-
Arthur Levitt, a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has been named an adviser to two bitcoin companies.
October 28 -
When you hear the word Bitcoin, you might think of a computer programmer, a cryptographer or a monetary policy enthusiast. You probably don't imagine a stadium full of cheering college football fans.
June 20 -
Hackers are attacking companies with multiple motives and multiple attack vectors, the widely read annual security report finds. Phishing remains effective and cyber-threat sharing efforts need to speed up.
April 14
Atlanta-based bitcoin payment processor BitPay has suffered a phishing attack costing the company $1.8 million.
According to documents
The email account of David Bailey, founder of Bitcoin quarterly yBitcoin, was compromised first. Krohn then received an email appearing to be from Bailey requesting he review modifications made in a Google document. At the time they were in negotiations about the purchase of BitPay’s magazine business by yBitcoin, according to
Krohn believes his login credentials were stolen when he entered them to access the supposed document. Besides pretending to be him, Krohn suspects the hacker also obtained details about how BitPay transacts with its customers, like SecondMarket’s advance payment exemption.
On Dec. 11 someone posing as Krohn emailed BitPay CEO Stephen Pair requesting the transfer of 1,000 bitcoins to SecondMarket at a specified wallet address. It was sent about an hour later and shortly after, Pair received another email requesting he send another 1,000 bitcoins to the same address. That transaction was sent from the company’s wallet on Bitcoin exchange Bitstamp.
The following morning, the hacker again emailed Pair as Krohn, requesting 3,000 bitcoins be sent to SecondMarket at a different wallet address.
When the transfer was completed, also from Bitstamp, Pair confirmed the transaction in an email to Krohn and SecondMarket’s Gina Guarnaccia, who denied that her company purchased the bitcoins or that she sent a previous email verifying the 3,000 bitcoins and the wallet address.
BitPay filed a claim for losses days later, which its insurance company, Massachusetts Bay Insurance Company, denied in a June 8 letter. On Sept. 15