Saturday, June 18, 2011

Malware Steals Your Bitcoin

I got my Bitcoin @nerdmeritbadge today!Bitcoins have become popular as an alternative to government-controlled currencies, but a new Trojan seems to be specifically targeting Bitcoin wallets in an attempt to steal funds, security firm Symantec warns.

The malware, Infostealer.Coinbit, is fairly simple: It targets Windows machines and zeros in on the standard file location for a Bitcoin wallet. It then e-mails the wallet — a data file containing private crypto keys — to the attacker by way of a server in Poland, according to Symantec, which was first to alert on the attack.

“If you use Bitcoins, you have the option to encrypt your wallet and we recommend that you choose a strong password for this in the event that an attacker is attempting to brute-force your wallet open,” Symantec’s Stephen Doherty wrote in a blog post Thursday.

Current exchange rates place the value of one Bitcoin to about $23.50 USD as of late Friday afternoon, according to bitcoincharts.com. For an overview of how the system works, see the currency's official site.

Earlier this week, a hack on a Bitcoin user's Windows computer was said to have resulted in the loss of the equivalent of $500,000 USD. While the amount is said to be disputed -- such a large amount transferring would have caused a drop in the value of the Bitcoin, and some claim the system wouldn't have been able to handle such a large transfer.

Regardless of the claims validity, it is believed that hackers have been able to develop botnets to exploit the Bitcoin system, Symantec reported earlier this week. It is believed that based on current valuations, these efforts could be netting these botnet owners the equivalent of $100,000 per month.

24 commentaires:

mens said...

glad i don't possess bitcoin,
thanks for the info dude!

Some Guy said...

im still not sure about bitcoins tbh, seems a bit of a scam. Do you use it?

luk4blogger said...

hmm i dont use bitcoin, but anyway thx for the post! will tell my friends who uses bitcoin

greetings,
funny-randomstuff.blogspot.com

Dan Elliot Treto said...

yeah, I don't use bitcoins myself, I don't see why anyone would, but nice post.

+following.

Shaw said...

I don't understand this bitcoin stuff @_@

netw said...

I don't even know what this bitcoins are...

eltipoedy66 said...

^ Me neither, but I'm glad :P, followed

trawler666 said...

Glad I don't have bitcoin!

rkabala36 said...

I've never even heard of bitcoins before, but I'm glad I don't have any.

disraelyan said...

Whew.. I almost signed up for bitcoin too haha!!
Thanks for the heads up

curlyheat said...

has been interesting lately with the fall in bitcoins worth, great blog by the way followed!

Miguel Sanchez said...

Thanks for the warning, reason why I stay away from downloading anything that's suspicious.

Jon Dujaka said...

This is the reason I don't trust bitcoins.
They are just some virtual money, they don't even exist.

zephyr said...

BitCoin's revolutionary status among currencies should not be underestimated. just my Zombie opinion.

Alpha said...

Bitcoins...very interesting...

Sam Hiscox said...

Interesting read, great blog you got going.

+followed!

Lizard said...

i haven't used bincoin personally.

Jack said...

Good thing I don't use bitcoin, getting hacked like that would really suck.

DIYgaming said...

Yikes! I don't use the deep web much so this doesn't bother me.

Apple said...

Thanks, at least I don't use Bitcoin.

wellpickedbooger said...

I don't use Bitcoins either. From what I've read, it requires a high-end computer to actually make money off them.

Charles said...

Came very close to getting into bitcoin mining, but this has put me off the idea completely.

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