Crypto markets are seeing little momentum today, June 28, as data from Coin360 shows, with price fluctuations of within a 2 percent range among all of the major cryptocurrencies. Market visualization from Coin360 Bitcoin (BTC) is trading around $6,099 at press time, down just a fraction of a percentage point over the 24-hour period. Earlier this week, on June 24, BTC plummeted to $5,833, its lowest price level in 2018, and a price point it had not hit since October 2017. Bitcoin price chart. Source: Cointelegraph Bitcoin Price Index The leading cryptocurrency has since recovered and somewhat stemmed its losses, …

Japan’s Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA) will reportedly be releasing new voluntary rules next week, Cointelegraph Japan reports today, June 18. The official announcement of the regulatory guidelines, set for June 27th, will reportedly include a ban on insider trading, penalizing cryptocurrency exchange employees if they engage in “inappropriate” trading due to their firsthand knowledge. In order to conform to anti-money laundering (AML) regulations, the voluntary regulation proposal will also prohibit the trading of anonymity-oriented cryptocurrencies, such as Monero and Zcash, on exchanges. Formed at the end of April following the $530 mln NEM hack of Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck, …

Japanese prosecutors from 10 prefectures have arrested 16 individuals suspected of involvement in an ongoing criminal case of cryptojacking, local news outlet The Asahi Shimbun reports June 15. Cryptojacking is the practice of using unsuspecting users’ processing power in order to mine cryptocurrency for the attacker. According to the report by Asahi Shimbun, the arrested individuals are suspected of installing malware on victims’ computers in order to mine cryptocurrency in an unauthorized manner. The suspects were allegedly running their own websites to spread the crypto mining malware, including the Coinhive program, that mines Monero (XMR). The case against 16 men …

A June 11 report by network and enterprise security company Palo Alto Networks has found that around 5 percent of all Monero (XMR) in circulation was mined maliciously. According to the research, the mining has been done via cryptojacking, the practice of using other users’ computers’ processing power to mine for cryptocurrencies without the owners’ permission. Josh Grunzweig of the Unit 42 threat research team collected data - around 470,000 unique samples - on how many cryptojacking miners have been identified within the Palo Alto Network WildFire platform. The report finds 3,773 emails connected with mining pools, 2,995 mining pools …

Japanese police are investigating a case of cryptojacking that involves Monero-mining software Coinhive, sources familiar with the matter told local news outlet Mainichi June 12. Investigators suspect that the alleged culprits are in violation of the law banning the use of computer viruses. According to the sources, the suspects involved in the case set up websites that installed the Coinhive crypto mining software on visitors’ computers without their consent or “clear notices about mining.” So far, Japanese police have investigated three individuals, including a web designer, one of whom was ordered by the Yokohama Summary Court to pay 100,000 yen …

The GuardiCore security team has discovered a malicious traffic manipulation and cryptocurrency mining campaign, according to an announcement published June 6. The campaign infected over 40,000 machines across various industries, including finance, education, and government. The campaign called Operation Prowli used various techniques like exploits and password brute-forcing to spread malware and take over devices, such as web servers, modems, and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices. GuardiCore found that the attackers behind Prowli were focused on making money rather than ideology or espionage. According to the report, the compromised devices were infected with a Monero (XMR) miner and the r2r2 worm, a …

Mining malware may now be painfully familiar to anyone with even a passing awareness of cryptocurrency, but so far businesses and consumers alike are failing to significantly curb its growing threat. On May 14, Israeli cybersecurity firm Check Point released its latest Global Threat Index, and for the fifth consecutive month it found that the Coinhive crypto-miner is the "most prevalent malware" in the world, affecting 16 percent of organizations globally. Meanwhile, Santa Clara-based Malwarebytes released its Cybercrime tactics and techniques: Q1 2018 report on April 9, finding that businesses had seen a 27 percent increase in mining malware in …

Recently hacked Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck will end trading for four privacy-oriented cryptocurrencies, Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), Dash (DASH), and Augur (REP), Cointelegraph Japan reported May 18. Following reports from back in March, the exchange has now officially confirmed the removal of the four anonymity-focused coins will come into effect June 18. According to Coincheck’s blog, the exchange will remove the four cryptocurrencies to comply with counter-terrorist financing (CFT) and anti-money laundering (AML) measures recently issued by Japan’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA). The FSA has been especially active in regulating domestic crypto exchanges, specifically around customer protection, …

A new piece of so-called cryptojacking malware used half a million computers to mine 133 Monero (XMR) tokens (about $25,000) in three days, Finance Magnates reports today, May 18. New research published by cyber security firm 360 Total Security May 16 found that the malware, referred to as WinstarNssmMiner, presents a fresh challenge to users, due to its ability to both mine and crash infected machines at will. Malicious software that engages in cryptojacking – the use of another’s device to mine crypto without their knowledge – has become a common phenomenon in recent months. As Cointelegraph reported, instances have …

Due to the recent crypto crackdown in China, Chinese ASIC chip manufacturer Bitmain is turning to artificial intelligence (AI) as an alternate revenue source, Bloomberg reports today, May 17. China’s crypto regulations have included an initial coin offering (ICO) ban in the fall of last year, this January’s ban on “exchange-like services,” and the February ban on foreign crypto exchanges. Bitmain manufactures the processing chips and miners that mine for a variety of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and altcoin Monero; although the release of the Monero-mining Antminer at the end of March led Monero to upgrade in order …

The Coinhive crypto mining code has been recently detected on more than 300 government and university websites worldwide, cyber security researcher Troy Mursch reported Saturday, May 5. According to the report, all the affected websites are using a vulnerable version of the Drupal content management system. As the researcher posted on Twitter May 4, he was alerted to this particular campaign via the attack on the websites of the San Diego Zoo, and the government of Chihuahua, Mexico. Both websites reportedly had Coinhive injected into their Javascript libraries in the same way. Coinhive is a JavaScript program created to mine …

UNICEF Australia announced yesterday, April 29, an initiative that allows users to give over their computer’s processing power to mine cryptocurrency as a donation to the charity. We're excited to launch The Hopepage. This innovative website allows you to easily donate some of your computer processing power to generate #cryptocurrency and fund life-saving aid for children in crisis. #UNICEF #ForEveryChild https://t.co/rPXCnTcahy — UNICEF Australia (@unicefaustralia) April 29, 2018 Tony Andres Tang, the digital brand and content manager of UNICEF Australia, told news outlet ITnews that they “are transparent in the fact [they] are borrowing a computers' processing power, and provide …