Bitcoins Come Under Attack as Their Value Rises
The risk of attacks against the Bitcoin virtual currency by hackers and criminals is increasing along with its value and use, with one of the latest examples being malware that installs itself on users’ PCs to create new Bitcoins via digital mining. Analyst Joe DeMesy notes there is a key difference between the security of the Bitcoin network and the Bitcoin exchanges. DeMesy says no one has discovered a critical weakness inside the Bitcoin protocol that would let a user within the Bitcoin network fraudulently generate coins or forge transactions. However, he says Bitcoin exchanges are designed so that users can transfer their Bitcoins into the exchange, which means an attacker who compromises the exchange can steal all the Bitcoins within it. Bitcoin wallets’ security also carries risks for users, with CrowdStrike’s Adam Meyers warning of malware packages that target users’ wallet.dat files. An additional risk to Bitcoin wallet users is that Bitcoin payments are not reversible by a central authority, which means only the payment recipient can refund the transactions, says Cenzic’s Bala Venkat.
From “Bitcoins Come Under Attack as Their Value Rises”
eWeek (12/02/13) Kerner, Sean Michael