcoin since it is always on the exchanges when needed
Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: tmfp on October 27, 2016, 09:23:01 AM I love the use of the word "hoarding", it reminds me of tinfoil hats with their cans of beans and shotgun ammo waiting for Armageddon. Or the way people rush off to the supermarket and buy trolley loads of sugar when there's a powercut. Banks "hoarding" Bitcoin implies some delegated suit with the keys to a cash box full of the dirty stuff marked "ONLY TO BE OPENED IN THE EVENT OF BLACKMAIL." :D Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: unamis76 on October 27, 2016, 12:36:26 PM I remember this piece of news lightly from earlier... Why don't they just secure their platforms? Much easier to hire technicians who know a thing or two about security and have them full time than hoarding Bitcoin (and taking it away from people who actually want to buy it in the market), have it forgotten in cold storage (or foolishly in some hot wallet thrown around). I don't really understand this mentality of "damage control", prevention is the way to go...
Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: yayayo on October 27, 2016, 12:37:43 PM I love the use of the word "hoarding", it reminds me of tinfoil hats with their cans of beans and shotgun ammo waiting for Armageddon. Or the way people rush off to the supermarket and buy trolley loads of sugar when there's a powercut. I don't share your derogatory opinion about people who stockpile food and items for personal security to be prepared for failures of the supply chain. Portraying these people as "tinfoil hats" tells a lot about you and your level of knowledge. Today's supply chains are far less robust than 50 years ago, because supermarkets have reduced storage space out of cost optimizations. A lot of products is delivered just in time. In addition, modern agriculture is resting on the shoulders of very few people and is highly dependent on specialized plants, fertilizers, pesticides and modern machinery. Apparently you don't follow the news, because in fact the German government recently issued an official recommendation to its citizen to stockpile supplies in case of emergency. If you need an example why stockpiling makes sense, you can have a look at Venezuela. What's disturbing is not that banks prepare for disaster. It's disturbing that they do it via buying Bitcoin, not by strengthening their system security. ya.ya.yo! Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: tmfp on October 27, 2016, 12:44:28 PM I don't share your derogatory opinion about people who stockpile food and items for personal security to be prepared for failures of the supply chain. Portraying these people as "tinfoil hats" tells a lot about you and your level of knowledge. Get the stick outta your ass, it was a little joke. Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: skierchewing on October 27, 2016, 12:49:49 PM Who knows, maybe the reason of the recent price increase ? They surely bought a few millions worth of bitcoins, so probable for me.
Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: 2double0 on October 27, 2016, 01:07:10 PM So, banks are taking interest in Bitcoins by doing this, right?
Is that the reason why we are seeing spikes in the price currently? I thought this before that some seriously big institution must be buying it with such high volumes currently. Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: calkob on October 27, 2016, 02:20:51 PM Thats fine they are holding like the rest of us, and the whole hacks things is prob just an excuse so it dosnt look like they are storing up bitcoin.
Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: funkenstein on October 27, 2016, 08:21:30 PM Your deposits are safe! Really. We're just, you know, getting a few coins, like in case of cryptolocker emergency. Yeah.
Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: LoyceV on October 27, 2016, 08:33:37 PM Several of London’s largest banks are looking to stockpile bitcoins in order to pay off cyber criminals who threaten to bring down their critical IT systems. Why would they need to "stockpile" Bitcoins? They're banks, they can just buy them at an exchange the moment they need them. Unless they just want some "criminal press" for Bitcoin.Quote some banks were coming round to the view that it was cheaper to pay off the criminals than risk an attack. It's like negotiating with terrorists: the moment you do it, you're getting more attacks.Do we have any confirmed information that some bank actually paid the ransom already? That's like having a big sign: Extort me!Much easier to hire technicians who know a thing or two about security and have them full time than hoarding Bitcoin It's not just "some" technicians, banks have hundreds of IT-people on the payroll. I recently read (and can't find the link back) that Dutch bank ING is going to invest 800 million euro in its IT infrastructure. On a budget like that, keeping a few Bitcoin to stop a script kiddie with his DDOS could be a cheap short-term fix.Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: Wind_FURY on October 28, 2016, 01:32:54 AM https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/22/city-banks-plan-to-hoard-bitcoins-to-help-them-pay-cyber-ransoms Quote Several of London’s largest banks are looking to stockpile bitcoins in order to pay off cyber criminals who threaten to bring down their critical IT systems. The virtual currency, which is highly prized by criminal networks because it cannot be traced, is being acquired by blue chip companies in order to pay ransoms, according to a leading IT expert. On Friday, hackers attacked the websites of a number of leading online companies including Twitter, Spotify and Reddit. They used a special code to harness the power of hundreds of thousands of internet-connected home devices, such as CCTV cameras and printers, to launch “distributed denial of service” (DDoS) attacks through a US company called Dyn, which provides directory services to online companies. DDoS attacks involve inundating computer servers with so much data traffic that they cannot cope. There is no evidence that Dyn was the subject of extortion demands but it has become apparent that hackers have been using the code to threaten other businesses into paying them with bitcoins or risk becoming the target of similar attacks. Dr Simon Moores, a former technology ambassador for the UK government and chair of the annual international e-Crime Congress, the global body that brings together IT professionals, said the scale and ferocity of the attacks meant some banks were coming round to the view that it was cheaper to pay off the criminals than risk an attack. I do not believe any of that press release. Banks are smart. They will not hoard something unless they see that it can generate some profit for themselves. Do you actually believe they are buying Bitcoins to pay off malware attacks? They are buying because it is on the way up and fiat currencies are starting to go down. The article mentioned that several London banks are doing the buying. Why? Because GBP is going down so they need BTC to hedge. Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: tbterryboy on October 30, 2016, 08:46:45 AM https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/22/city-banks-plan-to-hoard-bitcoins-to-help-them-pay-cyber-ransoms The banks may continue to act in a nonsense and outrageous manner,no matter what attempt they make is going to be futile because there is no way they can bring down bitcoin, bitcoin far more power than all banks put together. Let them continue fooling themselves.Quote Several of London’s largest banks are looking to stockpile bitcoins in order to pay off cyber criminals who threaten to bring down their critical IT systems. The virtual currency, which is highly prized by criminal networks because it cannot be traced, is being acquired by blue chip companies in order to pay ransoms, according to a leading IT expert. On Friday, hackers attacked the websites of a number of leading online companies including Twitter, Spotify and Reddit. They used a special code to harness the power of hundreds of thousands of internet-connected home devices, such as CCTV cameras and printers, to launch “distributed denial of service” (DDoS) attacks through a US company called Dyn, which provides directory services to online companies. DDoS attacks involve inundating computer servers with so much data traffic that they cannot cope. There is no evidence that Dyn was the subject of extortion demands but it has become apparent that hackers have been using the code to threaten other businesses into paying them with bitcoins or risk becoming the target of similar attacks. Dr Simon Moores, a former technology ambassador for the UK government and chair of the annual international e-Crime Congress, the global body that brings together IT professionals, said the scale and ferocity of the attacks meant some banks were coming round to the view that it was cheaper to pay off the criminals than risk an attack. Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: shield132 on October 30, 2016, 09:03:09 AM Oh it will be unjustice if they hoard bitcoin, I think bank's mustn't do that and I don't believe that and it's difficult to believe that banks are going to to pay ransom. I hope that there is no way they can to bring down bitcoin.
Do we have any confirmed information that some bank actually paid the ransom already? There isn't any similar information in internet, so they don't have paid ransom.And it's old news and why is it published renewly now? Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: JeffBrad12 on October 30, 2016, 10:40:42 AM this is all old news from atleast 6 months ago the news paper article is resurrecting old news and written to confuse the matter they mention one bunch of hackers/script kiddies that do DDoS attacks and another group of hackers/script kiddies who throw ransomware at employee's who use their work pc's to look at dodgy sites and download dodgy things. many banks have been informed by security advisors months ago that it might be worth keeping a stash of bitcoin in the event that the second scenario happens. but this still does not mean the banks will do this. its just a recommendation from security analysts as a precaution.. and an old recommendation at that. it seems due to the bitcoin price moving forward, some people thing they should use this as a way to push the price forward more by showing why everyone should buy buy buy, via news articles 'reporting' that some whales are soon gonna buy.. though the reality is the news articles are about 6 months behind the story they are resurrecting And totally this just a jokes, okay. I just think theguardian are less for the another fresh news for putting on their site. :D Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: Juggy777 on October 30, 2016, 10:48:32 AM I don't believe this. If the banks succumb to such tactics then every small and big hacker will start to haunt them. This is so stupid, like banks telling hackers listen come hack us we have kept your ransom money 💵 in advance. You know where to hack us and ask for it. Seriously why would anyone believe in it.
Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: The Sceptical Chymist on November 01, 2016, 03:41:15 AM I find it difficult to believe that banks are preparing to pay a ransom, but I know that banks invest in many fields. Properties, shares, bonds, so it's not surprising at all they're buying a few BTC. This was my thought, too. Banks could swallow up all the bitcoin in the world, easily, if they were buying. I suspect that if this is all true, they're buying in fairly small amounts. OTOH, the price spike we've seen since before the halvening...the banks might very well have something to do with that if they're preparing to pay ransoms. Stranger things have happened in this crazy-ass world.Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: JeffBrad12 on November 01, 2016, 03:44:18 AM I don't believe this. If the banks succumb to such tactics then every small and big hacker will start to haunt them. This is so stupid, like banks telling hackers listen come hack us we have kept your ransom money 💵 in advance. You know where to hack us and ask for it. Seriously why would anyone believe in it. Maybe they have their own very reason for saying that. It is not usually they are inviting hackers to hack them but it is telling a caution to hackers that they have bounty already for their bad things that they are doing. And they will going to announce this if they don't know what they are doing, I think they have something hiding with this. Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: bitbunnny on November 01, 2016, 08:12:38 AM Knowing how banks are thinking and acting it is not very likely that they would collect Bitcoins to pay for ransome. They have similar attitude towards hackers like some states towards terrorists - no negotiations and no payments.
But banks are buying Bitcoins for different reasons because they saw the big chance for profit and they will not miss it. They can't resist the profit when the see it. Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: BADecker on November 01, 2016, 02:11:51 PM Hoarding will not stop its use. They can't hoard it all. The price will only rise from hoarding. There will be too much temptation for bank employees and managers to use it when Bitcoin is a $10,000,000 per bitcoin.
8) Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: mastica on November 01, 2016, 07:22:15 PM Looks like that bitcoin is being introduced into the banks as they say to pay hackers to avoid their attacks, the banks should had done already something about their system. They know their system has several issues around it and the hackers are exploiting it while bitcoin is growing.
Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: Snorek on November 01, 2016, 07:27:07 PM What's disturbing is not that banks prepare for disaster. It's disturbing that they do it via buying Bitcoin, not by strengthening their system security. They know that their current centralized technology and data centers based is the end of the road here. Cyber attacks, hacking and ransowamre is not gonna stop.It is gonna increase over time. They desperately want to keep status quo and current system, therefore paying ransom money (or bitcoins in this case) is still the best solution for them. Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: mastica on November 03, 2016, 04:26:20 PM The bank system has several issues, even investing into IT deeply they wont be able to protect all the accounts they hold, banks should think about protect their clients like bitcoin with hash, maybe with private pools and limited acess they could stop let hackers take advantage, i do know and read histories that some hackers steal 0,01dollars from each account and some of them reach fast 1 milion, but their greedy makes them go to jail.
Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: rajasumi3 on December 24, 2016, 06:34:30 PM Well when banks dont want to spend their money on their own thats y they are using bitcoin .acc to me there should not be any banks at all , there should be more buying and selling bitcoins .so that people dont have to suffer.
Title: Re: Banks plan to hoard bitcoins to pay cyber ransoms Post by: Mometaskers on December 25, 2016, 01:16:48 PM They can always exchange the money they have for bitcoins to pay ransom when their system do get compromised. I feel like they're trying to get into bitcoin because they saw how well it's doing. They already placed money in various investments, so why not bitcoin?
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