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What is a firewall? Understanding the security measure that protects against cyber threats – Business Insider

June 10, 2021 | Author: admin

Many of us live with the fear of a cyberattack disrupting our computer-dependent lives not to mention their potential to wreak havoc on an entire country.

Fortunately, we have security measures like firewalls, which prevent bad actors from gaining unwanted access to networks.

Preventing your internet from crashing isn't the only positive you can gain from a network firewall. There are also customizable uses for firewalls, like blocking inappropriate online content from your children.

Here's what you need to know about firewalls, including how they work and why they're important.

A firewall is like a bouncer for your internet activity, creating a security barrier between your home network and unwanted intrusion from the internet at large.

Firewalls can be cloud-based, or they can be a physical piece of hardware that you buy and connect to your modem and router. (For the most part though, modems and routers will come with pre-implemented firewall technology.)

If you've ever tried to set up your own server with port forwarding, for instance, you may have been foiled by your router's firewall.

Your computer will also in all likelihood come with its own proprietary firewall, like the Windows Defender Firewall that comes installed on Windows PCs.

There are many types of firewalls, but the gist of how they work is similar: a firewall works by closing your network off by default to most internet traffic, or at the very least, requesting your permission before allowing the traffic in.

Among the distinct forms and types of firewalls in use today, the following are some of the most common.

Having some kind of firewall as a line of defense for your home network has become increasingly important as more devices are internet-enabled. After all, you don't want to worry that your porch's smart light bulb which you installed as a means to dissuade burglars is creating a cybersecurity loophole in your network.

There are benefits beyond security as well: A properly configured firewall can keep your internet running more quickly by routing traffic more efficiently.

Finally, a firewall can also be programmed to act as a content moderator for kids by restricting their access to certain websites. Those sorts of settings won't be standard for a firewall, but can be configured with most of them.

Is the Internet (Briefly) Breaking a Sign of Things to Come? – Vanity Fair

June 10, 2021 | Author: admin

At one point during Tuesday mornings brief global internet outage, The Guardian was covering it solely via Twitter thread. Thus ends my uncomfortable 50 minute period of being the only person in the entire newspaper capable of publishing content, tech reporter Alex Hern tweeted once the site came back onlineat least for him, he noted, as scattered disruptions continued to plague some of the worlds biggest online news platforms, as well as the UK governments home page, some Amazon sites, and streaming services like Hulu and HBO Max. The Verge pivoted to Google Docs to share the news with readers (and briefly forgot to restrict the documents editing abilities, allowing random people to chime in before editors realized what was going on). Were all on pins and needles right now, CNN New Day co-anchor John Berman told his colleague Brian Stelter, who popped onto the program this morning to address the baffling failure as CNNs own website, along with several other publishers, went dark. Right now no indication that this is a cyberware or ransomware attack, but it is one of the most widespread web outages that I have ever seen, said Stelter, CNNs chief media correspondent.

Early risers signing on to check the latest from major online outlets including the New York Times, the Financial Times, BBC, and Cond Nast-owned sites like Reddit and Vanity Fair were greeted with unusual error messages amid the temporary but massive crash, which, as of now, doesnt appear to be rooted in anything malicious. The outage seemed to stem from a problem at Fastly, a content-delivery network (or CDN) that many large companies use to speed up loading times for websites and enhance reliability, among other services, according to the Guardian. Just before 6 a.m. Eastern on Tuesday, the cloud computing provider acknowledged a service issue that had caused disruptions and, about an hour later, stated on its website that the issue has been identified and a fix has been applied.

Fastly-supported apps such as Spotify, Pinterest, and Twitch were among other sites and apps impacted; Twitter, PayPal, and Etsy also experienced problems, according to the Times. Madeline Carr, the director of the Research Institute for Sociotechnical Cyber Security, told the Times there does need to be a level of accountability for companies that provide the infrastructure for websites, since so many rely on it. In the last generation of cybersecurity, it was about ensuring websites were protected or had adequate security, she said, but when youre talking about something like Fastly, in a sense it doesnt matter how secure your own website is.

The sweeping outage comes on the heels of a ransomware attack that last month caused a multi-day shutdown of Americas largest fuel pipeline, which is why, as Berman noted, cybersecurity concerns were among the immediate reaction to Tuesdays crash. But even with no apparent foul play involved, that a glitch at one San Francisco-based technology firm took down huge sites in dozens of countries reflects the reliance that the most popular pages on the internet have on a few big technology firms to help them distribute content and host users, Bloomberg reports. As Stelter noted, This is the internet infrastructure, and when the lights flicker, it has global effects.

ALPACA gnaws through TLS protection to snarf cookies and steal data – The Register

June 10, 2021 | Author: admin

Academics from three German universities have found a vulnerability in the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol that under limited circumstances allows the theft of session cookies and enables cross-site scripting attacks.

Dubbed ALPACA, which is short for "Application Layer Protocol Confusion Analyzing and Mitigating Cracks in TLS Authentication," the researcher's findings are described in an academic paper [PDF] that's scheduled to be presented in August at Black Hat USA 2021 and the USENIX Security Symposium 2021.

The researchers Marcus Brinkmann, Robert Merget, Jrg Schwenk, Jens Mller of Ruhr University Bochum, Christian Dresen, Damian Poddebniak, and Sebastian Schinzel of Mnster University of Applied Sciences, Juraj Somorovsky of Paderborn University have discovered that TLS, because it's independent from the application layer in the standard networking model, is vulnerable to certificate confusion where wildcard or multi-domain certificates have been deployed.

Because TLS does not bind TCP connections to the desired application layer protocol (e.g. HTTP, SMTP, IMAP, POP3, and FTP), there's an opportunity for a miscreant-in-the-middle (MitM) attack to redirect TLS traffic to a different endpoint at another IP address or port.

"We show that in realistic scenarios, the attacker can extract session cookies and other private user data or execute arbitrary JavaScript in the context of the vulnerable web server, therefore bypassing TLS and web application security," the boffins' paper explains.

The first such attack, described two decades ago by Jochen Topf [PDF], details how browsers could be duped into sending arbitrary data to any TCP port using HTML forms. The ALPACA attack makes this technique generic across multiple protocols.

In circumstances where an MitM attack is possible (such as a local network or a compromised network system), an attacker-controlled website could initiate a cross-origin HTTPS request with a malicious FTP payload. By redirecting the request to an FTP server with a certificate that's compatible with the web server, the attacker could set a specific cookie via FTP, download a malicious JavaScript file via FTP, or reflect malicious JavaScript in the request.

The researchers demonstrated that their technique works by registering an account with email provider Mailfence. To conduct a miscreant-in-the-browser (MitB) attack, they "posted HTML form data to https://mailfence.com:995 to log into [their] account and retrieve the content of an HTML email (download attack), resulting in JavaScript execution in the context of https://mailfence.com for browsers that ignore the port number in the SOP [same-origin policy], such as Internet Explorer. The issue was acknowledged by the vendor as stored XSS."

They say they found similar exploitable issues at a major Bitcoin exchange, the website of a large university, and the Government of India's webmail service.

The researchers identified 1.4 million web servers that are potentially vulnerable to protocol confusion of this sort and 119,000 of these that are open to attack by an exploitable application server. PoC code has been posted to GitHub.

Since October last year, the researchers have been discussing their findings with various open source projects like OpenSSL, the maintainers of various TLS libraries, projects like nginx and Apache, and various FTP and email server projects.

The boffins argue there's no reason to panic because the ALPACA attack requires a number of prerequisites to work and depends on the complicated interplay between applications, protocols, and browsers. At the same time, ALPACA should not be ignored.

Among the vulnerable application and browser combinations identified are: Sendmail SMTP (Internet Explorer) over STARTTLS; Cyrus, Kerio Connect and Zimbra IMAP enabled download and reflection attacks (Internet Explorer); Courier, Cyrus, Kerio Connect and Zimbra allowed download attacks (Internet Explorer); Microsoft IIS, vsftpd, FileZilla Server and Serv-U FTP servers made reflection attacks possible (Internet Explorer); and these same FTP servers permitted upload and download attacks in any browser.

The suggested mitigations involve implementing Application Layer Protocol Negotiation (ALPN) and Server Name Indication (SNI) extensions to TLS as a barrier to cross-protocol attacks. The problem is that deploying these protections could shut out legacy clients and servers that haven't been updated yet.

The fix for this bug is not a simple patch; rather it requires updates to multiple libraries and applications. The researchers say that they expect ALPACA will be keeping us company for many years to come.

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ALPACA gnaws through TLS protection to snarf cookies and steal data - The Register

Comprehensive Report on Internet of Things (IoT) Security Market 2021 | Trends, Growth Demand, Opportunities & Forecast To 2027 | PTC Inc.,…

June 10, 2021 | Author: admin

Global Internet of Things (IoT) Security Market is valued at USD 7.98 Billion in 2018 and expected to reach USD 56.31 Billion by 2025 with the CAGR of 32.2% over the forecast period.

The Global Internet Of Things (IoT) Security Market Research Forecast 2021 2027 provides a comprehensive analysis of the market segments, including their dynamics, size, growth, regulatory requirements, competitive landscape, and emerging opportunities of the global industry. It provides an in-depth study of the Internet Of Things (IoT) Security market by using SWOT analysis. The research analysts provide an elaborate description of the value chain and its distributor analysis. This Market study provides comprehensive data that enhances the understanding, scope, and application of this report

The report enhances the decision making capabilities and helps to create an effective counter strategies to gain competitive advantage.

Get Sample Copy of this premium report at: https://brandessenceresearch.com/requestSample/PostId/578?utm_source=mmc&utm_medium=Djay

Final Report will add the analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on this industry.

Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, revenue (Million USD) The geography (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa) focusing on key countries in each region. It also covers market drivers, restraints, opportunities, challenges, and key issues in Global Post-Consumer Internet Of Things (IoT) Security Market.

Key Benefits for Post-Consumer Internet Of Things (IoT) Security Market Reports

The analysis provides an exhaustive investigation of the global Post-Consumer Internet Of Things (IoT) Security market together with the future projections to assess the investment feasibility. Furthermore, the report includes both quantitative and qualitative analyses of the Post-Consumer Internet Of Things (IoT) Security market throughout the forecast period. The report also comprehends business opportunities and scope for expansion. Besides this, it provides insights into market threats or barriers and the impact of regulatory framework to give an executive-level blueprint the Post-Consumer Internet Of Things (IoT) Security market. This is done with an aim of helping companies in strategizing their decisions in a better way and finally attains their business goals.

Key players profiled in the report includes:

Segmentation Analysis:

By Type:Network Security, Endpoint Security, Application Security, Cloud Security, Others

By Solution:Identity Access Management, Intrusion Detection System/Intrusion Prevention System, Distributed Denial of Service Protection, Security Analytics, Others

By Service:Consulting, Maintenance, Training

By End-User:Healthcare, Information Technology (IT), Telecom, Banking, Financial Services, And Insurance (BFSI), Automotive, Others

Regional & Country AnalysisNorth America, U.S., Mexico, Canada , Europe, UK, France, Germany, Italy , Asia Pacific, China, Japan, India, Southeast Asia, South America, Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, The Middle East and Africa, GCC, Africa, Rest of Middle East and Africa

Market Drivers:

Increasing patch management solutions vulnerabilities is driving the growth of the market

Rising need of up to date software will propel the market growth

Growing third party application deployment is a driver for the market

Government regulations for promoting patch management may boost the growth of the market

Market Restraints:

Low vulnerability priority reduction is restraining the growth of the market

Lack of awareness for cyber security will hamper the market growth

Patch testing and compatibility issues may also restrict the growth of the market

Get Methodology: https://brandessenceresearch.com/requestMethodology/PostId/578

There are 15 Chapters to display the Global Internet Of Things (IoT) Security market.

Chapter 1, About Executive Summary to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of Global Internet Of Things (IoT) Security market, Applications, Market Segment by Types

Chapter 2, objective of the study.

Chapter 3, to display Research methodology and techniques.

Chapter 4 and 5, to show the Internet Of Things (IoT) Security Market Analysis, segmentation analysis, characteristics;

Chapter 6 and 7, to show Five forces (bargaining Power of buyers/suppliers), Threats to new entrants and market condition;

Chapter 8 and 9, to show analysis by regional segmentation[North America (Covered in Chapter 6 and 13), United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe (Covered in Chapter 7 and 13), Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Others, Asia-Pacific (Covered in Chapter 8 and 13), China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Southeast Asia, Others, Middle East and Africa (Covered in Chapter 9 and 13), Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Others, South America (Covered in Chapter 10 and 13), Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, Chile & Others ], comparison, leading countries and opportunities; Regional Marketing Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis

Chapter 10, to identify major decision framework accumulated through Industry experts and strategic decision makers;

Chapter 11 and 12, Global Internet Of Things (IoT) Security Market Trend Analysis, Drivers, Challenges by consumer behavior, Marketing Channels

Chapter 13 and 14, about vendor landscape (classification and Market Ranking)

Chapter 15, deals with Global Internet Of Things (IoT) Security Market sales channel, distributors, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.

Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia

Get Full Report: https://brandessenceresearch.com/technology-and-media/internet-of-things-iot-security-market-size

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Comprehensive Report on Internet of Things (IoT) Security Market 2021 | Trends, Growth Demand, Opportunities & Forecast To 2027 | PTC Inc.,...

Working from home amid Covid-19 pandemic blamed for rise in cyber hits on Singapore organisations – The Straits Times

June 10, 2021 | Author: admin

SINGAPORE - While working from home has become the norm for many people amid the Covid-19 pandemic, it might have also caused many organisations in Singapore to fall victim to cyber attacks.

About eight in 10 public- and private-sector organisations here attributed such a working arrangement to a rise in cyber attacks across the board, said a report by software company VMware on June 4.

This is comparable withthe global figure across 14 markets.

Nearly seven in 10 here said the attacks were serious enough to report to regulators or to call in an incident response team. Globally, this is higher - at eight in 10.

"Digital transformation programmes advanced rapidly as the cyber-attack surface expanded to include living rooms, kitchens, home networks and personal devices," explained principal cyber-security strategist Rick McElroy of VMware's security business unit.

Mr McElroy added that while remote employees' work laptops are usually well secured, home Wi-Fi networks used to go online can pose serious security risks.

"Updates to home router software are often overlooked, and many home networks do not have a firewall installed. These unsecured and unpatched networks can result in network security gaps," he said, pointing also to issues with the use of other Internet-connected devices on home networks for work.

The remote workforce behaves very differently from the office workforce - its members access the organisation's network at unpredictable hours as they strive to stay productive while caring for their families and following government restrictions.

This means network traffic has "changed beyond recognition", and organisations must adapt monitoring systems or risk leaving an opportunity for hackers to use atypical patterns to mask their infiltration attempts, Mr McElroy said.

What is key is that companies need to understand how people interact with technology, he said. This can include when an employee usually works, the applications he normally uses and the websites he commonly visits.

So for example, when an employee who usually works in California logs in 10 minutes later from Singapore, which is humanly impossible, the company knows something is amiss.

"Knowing this baseline helps better detect a malicious log-in," said Mr McElroy.

The VMware-commissioned study polled about 250 chief information officers, chief technology officers and chief information security officers here last December.

They came from the financial, healthcare, government, retail, manufacturing and engineering, food and beverage, utilities, professional services, and media and entertainment sectors.

The study found that organisations here reported more cyber attacks in the previous 12 months, with 64 per cent saying so.

About a year ago, the figure was 43 per cent.

More organisations globally saw more cyber attacks than those in Singapore in this year's report, with 76 per cent reporting this.

However, the Republic had more breaches on average per organisation - 3.3 versus 2.35 globally.

The leading cause of breaches reported here was a weakness in processes, with 22 per cent of respondents citing this. One exampleis companies not deploying patches on a regular basis.

The next top causes of breaches were using out-of-date security (20 per cent) and third-party apps (13 per cent).

Outdated security includes operating systems that are no longer supported by their developers, such as those found in manufacturing systems.

Some cases involved an old critical application that is not updated because doing so might mean taking vital systems offline.

These legacy systems and old apps could remain unpatched for vulnerabilities, and using modern security solutions to protect them is difficult at times.

Third-party apps that can lead to breaches include externally developed ones used for sharing files, which can allow crooks to access sensitive data if hacked.

These top causes of attacks generally boil down to how organisations' information technology and security operations teams interact and work in silos when solving issues, said Mr McElroy.

To address some of these issues, he advised organisations to have security in place "wherever and whenever humans interact with systems", including online programs and applications.

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Working from home amid Covid-19 pandemic blamed for rise in cyber hits on Singapore organisations - The Straits Times

EHGO to Apply for Iconic Labs Administrators to Be Removed, General Meeting to Proceed – Business Wire

June 10, 2021 | Author: admin

LUXEMBOURG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--European High Growth Opportunities Securitization Fund (EHGO), an institutional investment fund based in Luxembourg, has announced that it will be making an application for the Iconic Labs (Iconic) administrators to be removed and for Iconics General Meeting (GM) to proceed.

In the statement, EHGO said: As previously announced, we wrote to the administrators informing them that we would pay the debt of 184,295.04 demanded by the secured creditor which appointed them, and requesting that they vacate office. We also communicated our view that their cancellation of Iconics GM was a breach of their duties, given that holding the GM is necessary for the company to have a viable financial future.

As we have received no substantive response, and given the wider circumstances, we will be making an application to the High Court on the grounds that the administrators were appointed with an improper motive and seeking to remove them from office. Interim relief will be sought to enable the GM to proceed, either on 15 June 2021 as originally planned, or on a later date.

We believe that it is now likely that the GM will go ahead, whether on 15 June or a later date. We believe it is critical that shareholders vote on the resolutions set out in the original notice for the GM which are necessary for Iconic to have a viable financial future.

We would therefore urge shareholders to appoint a proxy by completing the Form of Proxy sent to them with the shareholder circular, naming the chair of the meeting as their proxy. This needs to be received by 2pm on Friday 11 June. It can be sent to the companys registrars, SLC Registrars, at proxy@slcregistrars.com.

As previously noted, we were in discussions with Iconic to provide substantial new financing arrangements involving a facility of up to 50 million and have tremendous faith in the vision for the company set out by CEO Brad Taylor to be a cutting-edge media, data, information, internet, security and technology company. We hope that shareholders in the company will join us in supporting this vision and passing the necessary resolutions at the GM.

Should shareholders wish to attempt to obtain information from the administrators, for ease of reference their contact details are:

Mr Hugh Jesseman & Mr Antony BattyAntony Batty & Company LLP3 Field Court, Gray's Inn, London WC1R 5EFEmail: hugh@antonybatty.com & antonyb@antonybatty.com Tel: +44 (0)207 831 1234"

Ends

Notes to editors

About European High Growth Opportunities Securitization Fund

European High Growth Opportunities Securitization Fund is an institutional investment fund based in Luxembourg which focuses on financing innovative companies globally that are deemed to be significantly undervalued.

These iPhone apps have scammed people out of millions – Komando

June 10, 2021 | Author: admin

Apple prides itself on a strict app review process, but it seems even the strongest measures cant stop scams from slipping under the radar. A recent report from the Washington Post exposed some glaring holes in the App Stores defense. Reporters said nearly 2% of the 1,000 highest-grossing apps were a form of scam.

This news comes after Apple claimed its stopped over $1.5 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions in 2020. Despite its best efforts, Apples store is still vulnerable to app scams and they cost users like you a ton of money. In fact, market research firm Appfigures says fraudulent apps defrauded users out of around $48 million.

The worst part about these apps is how hard they are to spot. They can pop up as fun and exciting apps on entertainment, news, or exercise or they can even claim to boost your cybersecurity (while in reality, theyre just weakening your defenses). Since it seems scammy apps are here to stay, weve got some helpful tips you can use to recognize dangerous ones.

Many of them masquerade as real companies, hoping you wont notice the names are slightly different.

For instance, if you own a Samsung television, you can go to your iPhones App Store to download the remote control app SmartThings. One software engineer named Simon Willison told the Washington Post that he found an app called Smart Things.

Learn the tech tips and tricks only the pros know.

Notice the difference? Two apps popped up: one with a space and one without. The copycat app, Smart Things, will charge you $19. Fall for the trick and youve lost money as well as your faith in Apples review process.

Willison told the Washington Post his trust in Apples review process tricked him into dropping his hard-earned cash. By assuming the App Store was thorough enough to recognize and expel fake apps masquerading as the real deal, he was down $19.

I thought, Wow, Samsung has gone downhill. Theyre nickel and diming me for my remote control?'

Let this be a lesson to you. When youre looking up apps, dont let your eyes glaze over the titles. Many copycat apps rely on you not double-checking the title. Thats an easy way for you to fall into big trouble.

Its similar to the concept of typosquatting. Its also known as URL hijacking when a bad faith actor misspells a popular domain name to garner traffic and scam visitors. Theyre banking on users misspelling URLs and other important information on the web.

Its such a big deal the Better Business Bureau sounded the alarm. But its not just for websites. App store tricksters use typosquatting to trick you into thinking theyre representing a trustworthy brand. That way, its easier for them to snatch your money.

Not all of these scams are this easy to spot, though. Others are confident enough to stand on their own without hiding behind the mask of a reputable company. Some will even buy fake customer reviews to trick users like you into thinking youre buying a good service.

Scammers gravitate towards spying and internet security apps. (Ironic, huh?) They also love to create fake dating apps, which makes sense people are less concerned with security when it comes to matters of the heart.

Many of these apps hide in plain sight. Some will steal your money, while others want to snatch a lot more than that. Here are some more scammy apps youll find:

As you can see, cheap or free VPN apps cant be trusted. Remember, if the service is free, youre most likely the product. Or worse. The app could be malicious and infect your device with malware. Thats why its important to use a VPN that you can trust.

We recommend trying the VPN that Kim trusts and uses. Our sponsor,ExpressVPN.Get 3 months free when you sign up for one year at ExpressVPN.com/Kim.

It looks like Apple has a lot of work on its plate. If it really wants to scrub viruses and scams away for good, its going to need some new techniques.

If you want to boost your iPhones security, weve got you covered. We gathered five tips and tricks for tweaking your iPhones settings in the name of safety. Tap or click here for new ways to secure your iPhone.

Use an iPhone? Best new features coming to iOS 15

Warning: Email promising protection from ransomware is actually malware

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These iPhone apps have scammed people out of millions - Komando

El Salvador looks to become the first country to adopt …

June 8, 2021 | Author: admin

Nayib Bukele, El Salvador's president, delivers a speech to Congress at the Legislative Assembly building in San Salvador, El Salvador, on Tuesday, June 1, 2021. Photographer: Camilo Freedman/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

MIAMI El Salvador is looking to introduce legislation that will make it the world's first sovereign nation to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, alongside the U.S. dollar.

In a video broadcast to Bitcoin 2021, a multiday conference in Miami being billed as the biggest bitcoin event in history, President Nayib Bukele announced El Salvador's partnership with digital wallet company, Strike, to build the country's modern financial infrastructure using bitcoin technology.

"Next week I will send to congress a bill that will make bitcoin a legal tender," said Bukele.

Jack Mallers, founder of the Lightning Network payments platform Strike, said this will go down as the "shot heard 'round the world for bitcoin."

"What's transformative here is that bitcoin is both the greatest reserve asset ever created and a superior monetary network. Holding bitcoin provides a way to protect developing economies from potential shocks of fiat currency inflation," continued Mallers.

Speaking from the mainstage, Mallers said the move will help unleash the power and potential of bitcoin for everyday use cases on an open network that benefits individuals, businesses, and public sector services.

El Salvador is a largely cash economy, where roughly 70% of people do not have bank accounts or credit cards. Remittances, or the money sent home by migrants, account for more than 20% of El Salvador's gross domestic product. Incumbent services can charge 10% or more in fees for those international transfers, which can sometimes take days to arrive and that sometimes require a physical pick-up.

Bitcoin isn't backed by an asset, nor does it have the full faith and backing of any one government. Its value is derived, in part, from the fact that it is digitally scarce; there will only ever be 21 million bitcoin in existence.

While details are still forthcoming about how the rollout will work, CNBC is told that El Salvador has assembled a team of bitcoin leaders to help build a new financial ecosystem with bitcoin as the base layer.

Bukele's New Ideas party has control over the country's Legislative Assembly, so passage of the bill is very likely.

"It was an inevitability, but here already: the first country on track to make bitcoin legal tender," said Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream.

Back said he plans to contribute technologies like Liquid and satellite infrastructure to make El Salvador a model for the world.

"We're pleased to help El Salvador on its journey towards adoption of the Bitcoin Standard," he said.

This isn't El Salvador's first move into bitcoin. In March, Strike launched its mobile payments app there, and it quickly became the number one downloaded app in the country.

Bukele has been very popular, with his populist New Ideas party sweeping recent elections. However, the new assembly recently came under fire after it ousted the attorney general and top judges. The move prompted the U.S. Agency for International Development to pull aid from El Salvador's national police and a public information institute, instead re-routing funds to civil society groups.

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Bitcoin extends losses, falling below $32,000 after U.S. seizes most of Colonial ransom – CNBC

June 8, 2021 | Author: admin

A banner with the logo of bitcoin is seen during the crypto-currency conference Bitcoin 2021 Convention at the Mana Convention Center in Miami, Florida, on June 4, 2021.

Marco Bello | AFP | Getty Images

Bitcoin's price slipped again Tuesday. The world's largest cryptocurrency continued to fall throughout the day amid a brutal sell-off among digital currencies.

The reason for the move was unclear, however it may be related to concerns over security of the cryptocurrency after U.S. officials managed to recover most of the ransom paid to hackers that targeted Colonial Pipeline.

Court documents said investigators were able to access the password for one of the hackers' bitcoin wallets. The money was recovered by a recently launched task force in Washington created as part of the government's response to a rise in cyberattacks.

Bitcoin accelerated its slide late Tuesday morning, falling almost 11% at 11 a.m. ET to a price of $31,629, according to Coin Metrics data. Smaller digital coins also slumped, with ether falling nearly 13% to $2,368 and XRP tanking over 12%.

In April, 2021 was looking to be a banner year for digital assets, with bitcoin having topped $60,000 for the first time ever. But a recent plunge in crypto prices has shaken confidence in the market. Bitcoin sank to nearly $30,000 last month, and is currently down almost 50% from its all-time high.

The digital currency is now up only 9% since the start of the year, though it's still more than tripled in price from a year ago.

On Monday, U.S. law enforcement officials said they had seized $2.3 million in bitcoin paid to DarkSide, the cybercriminal gang behind a crippling cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline.

According to a court document, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was able to access the "private key," or password, for one of the hackers' bitcoin wallets. Bitcoin has often been the currency of choice for hackers demanding ransom payments to decrypt data locked by malware known as "ransomware."

Crypto media outlet Decrypt reported there were unfounded rumors that the attackers' bitcoin wallet had been "hacked," an unlikely scenario.

DarkSide, which reportedly received $90 million in bitcoin ransom payments before shutting down, operated a so-called "ransomware as a service" business model, where hackers develop and market ransomware tools and sell them to affiliates who then carry out attacks.

According to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, the seized funds represented the bulk of the DarkSide affiliate's share of the ransom paid out by Colonial.

John Hultquist, vice president of analysis at Mandiant Threat Intelligence, called the move a "welcome development."

"It has become clear that we need to use several tools to stem the tide of this serious problem, and even law enforcement agencies need to broaden their approach beyond building cases against criminals who may be beyond the grasp of the law," said Hultquist.

"In addition to the immediate benefits of this approach, a stronger focus on disruption may disincentivize this behavior, which is growing in a vicious cycle," he added.

A number of issues are weighing on cryptocurrencies, including fears of a regulatory clampdown and recent tweets from Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Chinese authorities last month called for a crackdown on crypto mining and trading. Once a major player in the market, China has since moved to stamp out speculative investment in cryptocurrencies, banning a fundraising method known as initial coin offerings and shuttering local exchanges.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk has gone from a supporter of bitcoin to seemingly falling out of love with it in a matter of months. Musk's electric car firm stopped accepting bitcoin as a payment method last month due to concerns over its environmental impact, resulting in a crypto market sell-off.

"Bitcoin bulls have been chastened by the market pull back and perhaps are feeling once bitten, twice shy," Charles Hayter, CEO of digital currency data firm CryptoCompare, told CNBC.

"The euphoria has worn off to some extent in the retail frenzy, as regulators have moved to temper manias," he added. "Data is showing continued cornering of the market by institutionals."

Last week, thousands of bitcoin investors descended on Miami for an event billed as the biggest bitcoin event in history.

The conference had a few bizarre highlights, including El Salvador President Nayib Bukele announcing plans for the country to accept bitcoin as legal tender.

See original here:
Bitcoin extends losses, falling below $32,000 after U.S. seizes most of Colonial ransom - CNBC

Bitcoin skids to two-week low, but technical analyst says the slump is not a ‘decisive breakdown’ she’s watching the next two closes – MarketWatch

June 8, 2021 | Author: admin

Bitcoin was under fresh selling pressure Tuesday, dragging the worlds No. 1 cryptocurrency to lows not seen since late May. At least one technical analyst, though, says the slump doesnt represent a decisive breakdown of the bitcoin uptrend unless and until the asset registers weaker closes today and tomorrow.

Short-term momentum has deteriorated, but not to the degree with which we have a sell signal (in the daily MACD), Katie Stockton, technical analyst and founder Fairlead Strategies, told MarketWatch, referring to the moving average convergence divergence, a measure of momentum in an asset.

A close above the 20-day [moving average] would be a bullish short-term development, the analyst said.

At last check, bitcoin BTCUSD, -6.94% was trading at $32,850.88, down over 10%, on CoinDesk. The crypto is up over 13% in 2021 to date but has been losing ground steadily of late. Prices were around their lowest since May 23, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Bitcoin is down nearly 50% from its mid-April peak of $64,829.14.

CoinDesk analyst and author Damanick Dantes said that resistance for bitcoin stands around $40,000, with support around $30,000.

Bitcoin has been under pressure for weeks, but its slide has deepened in recent action, after U.S. authorities said that they recovered millions in bitcoin paid to the hackers who launched a cyberattack last month on Colonial Pipeline, a major East Coast fuel pipeline.

Overall bitcoins price slump has been weighing on the broader crypto complex.

Dogecoin DOGEUSD, -8.14%, the popular meme virtual currency engineered in 2013, was down over 12%, changing hands at 32.5 cents. The crypto, primarily supported by individual traders on sites like Reddit and Discord, is down 56% from its peak back in early May. To be sure, dogecoin remains up nearly 7,000% in the year to date.

The worlds No. 2 most valued crypto, Ether ETHUSD, -9.02%, running on the Ethereum blockchain, was trading 12% lower, at $2,489.89. Ether is well off its mid-May high at $4,382.73. Ether is up over 200% so far in 2021, despite its slump.

By comparison, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.01% and the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.06% are both up nearly 13% so far in 2021, while the Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.14% has seen a rise of 8.5% in the year to date, FactSet data show.

Still, the total market value of crypto at $1.495 trillion is off by about 40% from a peak near the middle of May, according to CoinMarketCap.com.

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Bitcoin skids to two-week low, but technical analyst says the slump is not a 'decisive breakdown' she's watching the next two closes - MarketWatch

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Bitcoin extends losses, falling below $32,000 after U.S. seizes most of Colonial ransom – CNBC

Bitcoin skids to two-week low, but technical analyst says the slump is not a ‘decisive breakdown’ she’s watching the next two closes – MarketWatch

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