"The Justice Department today filed a civil forfeiture complaint detailing two hacks of virtual currency exchanges by North Korean actors," said an Aug. 27 statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, or DoJ. "These actors stole millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency and ultimately laundered the funds through Chinese over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency traders." The hackers allegedly utilized 280 different digital asset accounts. March 2020 saw details of a 2019 legal case surface, in which two Chinese nationals allegedly hijacked piles of crypto assets totaling $250 million. This ordeal appears to be connected with the present day news, the DoJ statement …

The Department of Justice has charged Russian citizen Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov with conspiracy to damage a protected computer system after he allegedly bribed an employee of a Nevada company with $1 million in Bitcoin to install malware in that company’s computer system. According to documents from the U.S. District Court of Nevada, Kriuchkov wanted to steal data from the company’s network, then threaten to make that data public unless the company paid a ransom. He first arranged contact with the employee via WhatsApp, then entered the United States on a tourist visa to meet him in person. The District Court …

A Reddit user operating under the name “seraf1990” warned of a copy & paste crypto scam that replaced a wallet address he copied from Coinbase with one belonging to scammers. According to seraf1990, he lost about $350 worth of Bitcoin (BTC) — money that he notes was meant to go towards his rent for next month. The post explains that seraf1990 was attempting to cash out some BTC by sending it from Binance to his account on Coinbase. After copying the exchange’s Bitcoin wallet address, he pasted it into the appropriate field back on Binance and completed the transaction “without …

Lazarus, a group of hackers who are allegedly backed by North Korea, is now reportedly attacking crypto and blockchain talent through major professional social network, LinkedIn. According to a report by the Finnish cyber security and privacy firm, F-Secure, the latest Lazarus attack was made through a crypto-related job advert on the site. Their investigation indicated that an individual working in the Blockchain space received a phishing message that mimicked a legitimate Blockchain job listing. The message included an MS Word document titled “BlockVerify Group Job Description,” which executed malicious macro code when opened. F-Secure found that the document shares …

The modus operandi of crypto scammers differ in each case as it happens with the rest, but this time, a popular Youtuber who has 2.43 million subscribers explained on August 20 how his channel was seized by hackers to launch an XRP fake giveaway campaign. According to a video published by David Damasceno, who runs Universo Curioso, cybercriminals took control of his account after receiving a contact request from an individual offering him a video editing tool. The fake software was called Zenium Editor, which also handles advertising revenues, and when Damasceno downloaded and installed the app, the damage has …

It’s back to stability for Bitcoin this week as the currency continues to knock at the $12,000 ceiling. Where will it go next? One analyst sees a Battle Royale as whales try to push towards $14,000. Other investors are more optimistic. They see Berkshire Hathaway’s recent sale of bank stocks and purchase of stock in a gold mining company pushing the price to $50,000. If Warren Buffett is souring on the banking system though, he’s late to the party. Kim Dotcom got there two years ago — and has reminded his followers that he advised them to buy Bitcoin. The …

Ethereum Classic (ETC) accelerator Ethereum Classic Labs announced a plan to protect the blockchain from further attacks. On Aug. 19 the organization proposed taking immediate action in implementing long-term changes to the network architecture over the next three to six months. The accelerator decided to focus their efforts on improving the network’s security after recent attacks on the blockchain. The immediate measures proposed by Ethereum Classic Labs include a “defensive mining” cooperation with mining pools and miners to maintain a consistent hashrate and gain the ability to increase it when needed. A higher hashrate would render a 51% attack against …

The Tokyo District Court has issued Japan’s first ever crypto seizure. $46,000 worth of Bitcoin (BTC) was expropriated in relation to a hack suffered by the Coincheck exchange in 2018. Kyodo reported that police have already seized the BTC, which was held by a doctor from Hokkaido and an executive from the Osaka Prefecture. The two men were arrested in connection with the hack. They are accused of knowingly purchasing the stolen NEM (XEM) through a dark web market, violating organized crime laws in the country. As Cointelegraph reported in January 2018, Coincheck suffered a record-breaking hack when $534 million …

A report unveiled by the U.S. Army reveals that North Korea now has more than 6,000 hackers stationed in countries such as Belarus, China, India, Malaysia, Russia, among others. The operations of four sub divisions are overseen by Bureau 121, the cyber warfare guidance unit of the hermit nation. The report, named North Korean Tactics, suggests the hackers do not exclusively launch cyberattacks from North Korea itself, as the country lacks the IT infrastructure to deploy the massive campaigns. Financial crimes division The “financial crime division” called the Bluenoroff Group has around 1,700 members and is dedicated to crypto crimes …

Ethereum Classic, a 2016 hard fork from Ethereum’s main blockchain, has suffered multiple concerning network attacks over the last two years. Two such attacks occurred within a seven-day span, totaling millions of dollars in losses. With the dust settling from the two 51% attacks, further details are now coming forward, as provided by a number of industry experts. “There is no debate about the attacks,” ETC Labs CEO Terry Culver told Cointelegraph on Aug. 7, answering a question on whether or not the network difficulties were in fact 51% attacks. “Community members shared the most accurate information available as quickly …

Last week, the Bitcoin news was all about lift-off. This week, it’s all about the leveling off. Bitcoin ends the week around $11,400, a fall of about 2.7% over the last seven days. That drop included a correction of $700 in one day so the question now is whether the bullish moment has gone or will Bitcoin push on to $15,000? Its first mission will be to break the resistance at $12,000. Bitcoin failed to do that twice in ten days but consolidated after each failure, which some experts believe is evidence of a continued bull run. MicroStrategy, a publicly-traded …

Authorities recently took three men into custody following their alleged swindling of $226,000 in Hong Kong dollars from Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs in the territory. The apprehended male trio, ranging from age 26 to age 55, allegedly exploited six different Bitcoin ATM machines, manipulating them to cough up the Hong Kong dollar equivalent of roughly $30,000 U.S. dollars, an article from the South China Morning Post detailed on Aug. 15. The alleged robbers took the cash out across 11 transactions. Authorities think the three males in question reportedly make up part of a larger criminal operation, the South China Morning Post …