The threat intelligence team at Cisco Systems discovered a new cryptojacking botnet named “Prometei.” This botnet both mines Monero (XMR) and steals data from the targeted system. According to the paper sent to Cointelegraph, the botnet has been active since May. It relies on 15 executable modules to recover administrator passwords from the infected computer. Password validity is verified by sending them to a control server connected to other networks. Once the malware has obtained access to the user’s administrative rights, it proceeds to record all data contained within the system. Cisco Talos estimates this botnet may contain up to …

Mexican users of public cloud networks report a surge in cryptojacking and ransomeware attacks in recent months. According to El Economista, almost three quarters of Mexican companies that use cloud networks including Amazon, Google and Microsoft, report security incidents resulting in negative perceptions by citizens. Less than a third of the locals fully trust cloud network security. Ransomware attacks Security weaknesses allow threat actors to deploy other crypto-related attacks like ransomware, including a recent case where an oil company, Pemex, was targeted by the DoppelPaymer gang. The report says that Mexican companies have been reporting instances where unknown cybercriminals are …

Telecom, Argentina's largest telecommunications company, has fallen victim to a ransomware attack. Hackers are demanding $7.5 million in Monero (XMR) — an amount that will rise to $15 million if the company does not pay within 48 hours. Argentina's major telephone company, Telecom, just got hacked. Hackers requesting a ransom of $7.5 million in Monero. $XMR pic.twitter.com/AGNvAXh1cg — Alex Krüger (@krugermacro) July 19, 2020 According to El Tribuno, the ransomware attack, which specifically affected Telecom’s call center, took place on July 18. The ransomware was ultimately contained by the Argentinian conglomerate’s IT workers. In a statement issued to local media …

Coming every Sunday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week Elon Musk, Kanye West and Bill Gates’ Twitter accounts hacked by Bitcoin thief This week, Twitter and Bitcoin suffered a PR disaster. In a coordinated, ambitious attack, about 130 high-profile accounts were hijacked. Top celebrities, entrepreneurs, politicians, businesses and crypto exchanges were affected. Many posted similar tweets that promised followers that Bitcoin payments sent to …

On July 11, fraudsters hacked into digital payment platform Cashaa’s over-the-counter desk, which serves Indian customers, and stole 336 Bitcoin (BTC), worth approximately $3.1million. Although Cashaa stated that there have been no users affected by this hack, they did put a hard stop on all crypto-related transactions for 24 hours to understand the incident better. Cashaa is a United Kingdom-based crypto-friendly bank that deals with Bitcoin OTC operations and works with major traditional and crypto exchanges in India. According to an official statement, the incident took place with an OTC transaction manager based in East Delhi, India, whose personal computer …

Twitter vows to add more security training and measures as the fallout from Wednesday’s wide-scale hack on the social platform continues. Twitter said in a statement that it is continuing its investigation into the hack while it looks to provide more company-wide security training against social engineering tactics. This will be in addition to cybersecurity coaching they get during onboarding and ongoing phishing exercises. About 130 accounts were compromised on Wednesday when hackers took over prominent Twitter accounts in a Bitcoin hoax. Those compromised included Elon Musk, Kanye West, Bill Gates, former vice president and current presidential candidate Joe Biden, …

July 15 will go down as an infamous day for Twitter, as an unknown attacker managed to take control of a number of accounts on the social media platform before duping unwary users into a Bitcoin giveaway hoax. The event grabbed media attention, as some of the world’s most notable companies, politicians and business leaders had their accounts compromised before sharing similar messages touting a Bitcoin (BTC) giveaway that required users to send coins to an address before receiving double that amount back. The likes of Tesla founder Elon Musk, former United States president Barack Obama, 2020 U.S. presidential candidate …

If the company’s jobs site is any indication, Twitter has been openly hiring for security positions in the months leading up to this week’s notorious hack. According to the company’s job search, Twitter posted several key job descriptions pertaining to company security two months ago. The company was (and still seems to be) hiring for a senior infrastructure security engineer, senior security engineer, two senior application security engineers and staff product manager for security and data protection among several others. A job description for one of these positions focuses on the reduction of security risks across the company: “As a …

There are still 14 victims of the massive Twitter hack that could still get their Bitcoin back. These victims sent some Bitcoin to a hacker address, but their transactions are still unconfirmed on the Bitcoin network. They are currently hanging in limbo, or Bitcoin mempool. These transactions seem to be unconfirmed after many hours because the senders designated a very low transaction fee that’s unattractive to miners. Bitcoin Core developer Wladimir van der Laan confirmed this to Cointelegraph. “Miners pick the highest fee-rate transactions, but also might have some minimum fee below which they won't mine transactions at all,” he …

The "Wolf of All Streets" Scott Melker has been unable to do anything more on Twitter than read or retweet more than 24 hours after the massive hack on verified accounts. In a livestreamed interview with Cointelegraph on July 15, the crypto trader said in the midst of the attack he had been unable to verify his account using two-factor authentication. Melker then briefly had full access to read, retweet and post for roughly an hour before having his account restricted following the interview. Twitter Support reported that the platform had “locked accounts that were compromised” and would restore access …

Whale Alert, a popular service dedicated to tracking major cryptocurrency transactions, is being negatively affected by Twitter’s anti-hack measures. In a July 16 tweet, Whale Alert said that the crypto bot can no longer tweet any transactions either automatically or manually “due to anti-hack measures taken by Twitter.” Whale Alert noted that posts are still available on their Telegram channel, and expressed hope that Twitter will resolve the issue soon. Whale Alert told Cointelegraph that they expect it to be a few days before posting on the platform returns to normal: “Last night's hack is the single biggest security breach …

Gold bug and notorious cryptocurrency critic Peter Schiff wonders whether the recent hack of verified profiles on Twitter is “a harbinger of Bitcoin itself being hacked.” In a July 16 tweet, Schiff mentioned yesterday’s mass hack of verified Twitter profiles which were used to promote a Bitcoin scam, further suggesting that it could be a prelude to a hack of the cryptocurrency itself. It looks like all verified Twitter accounts have been hacked by someone running a #Bitcoin scam. For once not being verified has its advantageous. I wonder if this is a harbinger of Bitcoin itself being hacked? Better …