Blockchain | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Security researchers have discovered a series of new vulnerabilities in EOS blockchain platform, one of which could allow remote hackers to take complete control over the node servers running the critical blockchain-based applications. EOS is an open source smart contract platform, known as 'Blockchain 3.0,' that allows developers to build decentralized applications over blockchain infrastructure, just like Ethereum. Discovered by Chinese security researchers at Qihoo 360 —Yuki Chen of Vulcan team and Zhiniang Peng of Core security team—the vulnerability is a buffer out-of-bounds write issue which resides in the function used by nodes server to parse contracts. To achieve remote code execution on a targeted node, all an attacker needs to do is upload a maliciously crafted WASM file (a smart contract) written in WebAssembly to the server. As soon as the vulnerable process parser reads the WASM file, the malicious payload gets executed on the node, which could then al

Image Credit: Pixelbay Blockchain startups are cropping up left and right aiming to disrupt existing services and business models. These range from the trivial to potentially game-changing solutions that can revolutionize the internet as we know it. Among those that promise to change the world, most are attempting to reconstruct the entire internet infrastructure into something that is decentralized, secure, scalable, and tokenized. There are also those that aim to solve the most significant problems plaguing the digital world, particularly potentially costly and tedious security issues. We do not lack for dangers, ranging from data breaches to denial-of-service attacks, and other hacks. For the most part, there are capable SaaS and software-defined services that are capable enough in addressing the threats that involve malware and DDoS. However, blockchains offer much much more. The plague of DDoS Distributed denial-of-service or DDoS attacks involve a malicious hacke

As a vCISO, you are responsible for your client's cybersecurity strategy and risk governance. This incorporates multiple disciplines, from research to execution to reporting. Recently, we published a comprehensive playbook for vCISOs, "Your First 100 Days as a vCISO – 5 Steps to Success" , which covers all the phases entailed in launching a successful vCISO engagement, along with recommended actions to take, and step-by-step examples.  Following the success of the playbook and the requests that have come in from the MSP/MSSP community, we decided to drill down into specific parts of vCISO reporting and provide more color and examples. In this article, we focus on how to create compelling narratives within a report, which has a significant impact on the overall MSP/MSSP value proposition.  This article brings the highlights of a recent guided workshop we held, covering what makes a successful report and how it can be used to enhance engagement with your cyber security clients.

As of today — 1 Bitcoin = $7300 USD (Approx 471,000 INR) At the beginning of this year, 1 Bitcoin was approximately equal to $1000, and now it has surged to a new height, marking its market capitalization at over $124 billion. Is it really too late to invest in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum? For those wondering if they have missed the money-making boat, the answer is—NO, it's never too late to invest. In case you are new to cryptocurrency trading, we have a simple step-by-step guide on our deal store that explains how to invest in cryptocurrencies . However, the blockchain, the revolutionary technology behind Bitcoin and other digital currencies, is not always about cryptocurrencies. Though it is a decentralized public database which ensures that all transactions are properly conducted and recorded, Blockchains can be used for a wide variety of applications, such as for digital identity management, smart assets, digital voting, distributed cloud sto

Etherparty announced Sunday that its ICO (Initial Coin Offering) website selling tokens for a blockchain-based smart contract tool was hacked and the address for sending funds to buy tokens was replaced by a fraudulent address controlled by the hackers. Vancouver-based Etherparty is a smart contract creation tool that allows its users to create smart contracts on the blockchain. Companies like this launch ICO to let them raise funding from multiple sources. Etherparty said the company launched its Fuel token sale on Sunday, October 1 at 9 A.M. PDT, but just 45 minutes, some unknown attackers hacked into its ICO website and replaced the legitimate address by their own, redirecting cryptocurrencies sent by investors into their digital wallet. According to the details released by the Etherparty team, the company detected the hack after just 15 minutes and immediately took its website down for nearly one and half hour to fix the issue, preventing more people from sending funds to

A growing number of enterprises are showing their interest in blockchains , but the underlying software fails to meet key enterprise requirements like performance, confidentiality, governance, and required processing power. However, Microsoft wants to help solve these issues and make it easier for the enterprises to build their networks using any distributed ledger. Microsoft has unveiled a framework called " Coco " — short for " Confidential Consortium " — a new open-source foundation for enterprise blockchain networks . Coco is an Ethereum-based protocol which has been designed to help commercial companies and large-scale enterprises process information on the Ethereum Blockchain with increased privacy. "Coco presents an alternative approach to Ledger construction, giving enterprises the scalability, distributed governance and enhanced confidentiality they need without sacrificing the inherent security and immutability they expect," Mark Russi

All it took was just 3 minutes and ' a simple trick ' for a hacker to steal more than $7 Million worth of Ethereum in a recent blow to the crypto currency market. The heist happened after an Israeli blockchain technology startup project for the trading of Ether, called CoinDash , launched an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), allowing investors to pay with Ethereum and send funds to token sale's smart contact address.. But within three minutes of the ICO launch, an unknown hacker stole more than $7 Million worth of Ether tokens by tricking CoinDash's investors into sending 43438.455 Ether to the wrong address owned by the attacker. How the Hacker did this? CoinDash's ICO posted an Ethereum address on its website for investors to pay with Ethereum and send funds. However, within a few minutes of the launch, CoinDash warned that its website had been hacked and the sending address was replaced by a fraudulent address, asking people not to send Ethereum to the pos

UPDATE: The site is back and working. Blockchain team released a statement via Twitter, which has been added at the end of this article. If you are fascinated with the idea of digital currency, then you might have heard about BlockChain.Info. It's Down! Yes, Blockchain.info, the world's most popular Bitcoin wallet and Block Explorer service, has been down from last few hours, and it's believed that a possible cyber attack has disrupted the site. The site is down at the time of writing, and the web server reports a bad gateway error, with a message on the website that reads: "Looks like our site is down. We're working on it and should be back up soon." With more than 8 million Digital Wallet customers, BlockChain is users' favorite destination to see recent transactions, stats on mined blocks and bitcoin economy charts. A few hours ago, BlockChain team tweeted about the sudden breakdown of the site, saying: "We're researching a DNS

Another day, another bad news for Bitcoin users. A leading Bitcoin information site is warning users that an upcoming version of the Blockchain consolidation software and Bitcoin wallets could most likely be targeted by "state-sponsored attackers." Recently, one of the world's most popular cryptocurrency exchanges, Bitfinex, suffered a major hack that resulted in a loss of around $72 Million worth of Bitcoins . Now, Bitcoin.org, the website that hosts downloads for Bitcoin Core, posted a message on its website on Wednesday warning users that the next version of the Bitcoin Core wallet, one of the most popular bitcoin wallets used to store bitcoins, might be replaced with a malicious version of the software offered by government-backed hackers. Specifically, Chinese bitcoin users and services are encouraged to be vigilant " due to the origin of the attackers. " Bitcoin.org doesn't believe it has sufficient resources to defend against the attack.

Yesterday, BBC broke a story allegedly revealing Craig Wright as the original creator of Bitcoin digital currency Satoshi Nakamoto. However, the highly skeptical cryptographic community is definitely not yet convinced with the technical proofs Wright has yet provided to the media outlets and on his  blog . Now, Wright has promised to provide further evidence for his claim that he is behind the pseudonym, Satoshi Nakamoto. Wright's spokesman told BBC that he would " move a coin from an early block " of Bitcoin owned by Nakamoto " in the coming days. " However, the spokesman did not specify a deadline. " So, over the coming days, I will be posting a series of pieces that will lay the foundations for this extraordinary claim, which will include posting independently-verifiable documents and evidence addressing some of the false allegations that have been levelled, and transferring bitcoin from an early block. ", Wright said in a latest blog post

Just last month, DARPA launched a project dubbed "Improv," inviting hackers to transform simple household appliances into deadly weapons . Now, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is finding someone in the private sector to develop a hacker-proof " secure messaging and transaction platform " for the U.S. military. Darpa wants researchers to create a secure messaging and transaction platform that should be accessible via the web browser or standalone native application. The secure messaging app should " separate the message creation, from the transfer (transport) and reception of the message using a decentralized messaging backbone to allow anyone anywhere the ability to send a secure message or conduct other transactions across multiple channels traceable in a decentralized ledger, " agency's  notice explains. In simple words, DARPA aims to create a secure messaging service that not only implements the standard encryption and se

A new machine for Bitcoin Mining called " Approximate Hardware " would make Bitcoin mining easier. Bitcoin had gained tremendous popularity over a few couple of years among the virtual currencies due to its decentralized principle. Mining a single Bitcoin is not an ice cake walk, as it requires an enormous amount of computing power to dig Bitcoins. To overcome this issue and mine Bitcoins faster, security researchers has conducted a study and made a new loophole in the mining process in an effort to mine the Bitcoins easily. How to Mine Bitcoins Faster? A team of Illinois-based researchers led by Indian Scientist, Rakesh Kumar, has designed a new hardware named " Approximate " that could reduce the pain of Bitcoin mining by 30 percent. The proposed system would make use of the faults in the hardware system such as: False Positives where an error is not present but notifies a fake error. False Negatives where an error is present but

The Nasdaq stock exchange and the Republic of Estonia have announced the use of Blockchain-based technology to allow shareholders of companies to e-vote in shareholder meetings even when they're abroad, according to Nasdaq's press release. Global stock market giant is developing an electronic shareholder voting system implemented on the top of Blockchain technology that underpins Bitcoins . Blockchain – the public and decentralized ledger technology underpins all Bitcoin transactions and logs each transfer of an asset in an encrypted "block" that is added to a permanent, transparent chain showing every deal associated with that asset. Even some of the world's major banks are also considering the adoption of the Blockchain technology. In the mid of last year, 9 of the World's renowned Banks, including JPMorgan, Royal Bank of Scotland, Goldman Sachs and Barclays , collaborated with New York-based financial tech firm R3 to create a new fram

Some of Bitcoin's Core developers have left the Bitcoin project and started building their separate cryptocurrency called DECRED . Decred aims to prevent the issues Bitcoin is currently facing regarding project governance and development funding. CEO of ' Company 0 ', Mr. Jacob Yocom-Piatt , who has funded Bitcoin development since early 2013, said the actual development of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency is funded by external entities that forms a conflict of interests between the groups and the project's core developers. According to Bitcoin's developers, these group puts limitations on input in Bitcoin's governance, selecting options that are favorable to their own interests only, and generally ignoring the developers' and project's best interests. "The Bitcoin software is controlled by a small group of people who decide exclusively what can and cannot be changed," Jacob says in a press release . "This is in part due to a la

Just hours after the Australian man ' Craig Steven Wright ' outed as the possible real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto , the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, Australian Police raided his home in Sydney. Over 10 police officers raided Wright's home in the Sydney suburbs on Wednesday afternoon. They forcefully opened the door, and 'started searching the cupboards and surfaces of the garage.' However, the Sydney police raid at Wright's home is not associated with the claims of his being involved in creating Bitcoins, rather related to the Australian Taxation Office investigation, the Guardian reported . Wright was recently identified as the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, based on leaked transcripts of legal interviews and a number of emails and blog posts. However, neither Dr. Wright nor anyone else has publicly confirmed the real identity of the founder of Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto. In a statement, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers said the raids weren

Breaking Update:   Police Raid alleged Bitcoin Creator Craig Wright's Home in Sydney . Yes, Satoshi Nakamoto , the mysterious creator of the Bitcoin digital cryptocurrency has possibly been identified as an Australian entrepreneur, according to investigations independently done by Wired and Gizmodo . His name is Craig Steven Wright … ...at least based on some convincing evidence shown by both the publications. Bitcoin is a revolutionary virtual currency developed around Blockchain , a complicated cryptographic protocol and a global computers network that oversees and verifies which Bitcoins have been spent by whom. The identity of the ones spending Bitcoins are extremely difficult to trace because of its anonymous nature, therefore, are very popular among criminals. Also Read:   Meet The World's First Person Who Hacked His Body to Implant a Bitcoin Payment CHIP Satoshi Nakamoto is not only the father of an entire economy worth Billions of dollars,

Imagine the internet that would offer you to communicate privately with anyone else without censorship, safe from the prying eyes of surveillance authorities…. … Decentralized, Encrypted, Peer-to-Peer Supported and especially a non-IP Address based Internet. Yeah, a New Private Internet that would be harder to get Hacked. This Internet is a dream of all Internet users today and, of course, Kim Dotcom – the Famous Internet entrepreneur who introduced legendary Megaupload and MEGA file sharing services to the World. Kim Dotcom announced plans to start his very own private internet at the beginning of this year and has now revealed more details about MegaNet — a decentralized, non-IP based network that would share data via " Blockchains ," the technology behind Bitcoins. On Thursday, Dotcom remotely addressed a conference in Sydney, Australia, where he explained how MegaNet will utilize the power of mobile phones and laptops to operate. How will M

The Existing Infrastructure used by Financial institutions like Banks is Archaic, Slow, and Costly, with hardly any innovation in the past three decades. Nine of the World's renowned Banks, including JPMorgan , Royal Bank of Scotland , Goldman Sachs and Barclays , are collaborating with New York-based financial tech firm R3 to create a new framework based on Bitcoin's Blockchain. Yes, they are back in the game yet again, but this time officially! Blockchain — the public and decentralized ledger technology that underpins all Bitcoin transactions has been now recognized as " the future for financial services infrastructure ". The blockchain technology is a way of keeping records by listing the owner's name with all the previous and present transaction the client was involved. It is a public ledger where a list of all the transactions ever executed is maintained. The Banks are planning to develop and implement Blockchain-like Technology where distributed/shared

The Famous Internet entrepreneur and former hacker Kim Dotcom , who introduced legendary Megaupload and MEGA file sharing services to the World, has came up with another crazy idea — To start his very own Internet that uses the "blockchain". Just last month, Kim Dotcom, a German millionaire formerly known as Kim Schmitz , launched the public beta of its end-to-end encrypted video and audio chat service called " MegaChat ", which it says gives better protection than alternatives such as Skype and Google Hangouts. Now, his latest series of tweets referred to Kim Dotcom's supposed " MegaNet " which, he believes, would be immune to the global mass surveillance conducted by governments or corporations and would not be based on IP addresses. MegaNet would be a decentralized, non-IP based network in which the blockchain used by Bitcoin will play an " important role ". Decentralizing the Internet means to take the power of the Web