Bitcoin is in trouble

[JessyMatt]

After this...I think congress is going to come down on bitcoin in the US

http://www.bitcoinvalues.net/hollywood-hospital-pays-hackers-40-bitcoin-worth-17000-release-computers.html

[adamstgBit]

fake

it's all over the net

it's true paying 17,000$ to hackers is more efficient than paying 20,000$ to completely reboot everything from non existing backups.

[ebliever]

Let's hope the Feds are canny enough to use the blockchain to track the funds until the thieves slip up and make a transaction that enables them to be identified.

[btcltccoins]

No, it can't happen . Bitcoin is here to stay and it is not the property of any government to control it. Let's hope it stays always and grow .

[7788bitcoin]

Bitcoin is just the payment method involved... I think the root problem is how the ransomware got into the system. Insider job? I thought big organizations should have backup systems to allow a complete system/database restore.

[romero121]

This is very insane. One should never demand for money, putting keeping human life into struggle. Somehow this time it got settled. Later if such scenario occurs it surely leads bitcoin into some trouble.

[bitbaby]

After this...I think congress is going to come down on bitcoin in the US

http://www.bitcoinvalues.net/hollywood-hospital-pays-hackers-40-bitcoin-worth-17000-release-computers.html

How in anyway would this stop hackers?? These hackers are most probably not in USA (unless it was an insider job) and they will sell those BTC in their country and start finding their next target. The government institutions need to tighten up their cyber security and start to keep backups as it is just another very powerful virus.

No, it can't happen . Bitcoin is here to stay and it is not the property of any government to control it. Let's hope it stays always and grow .

They can stop people from buying/selling which will make it hard for people to use it.

[pooya87]

Let's hope the Feds are canny enough to use the blockchain to track the funds until the thieves slip up and make a transaction that enables them to be identified.

i can never understand this. people always say this about Feds tracking the coins but it is not possible if they use a mixer!
i mean coins go in one way and come out in multiple transactions (from different set of addresses) with time interval between them in different sizes, how the hell can they track that?

[SFR10]

The problem with this is the hospital itself funding the hacker. This way, more hackers get encourage of doing the same (with the expectation of getting what they want). Wrong move IMO and they should have tried to find the hacker instead but now his gone but there's no assurance that he won't do it again in some time soon. Is there a transaction address that we could check for this funding?

[SuperCoinGuy]

Let's hope the Feds are canny enough to use the blockchain to track the funds until the thieves slip up and make a transaction that enables them to be identified.

i can never understand this. people always say this about Feds tracking the coins but it is not possible if they use a mixer!
i mean coins go in one way and come out in multiple transactions (from different set of addresses) with time interval between them in different sizes, how the hell can they track that?

Yeah I highly doubt it that the FBI will be able to trace the coins once they are sent through a mixer.

[electronicash]

Let's hope the Feds are canny enough to use the blockchain to track the funds until the thieves slip up and make a transaction that enables them to be identified.

That would take forever though. hackers are also smart enough to learn to mix and use different addresses and may transact with the rest of the shady individuals which can be hard to track down as well.
Authorities will have to track each of these individuals which is going to be hard for them since they don't cooperate.  so good luck to them.

[Jet Cash]

I think it's America that's in trouble, not Bitcoin. Bitcoin is here to stay - embrace it, or slip further back in world trade. The US has got one of the worst banking systems in the world, you still have to rely on cheques for some international funds transfers. They tried to screw the Russian banks, and this caused the re-patriation of US dollars by many Russian businesses. This has strengthened the Russian banking system, and provided funds for investment in Russia. The US needed to keep those dollars, but politicians with myopic political views don't seem to understand the results of their actions. Their attacks On the Bitcoin concept is yet another example of this lack of knowledge and common sense.

[Kakmakr]

Ransomware is nothing new, it has been around way before Bitcoin. These guys used other methods to force people to pay them. < Wire transfers / Credit Cards / PayPal > all done with fake identity documents. The government should rather use their Cyber crime unit to track down these people and convict them with harsh penalties to send a clear message.

You cannot kill a payment method, because a small percentage of people use it for crimes.

[talkbitcoin]

yet another media crap in desperate attempt to make bitcoin look bad. i wonder when they are going to sop.

[--Encrypted--]

yet another media crap in desperate attempt to make bitcoin look bad. i wonder when they are going to sop.

in cases such as this blame the criminals. if they didn't ask for bitcoin ransom the media wouldn't have a legit material and they'll stick to their usual over-exaggerated and false "facts".

[pedrog]

As Taylor said and very well:

Cost to pay Bitcoin ransom: $17k
Cost to hire an IT security person: $85k

Sorry nerds the math doesn't work.

https://twitter.com/SwiftOnSecurity/status/700138172324261889

It's simply much cheaper paying ransoms than having decent security...

[Herbert2020]

As Taylor said and very well:

Cost to pay Bitcoin ransom: $17k
Cost to hire an IT security person: $85k

Sorry nerds the math doesn't work.

https://twitter.com/SwiftOnSecurity/status/700138172324261889

It's simply much cheaper paying ransoms than having decent security...

85,000 USD to hire an IT security person? really? this is his salary for how long? 1 job?

even if that number is true , paying ransom means they can get hacked the next day and have to do it again and again, the hacker might even leak their security holes online so any novice hacker can get in and mess with their systems.

[1Referee]

Bitcoin isn't in trouble.... This is the fault of the companies that don't invest in proper security measures. I used to work at a company that processes paychecks, and what I have been seeing there was just ridiculous. Computers running outdated software, nearly half of the computers didn't have a proper antivirus installed, etc. And why? Because they don't want to invest a single penny into their security. Pure rubbish.

[Amph]

fake

it's all over the net

it's true paying 17,000$ to hackers is more efficient than paying 20,000$ to completely reboot everything from non existing backups.

well this is their fault after all, if they had a backup in the first place all this mess would be nullified

as long as they don't blame bitcoin for their incompetence, all those news are pointless for the bitcoin growth, at worst they could instigate a small dump...

[calkob]

Whats this got to do with bitcoin?  if it had been a ransom in $ or £ would you have said they where in trouble also.  i doubt it 

They would have probably been better off getting it in $ it is probably less trackable than bitcoin.  I think institutions need to look at there security level constantly in this ever changing technical world.  its no good to just sit back and use outdated security.