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Yahoo Virus Converts Millions Of Computers Into Bitcoin Mining Slaves
A few days ago it was revealed that numerous European users of Yahoo, as many as two million, had gotten infected with malware from virus-laden ads served by Yahoo's homepage during the period from December 31 to January 3. The company admitted as much when it revealed that "From December 31 to January 3 on our European sites, we served some advertisements that did not meet our editorial guidelines – specifically, they spread malware." Users in North America, Asia Pacific and Latin America weren't affected, Yahoo said. Nor were users of Apple Macs or mobile devices. "We will continue to monitor and block any advertisements being used for this activity," the company added. "We will post more information for our users shortly." What was not clear is just what function the ad virus served. According to the Guardian, the purpose of the most prevalent virus spread by the website was to convert the infected computers into Bitcoin mining slaves.
According to the Guardian, "some of the malware would turn PCs into bitcoin miners - a huge drain on its computing resources - without users' knowledge. Yahoo has been criticised for not saying how many people could be affected or doing anything to help those with the malware, which attacked flaws in Java modules on systems."
As a reminder, in "A trip through the Bitcoin mines" we showed just how extensive the capital requirements can be for any legitimate Bitcoin mining operation, where the distributed calculations used to extract new Bitcoins have now risen to a stunning 10 quadrillion per second.
So what is an enterprising hacker in need of some quick cash, but unwilling to spend the CapEx for procuring the expensive equipment (especially when buybacks and dividends are so much more attractive, just kidding) to do? Why force others to do the mining for them. This is precisely what the creator of the Yahoo-hosted virus did.
According to Light Cyber, a security research firm which warned Yahoo of the attacks in late December, one of the malware programs delivered in the attack turned the victim's computer into a bitcoin miner. The computer is set to work performing the calculations required to make the bitcoin network run, but the rewards for doing so accrue to the malware writer.
Fox IT, the Dutch cybersecurity firm which first disclosed the vulnerability to the public, estimated that there were around 27,000 infections every hour the malware was live on the site. If the malware was being served consistently for the three days, it may be the case that almost 2 million computers were infected.
Bitcoin is so valuable to botnet owners, criminals who control large numbers of compromised computers, that one academic paper argues that the security of the network is permanently at risk. Philipp Güring and Ian Grigg argue that the currency violates Gresham's Law (pdf), an economic theorem that states that bad money drives out good. Since bitcoin mining is far more profitable done on stolen computers with stolen energy, they argue, it will soon be uneconomical to do it any other way.
"The attack focused on outdated software," says Steve Regan of security site CSO. "The only way for the exploits to work is to have outdated versions of Java on your system. If Java is up to date, then the odds are, you're safe. However, I don't trust Java, so unless you absolutely need it, my advice is to uninstall it from your system. It seems like I see more zero-day attacks aimed at Java than anything else, the risk isn't worth it for me." Zero-day attacks exploit previously unreported flaws in software to install malware or take over a computer.
Mining for Bitcoin was not the only infection.
As well as the bitcoin mining malware, other software installed includes ZeuS, which attempts to steal banking information; Andromeda, which turns the computer into part of a "botnet" for use by third parties, and "adjacking" malware which hijacks the user's browser to click on adverts, thus channeling income to corrupt site owners... Software such as ZeuS lets criminals install Cryptolocker, a dangerous new type of malware which first encrypts the user's files and then demands a ransom, payable in bitcoin, to decrypt them. In most versions of Cryptolocker, the ransom is set at two bitcoins, currently worth around $2,000.
One can only hope that Yahoo, which hosted the ads willingly and apparently without filtering and pre-clearing the ad content, wasn't in on the scheme. To be sure, it has been slammed for keeping users in the dark.
Yahoo has been criticised for not doing more to aid users infected by the faulty adverts. Dan Farber of technology site CNET says that: "At this point, Yahoo hasn't addressed any of the details, such as how the malware exploit got into its Web pages, how many users are impacted, and what victims of the attack should do. The company may still be gathering data."
All in all, a rather ingenious wealth extraction scheme: either have others mine for Bitcoin, or demand a ransom if they want their computer back. We wonder how long until these activities are added to the definition of GDP in the New Normal economy?
The best news, however, is that there are still at least two millions people who use Yahoo.
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Where's Fonestar to tell us this is bullish for Bitcoin?
Ebworthen that isn't fair. When there are tungsten bars floating around it doesn't mean all gold is bad or all gold "bugs" are thieves and the same should apply to BTC. Whether you like it or not there cannot be a double standard.
Fonestar should be laughing his ass off all the way to the bank...if he is smart...he will be taking profits here.
What color were these computers?
PCB Green. You can call me raycizz. but I'm just tellin' the truth, brotha.
Anyone using Yahoo deserves to be Bot'd. I hope the guy running that net made shitloads off those dupes.
Honorable currency you're pushing there dude.....
How is a currency honourable or dishonourable? Beyond stupid, your anti-Bitcoin rants are pathetic.
I don't care how anyone makes their Bitcoin as long as they make it. These people were already voluntary windoze slaves so I have no objection to someone turning them into Satoshi's slaves.
"I don't care how anyone makes their Bitcoin as long as they make it."
You'd fit right in at 'Wall Street Inc'
May the cog-dis be with you :-)
I'm pro Bitcoin, if it were truly free. But seems to me a log of every transaction and cyber wallet is not the most intelligent way to stay away from gov't peeps, especially in light of Snowden's disclosure on the level of NSA intrusion.
And I don't buy this notion that a failing electricity grid will kill Bitcoin either. I just logically look at what the government and banks dislike, which is cash and PM's, and go from there. If the govvy is open to incorporating Bitcoin and the same corrupt, fascist govvy is my enemy, then simple reasoning follows.
No?
check out anoncoin
I heard dogecoin is taking off too. Such profit.
dogechain fork
much loss
so sad
Since bitcoin mining is far more profitable done on stolen computers with stolen energy, they argue, it will soon be uneconomical to do it any other way.At current difficulty levels, it would take 2 million desktop computers running normal graphics cards MONTHS to generate one single bitcoin.
The purpose built ASCI miners have made the difficulty go exponential and can not be matched by desktop GPU's anymore. Even millions of them mining into a single account would not generate any kind of real returns. A single desktop graphics card at today's difficulty would literally take 6 months to mine 0.01 bitcoin
http://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2013/04/zerocoin-making-bitcoin-anonymous.html
Bitcoin will adopt that anonymous feature or another coin will and we will be talking about it in a few years and not bitcoin.
Bitcoin... the new VD.
Are you infected?
Yahoo becomes malware's bitch.
All's fair in love and HaX0r3.
"...turning them into Satoshi's slaves"?!
More precisely in slaves of Fed, which is hidden under the guise of an unknown Satoshi.
After all, that's what you meant, is not it? LOL
A crazy thing happened to me the other day ... had someone show up trying to sell me something and right in the middle of the pitch he wanted me to go mine some gold for him.
I told him to fuck off.
My PC just said I now have 1,000 bitcoin....how do I sell them?
Never Sell.
https://pathofmusashi.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/how-to-get-square-and-ret...
Look for a crytoperson that will accept them?
I'll give ya three-fiddy
Your currency is about to be declared a cyber terrrrisst....
I guess you think Bitcoiners are concerned about their declarations?
fonestar "Anyone using Yahoo deserves to be Bot'd. I hope the guy running that net made shitloads off those dupes.
Comment
Very emotional response. And what if it happened on a site you used. What if it happened at ZH. Would you then be one of those dupes? And would you be a dupe for buying into bitcoin or because you got infected?
I wouldn't get infected. I don't run windoze and I am too smart.
If you actually had a "very smart", then you would understand that Bitcoin - it is product of the Federal Reserve.
Bitcoin – a product of the Federal Reserve.
Only the blind can not see it.
Dollar discredited itself in the eyes of the public. The Fed also discredited itself in the eyes of the public.
Of course for Fed was needed make a legend about some Satoshi, buyout supposedly created Bitcoin, and then he is evaporated.
Thus, the Fed shows for fools (which the majority) that Bitcoin - a system that "does not belong to anyone," and "no one is controlled".
But this is absurd. In the world there are no financial assets and payment systems that have no legal owner,
with a specific name, surname and ID number.
All that is in front of the prefix "The global World or International" - it is the property of the United States. Or controlled by the United States.
Everything else - the local and minor.
Federal Reserve no longer need gold. Now they have a Bitcoin. As soon ends era the first fiat money - the U.S. dollar, immediately begin the era of other fiat money under the control of the Fed - it will Bitcoin.
Bitcoin system has a limit of coins. But Bitcoin system has no limit fragmentation of these coins.
Crushing coins Bitcoin to infinity - it's the same exact Monetary Emission, like printing FRN.
http://bitcoinmagazine.com/8531/u-s-air-force-building-bitcoin-payment-g...
One of the main objectives of Bitcoin - it distract investors from investing in gold and silver.
Bitcoin today is the main enemy of the PMs and the main instrument of the Fed for to suppress the price of PMs.
if you like your processor, you can keep it
I can practically hear them laughing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcSujceZDmg
spoiler: the ceo laugh lasts
hilarious
Your average dedicated CPU miner does 2Mh/s. If a hacker gets control of 2 million computers that equals 4Th/s at best.
This is no better than a single ASIC miner or two today. Basically standard computers are useless for bitcoin mining, the currency has moved beyond that.
The network is fully secure and fine, thanks for the FUD though.
Windoze abusers + Yahoo == my pants are down around my ankles, rape me please!!
"Sent from your iPhone"
The Fed and Wall Street, rape you every day with the help of deceptions, manipulations and now with Bitcoin.
Is this not enough for you?
zaphod, thank you again for your kind assitance a week or two ago re BTC encryption, etc.
That may be part of my "Part Seven", which might finish off my BTC articles.
Beeblebrox for President!
;-)
Exactly.
I'd suspect that the malware was trying to steal the user's wallet.dat and not do any mining, because mining with a cpu is completely idiotic at this point in time.
Even mining with an ASIC is considered a waste of time and money by many, because you could rather just buy the Bitcoins directly instead of investing the money in miners and hoping you can return the investement, in the end it's the same result.
I think this is just another viral advertising Bitcoin.
Why would I "take profits" (sell Bitcoin) dumbass? How does this effect Bitcoin or Bitcoin's value at all? Oh right, it doesn't....
Well, the reason is simple.....book profits on a winning trade and keep some of your original investment on the table.
Taking profits has nothing to with value and everyhting to do with generating wealth.
How many Canadian bagholders got fucked by not taking profits on Nortel? Bitcoin may be future...who knows...but there is nothing wrong with taking some chips off the table.
Don't bother, dude- you're already way over Fonestar's head....
Plus- you can ever sell in a Ponzi......
Another pathetic lemming, clueless about P2P. Spent the last ten years living in a closet.
Skype and torrent also based on P2P. But this does not make them orphaned, self-managed, decentralized, anonymous and safe.
fonestar "Why would I "take profits" (sell Bitcoin) dumbass? How does this effect Bitcoin or Bitcoin's value at all? Oh right, it doesn't...."
Comment
You don't take profits or losses to effect the the price of any market. You take profit or loss to effect your own account despite the market. Your emotional reponses to defend bitcoin makes one really see bitcoin is a bubble or a market not worth being in.
Hahaha..... "a bubble" what a pathetic joke. I guess cars are in a bubble, horse buggies are going to make a comeback any day now!
And for this reason you are willing to pay money for a ticket to a virtual spaceship? LOL
Each adult who believes in fairy godmother, wizards, Satoshi and bitcoin - should go to a psychiatrist to be checked.
Trending Now on Yahoo
1 Kylie Minogue
2 Chloe Gosselin
3 Baghdad brothel
4 Rita Ora
5 Old Spice mom ad
6 Emmy Rossum
7 Monica Spear
8 The Wolf of Wall Street
9 Frozen pipes
10 Final AP poll
Never go full tabloid.
At least there is ONE search on there that shows that some use the internet for something useful.
pods
The current top "news story" on Yahoo...
Alyssa Milano opens up about Jay Mohr's recent "fat-shaming" insults: "I wanted to remind him that I'm a human being and that this hurts"
Pretty sad, isn't it?
My guess is that the majority demographic who read this trash are women and gays.
"OH MY GOD ALYSSA MILANO HAD A BABY AND JAY MOHR POKED FUN AT HER POST PREGNANCY FIGURE, GET HIM!!!!!"
That's it, gonna' splash on the Old Spice today.
Happy aluminum!
No no, the liquid cologne in the porcelain bottle with the star on the plug cap.
I avoid that aluminum laden underarm stuff like the plague, but thanks.
Speed Stick, by Mennen.
Just doing my part in reminding everyone (hey, I don't know if you know to avoid the aluminum stuff like the plague (but now I do)). The aftershave - that's some decent smelling stuff.
Tom's of Maine is what I go with (Maine Woodspice is the best). I'll make my own when SHTF.
Go with the plain deodorant to avoid the aluminum. It's the deodorant/anti-persperant combos that carry the substance. Naturally, its much harder to find just plain ol' deodorant nowadays.
P.S. Of course, deodorant has propylene glycol in it, if I'm recalling correctly. So even though I'm reducing aluminum exposure, I'm slathering on the anti-freeze! (@&^#%^!&^!&&#!!!!!!
Someone hand that girl some toilet paper.
That is not a girl...that is a trend.
You will be wearing that outfit before long, and the potty squat is a great stretch for the quads after a long run.
bah!
she is sitting on both spurs!
Never saw a woman "swallow" both spurs like that before.
Never heard of her, and after clicking, still don't care.
Ever notice that 90% of what's trending on Yahoo are women or minorities?
Can someone please tell me the correct element on the periodic table that bitcoin is backed by?
.
Thanks in advance...
That's easy: Ho
Hopium!
Same element that is backing all of modern society.
pods
Hopium and Changium.
Delerium and parabolium.
Absurdium and Superfluouim
I'd love to. But first tell me which element on the periodic table the Internet is backed by. Neither has intrinsic value and by extension worthless. Correct? You can't hold a cell phone signal in your hand so i assume you don't use that either.
That would be Silicon....
Similar to the case for Kruggerands which are alloyed with copper for durability, the Si is sometimes mixed with Germanium or Arsenic....
I believe the Zero's mined by the FED come from the same element.
Some would say 0, others would say 1.
I say since it requires electricity, computers, and the Interwebs it is bullish for Silver.
ElectricWishium
You make a classic "Red Herring" (false) argument, couched in a sarcastic question. BTC is backed by the same thing that ANY and ALL elements on the Periodic Table are backed by: The HUMAN ECONOMY. Without the Human Economy, the world supply of PM will do jack shit for you, if you're stuck on a desert island with only a few palm trees.
Regardless of how one feels personally about buying/trading BTC (pro, con or in between), the REAL question one has to ask, to avoid getting sucked into the many BS+FUD debates I see here, is which is preferable to a GENUINE libertarian/Libertarian:
(a) The fiat paper/currency of CBs (with their LEAs and DoD bully-enforcers behind them), or
(b) A decentralized currency, created and owned by the Global Economy of freedom-minded people.
BTW...
[1] Official Economy = Fiat + Debt + Derivatives + MISC (where MISC = Military-Industrial & Surveillance Complex)
= By, For and Of the Plutocracy, the feudal Oligarchs + We the Sheeple
[2] Parallel Economy = PM + Barter + BTC
= We The People
Get clarity, choose a side, and please stop spreading 'manure' and FUD.
Well put Captain.
As a live and let live kind of person one can...
A. Do your research, make your own conclusions, and enter the BTC market.
B. Do your research, make your own conclusions, and decide its not for you.
Why do people feel the need to knock down that which they have no intention of becoming involved in?
The phase "Get a life" seems appropriate.
Name element on the periodic table that bitcoin is backed it is "Fed-scam-virturum".
Silicon I suppose.
The same element as Picasso paintings, the first edition of Alice in Wonderland, and rookie Mickey Mantel baseball cards.
That 1:1 ratio will be broken this year, see ya in the rear-view!
Gotta admit that's a genius way to mine. At least the malware wasn't used to steal a person's data (as far as we know)
"Where's Fonestar to tell us this is bullish for Bitcoin?"
This is bullish for Bitcoin. Any news for Bitcoin is good news.
+1 for wading into the swamp with me.
I doubt you missed this one earlier but:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-08/bitcoin-sexiest-non-solution-al...
I'm with you in spirit against the central banksters, best of luck.
Including the news that the owners of the Bitcoin system opened their names and want to charge a fee for each transaction?
Well, at least that will prevent NSA from monopolizing BTC mining. This may be a good thing.
I'm starting my own Bitcoin mine...
Next up: the NSA starts bitcoin mining
Oh, they are doing it now. Its a national security thing. Keep the dough away from the terrists.
I can't even believe I am saying this but that was a smart move by the Feds to grab that in the Silk Road pinching. We all know there will be some type of meeting of the minds between the law and Bitcoin IF it survives and becomes what it can be.
Actually, we will see people like Google and Amazon mining for Bitcoin before too long. They have a shitload of computers and that's how I describe it because I am a dumbass when it comes to techie stuff. Corporations are run by humans, many of which share the same concerns most peeps at ZH have about the house of cards we have right now. I expect Target to start accepting Bitcoin (or at least announce plans to) before the middle of this year.
they do it now through gyft - http://www.gyft.com/merchants/target/
https://pathofmusashi.wordpress.com
I understand. I should have clarified. I expect them to do it directly at the point of sale. The Target Red Card should tell you how they feel about the current payment options. The recent hacking/fraud thing should tell you how they feel about current payment options.
YaWho?
Yahoo is so shitty. It is run by an Obama bundler b*tch. It is like a freaking malware site to be avoided.
Feel the hate....
You raise an interesting issue, Freddie. WHICH tech (here: internet/browsers) cos. do NOT have liberal scum running them? And what do we do?
I will not learn LINUX, I'm too old for that.
Yo DCRB, don't resign yourself from the Linux world without even an attempt! The key ingredient to a linux system is the concept of a root user and a root password. Without root privileges, you cannot make changes to system files, i.e. no viruses, trojans, malware, etc. Ever.
There's plenty of distributions that are made by honest, conscientious efforts. Some for minimality, some for performance, some for elegance in the GUI, some to try new shit out.
Here's the king of all Linuxes, puppy. It runs from RAM. That's right. You don't even need a hard-disk to run. Barry Kauler (author) gave something to the world that not even one in a thousand will appreciate. Get yourself a 4GB USB drive and stick puppy on it. That's your computer!
http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview%20and%20Getting%20Started.htm
Or if you want to try a new look & feel as written in the Englightenment GUI toolkit, here's Bodhi Linux (bo-dhee).
http://bodhilinux.com/
There's always more than one of us here to give you pointers and stuff.
Thanks boardrider, Your calm, confident advise reaches many minds!
I thought the same thing, but to load Ubuntu and then get FireFox Running was not that bad.
Ubuntu is not what it once was - https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/ubuntu-spyware.en.html
find something else.
https://pathofmusashi.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/battle-of-the-bitcoin-1st...
Feeling really safe on the interwebs about now. If it ain't the NSA, it is some skimmer or moneychanger trying to soak me for my last FRN.
Is Ted's cabin still for rent? Lemme do a Yahoo search.....................
pods
Always maintain a clean image file of your system. I got hit with a Cryptolocker recently and loading the backup image is the ONLY solution. I keep several image copies on various drives.
Be careful though, cryptolocker goes after shared drives too. Consider the cryptolocker prevention tool.
This can't be emphasized enough. A raw sector-by-sector backup image is the ultimate butt-saver.
The other thing I do if I'm forced to use Windows is to run it in a VM, and backup the VM files on a regular basis. I can intentionally infect my "PC" this way and revert to pre-infection in seconds. I've set a few of my professional friends up with this system and after one bad "event" they were sold for life on running inside VMs.
TPTB just exploring new levels of slavery for the sheep, but one day............
Nor were users of Apple Macs or mobile devices.
Why not just say that the only computers infected were using Microsoft Windows Operating Systems?
Microsoft should be held liable for the crap they are peddling as an operating system. It is not the security holes, it is the deliberate lack of user control and the whole shut the user out of the internals of the system mentality that enables this shit.
You don't need to be a Tech Genius to install and use a Linux Distribution. The cost is a very reasonable free and the entire process guides you through it. It's actually easier to install a Linux Distribution than any flavor of Windows.
Yes, but good luck getting any of the applications you need for it. MS policies together with the plague known as the "average user" have created a monopoly which has forced everyone to develop for Windows. Even software available for Unix is Windows only now.
Also if you intend to run Linix for the first time: Stay away from the KDE/Gome crap. They are just as intent on dumbing you down as MS and Apple are.
The only way I run Windows7 now is in a VM or in "Steady State Mode". Steady state mode resets itself to a pure copy every time it reboots. Here's an article on it: http://blogs.technet.com/b/panosm/archive/2011/07/07/windows-7-steadysta...
Windows 8 is an unbelievable heap of garbage; a marketing app, not an operating system.
What's a Yahoo? Some West Viginia hillbilly?
That would be yokel...
Do they mine bitcoin?
Yes, they are used to hook up oxen teams that pull the ore trucks...
I had wondered how long it would take for the zombiemasters to task their botnets as bitcoin miners. The timing seems about right.
I use yahoo mail for all junk mail I don't want to read.
Yahoo is wonderful for dispersing anonymous threats! Need a transport hub closed, send it from your dummy yahoo account!
My Yahoo junk email account has over 8,000 emails.
They tell me I have room for 54 million more. Marissa? Marissa Mayer?
8,000 emails?!
I wish the staff of the National Security Agency, which should read all of this shit!
This is such an Absurdist nightmare, it is brilliant.
Yahoo! is a cesspool and the internet chronicle of Amerika's descent. Do not participate in her sins and ye shall receive not of her plagues.
I am feeling fine this morning. I am readying to add to my coin collection, enjoying some imported tea and contemplating dropping this 50 mg Gold Cap of pure hash oil and taking in a new film this evening.
Gentlemen, if you can and to your best ability, just turn away from this sort of news item, and maintain your sanity. Dylan Thomas wrote an excellent poem on this theme during the London Blitz.
Maintain also because the streets ares not going to get any less dischordant in the coming years.
I see only worse & worse coming down the pike; and am cheerful nevertheless. Much can be accomplished in the wake of a descending empire and many people much wiser than we have done well in much, much worse circumstances.
"and am cheerful nevertheless" can't possibly be the hash oil can it?
Very nicely put, Hongcha.
mmm...hash oil...
I guess the NSA must be having difficulty with its computer deliveries....
Good thing Bitcoin Can't & Won't be hacked... /s
Like anyone browsing Yahoo! was doing anything useful. They might as well be verifying transactions (mining).
That sanity be kept I sit at open windows,
Regard the sky, make unobtrusive comment on the moon,
Sit at open windows in my shirt,
And let the traffic pass, the signals shine,
The engines run, the brass bands keep in tune,
For sanity must be preserved.
Thinking of death, I sit and watch the park
Where children play in all their innocence,
And matrons on the littered grass
Absorb the daily sun.
The sweet suburban music from a hundred lawns
Comes softly to my ears. The English mowers mow and mow.
I mark the couples waking arm in arm,
Observe their smiles,
Sweet invitations and inventions,
See them lend love illustration
By gesture and grimace.
I watch them curiously, detect beneath the laughs
What stands for grief, a vague bewilderment
At things not turning right.
I sit at open windows in my shirt,
Observe, like some Jehovah of the west
What passes by, that sanity be kept.
-- D. Thomas
Good, good, good.
Thanks
Kind of like how the Fed has converted Billions of humans into Debt Mining Slaves?
"Yahoo said. Nor were users of Apple Macs or mobile devices"
Yahoo did not mention my computer(s) which are Linux.
asics mining ---on chips that are optimized for HASHING , a specific algorithm , are so powerful that commanding a zombie army of botnets of conventional computers, even millions of them is not all that worriesome.
these dedicated asics chips of millions of times more efficient per watt of electricity than general computing devices. not only that, they are built with optimizing cooling fans and sometimes liquid cooling to run at extremely high throughput unlike a conventional computer.
the botnet is not a threat to bitcoin. the threat is indeed the potential horizontal integration of commercial bitcoin mining opertaions acquiring one another and forming a 'super' cartel of a few of the biggest TBTF bitcoin mining outfits accounting for 1/3 or more of the entire mining network computing power. at 1/3 of network power a cartel could begin to manipuate the whole system, undoing it decentralized nature from within. that is the threat.
Makes me wonder what kind of machines the NSA has for breaking the standards everyone uses. I know they prefer to circumvent the encryption alltogether but if you attract their attention I wonder how long it takes for them get into your stuff... especially with weak entropy (windows is awful from what i've seen). One thing that always frightened me is that if you have perfect randomness... there is a 1% chance for example that your key falls within the first 1% of the keyspace... effectively taking 1/100 of the max theoretical time to crack. 1/1000 being in the first 0.1% of the keyspace... etc.
The biggest threat to Bitcoin, these are people who are able to think.
Yeah that thing happened to me once I think, last year. Had that program from a not so secure place that I need desperately so installed it anyways. My PC started making all kinds, hundreds of connections to other servers and my CPU was always at 50%. Thankfully, I'm pretty savy in getting rid of these and never keep any password cached in my browsers or have no personal data on it either. I tought this was a good time to buy a more verbose software firewall as well :)
your avatar,
classic!
And Facebook is a blank page right now. You can't possibly think this would be limited to only one ad-serving network.
Funny how hard some people work at avoiding working for a living.
I Want more BITCOINS
Deposit here...
1MCCbNrVE5xV87WwwZXdoGHX9zqquc82Ke
Get a job you panhandling piece of shit. God damn cyber bums are everywhere these days.
now how do we know that link doesn't install a bitocin miner? is it going to be true that the only people who are wealthy are those with bitcoins? or that all wealth should be measure in bitcoins?
This story is FUD , you would need to literally infect hundreds of thousands of computers just to do what a few of these newer ASIC machines can do , this story must be around 2 years old when doing such a thing would have been profitable.
If you read the article a general trojan was installed and the bitcoin miner was just one part of the payload. When it's basically free and entertaining, why not? If anything Yahoo is lying when they say the bitcoin was the most important effect, it was not, the trojan is.
Agreed with your point , but still a load of fucking piontless FUD
Yahoo, like most big sites today, sells some blank space, plus or minus filters by topic keywords, to some third party who puts whatever content they want into the space. Maybe Yahoo asks to see the content first, but then the third party might just swap it without telling Yahoo, or claim that THEY were hacked and not responsible.
Happens fairly frequently, I'm sure Yahoo served up some nasty malware to me about four years ago (and finally convinced me to run antivirus and keep it up to date!), and some other major sites have accidentally served up some nasties, too.
Old news where were the bitcoin bashers back in November for this exact same thing. This is soooo 2013.
http://www.mobile-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=90535
E-Sports Entertainment, which bills itself as the "largest competitive video gaming community in North America," agreed to a $1 million settlement after being accused of infecting computers with malware to mine for Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a cybercurrency that is relatively anonymous. It's created and exchanged independent of governments or banks.
...
The company charges users $6.95 a month to play popular games including Counter Strike and Team Fortress 2 alone or against one another on what they said is a platform that does not allow cheating.
In order to play, users must download E-Sports software onto their computers. When downloaded, the software has administrative access to the computer . It was through that software that two company employees, a co-founder and a software engineer, installed code allowing them to mine for Bitcoins without the users' knowledge, authorities said.
...
So when gaming sites take advantage the users in infected are deviants but when Yahoo does it the users all of a sudden become respectable?
Are you kidding me. People create malware to take advantage all time bitcoin mining or what not else. Exploitation is exploitation. If it didn't have value people wouldn't be exploiting the mining game it now would they.
I guess today must be the sour to sweet news article portion to stir up the bitcoin bashers. Fair and balanced....
Now Alibaba bans Bitcoin
Bundesbank weights in with its warning and Bitcoin slides today after moving closer to Double top $1240 mark again at $1093 on Mt. Gox on latest developments in China. It is trading today sharply down at $825 at BTCChina. More negative news will be coming out of China in the next few days in line with the ban for financial transactions involving Bitcoins.
http://sufiy.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/gold-30-want-to-create-next-bitcoin....
The chinese are the biggest control freaks of them all. Anyone surprised it is not technology they are afraid of btw since they do embrace opensource it is they can't control the amount of coins.
"If you don't hold it, they will steal it."
Ha ha, that's like the SETI@home clients think they are looking for ET but really..........