Connect with us
  • tg

Cryptocurrency

FBI seized $500,000 from North Korean hackers

letizo News

Published

on

The U.S. Department of Justice has announced the seizure of about $500,000 in bitcoins previously paid by U.S. health care providers to the operators of the cryptocurrency attacker Maui.

Earlier this month, U.S. law enforcement officials had already warned about the activity on Maui, which is targeting medical organizations and public health care. Then it was reported that Maui uses a combination of AES, RSA and XORfor the encryption process: files are encrypted using AES with a unique key, which is then encrypted using a pair of RSA keys generated during the first run of Maui, and then the RSA public key is encrypted using another hard-coded RSA public key.

Experts speculated that the entire malware campaign is built on the willingness of medical institutions to pay a ransom, as they need to recover quickly from the attack and provide uninterrupted access to critical data and services, because people’s lives and health depend on it.

As the DOJ now explains, the discovery of this malware came after an incident at a Kansas hospital that the victims rushed to report to the FBI. In May 2021, that medical facility paid extortionists about $100,000 to recover data after the encryption attack.

“Through prompt reporting and cooperation from the victim, the FBI and Department of Justice disrupted a North Korean-sponsored group that was developing a ransomware program known as Maui,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monak. – “This not only allowed us to recover the ransom, but also to recover ransom payments made by previously unknown victims and to identify a previously unknown type of ransomware.

Thanks to a quick report of the incident, law enforcement could trace another $120,000 payment from an unnamed health care provider in Colorado. Those two payments, as well as an unknown number of $280,000 payments, were eventually recovered in May 2022, bringing the total amount recovered to approximately half a million dollars.

It is currently unknown how the seizure of the funds was arranged. It is likely that law enforcement could trace the victims’ funds, which the criminals were trying to launder, to a certain cryptocurrency exchange, which offers services for cashing out and converting cryptocurrencies into fiat.

While the amount recovered this time is small, it is emphasized that what happened demonstrates how rapid reporting of incidents allows law enforcement to more quickly and easily follow money trails, recover ransoms, and identify the perpetrators and their tactics. 


Cryptocurrency

Shiba Inu (SHIB) Team With Crucial Warning to Its Community

letizo News

Published

on

TL;DR

  • Shibarium’s LUCIE issued a warning to the Shiba Inu community about fraud, advising caution with suspicious links offering unexpected rewards.
  • Despite potential scams, SHIB’s value increased by 18% weekly amid effective token burns and Shibarium’s advancements.

Shibarium’s Marketing Strategist, using the X handle LUCIE, advised the Shiba Inu community to be utterly careful when clicking suspicious links from prominent individuals or entities “announcing unexpected rewards.”

The SHIB official alerted that those links most probably come from hacked accounts, saying people should refrain from connecting their wallets to dubious websites.

Last month, LUCIE warned the community to beware of potential scams related to SHEboshi NFTs. The digital art was a huge success with all 20,000 collectibles sold out in less than three hours after the conclusion of the second phase of the minting process.

Shiba Inu is among the most trending cryptocurrencies due to its volatile price and huge number of holders, which might explain why scammers frequently target the community.

Currently, SHIB trades at approximately $0.0000321, an 18% increase on a weekly scale. Its rise could be attributed to the successful execution of the burning mechanism and the advancement of the layer-2 blockchain solution Shibarium.

As CryptoPotato reported today, the burn rate skyrocketed by 1,200%, resulting in over 50 million tokens destroyed. For its part, Shibarium blasted through another huge milestone at the start of March, surpassing 400 million in terms of total transactions.

Those willing to learn more about the layer-2 scaling solution and how it aims to elevate Shiba Inu above its rivals, please take a look at our dedicated video below:

SPECIAL OFFER (Sponsored)
LIMITED OFFER 2024 for CryptoPotato readers at Bybit: Use this link to register and open a $500 BTC-USDT position on Bybit Exchange for free!
Continue Reading

Cryptocurrency

Rockstar Co-Founder and All-star Line Up Join Advisory Board to Take Metacade into Post Beta Orbit

letizo News

Published

on

[PRESS RELEASE – London, United Kingdom, March 28th, 2024]

Metacade, the revolutionary Web3 gaming platform, prepares to streak out of beta with a slew of ground-breaking initiatives that will redefine the way blockchain games are developed.

CEO, Russell Bennett, forecasts a series of landmark announcements across Q2 and Q3, 2024. Commencing with the appointment of an advisory board. Jamie King, Dan Hibell, Elly Bradbury, and Anders Christiansen combine premium Web2-Web3 commercial nous to spearhead Metacade’s expansion across Talent, Product, Utility, and Engagement.

As blockchain games gear up to embrace one billion players, Metacade will mobilize advancements in game development. Fostering stronger bonds between games and experienced Web3 players, through immersive tournaments designed to improve gameplay.

During beta, Metacade experienced high demand for this innovative approach. “Over 60 partners joined the Metacade ecosystem in a few months. It’s evidence that games and gamers seek deeper connection,” notes newly appointed advisor Jamie King, co-founder of Rockstar Games. “Metacade’s commitment to transform tournaments into a multi-asset environment adds substantial value, offering hyper utility for holders and gamers alike. It’s a big vision, focused beyond a single cycle and I’m looking forward to guiding it.”

Proflic angel investor and Web 3 guild expert, Dan Hibell adds, “For Web3 gaming to reach mainstream adoption we have to address accessibility and usability. Gamers don’t want to pay outrageous prices for an item or wait for a node validator to process a transaction before getting their seasonal cosmetic item. Metacade exists to help builders improve these Web3 issues, the infrastructure use case is needed industry-wide.”

Metacade’s test-play tournament model is already proving successful, attracting a fast-growing community of seasoned Web3 gamers chasing rewards for early-stage feedback. “Community is the most under-valued business asset,” says former Director, Columbia Tristar and seasoned Web3 marketing advisor, Elly Bradbury. “Die-hard communities are built on value add experiences, where belonging is about believing. Metacade has invested in all the right early-stage community layers, building a super fan OG culture showing all the hallmarks of explosive brand growth.”

Next stage platform developments draw on partner insights. “Metacade is already booming,” said Bennett. “We have a thriving partner ecosystem with shared values. It’s clear our best shot at backing winners is to innovate frictionless blockchain infrastructure so that our partners can do what they do best; create and innovate.”

To meet this expansion, Metacade’s team will be strategically shaped by leading Web3 recruiter and business development expert, Anders Christiansen. With a proven track record, Christiansen has facilitated 100+ c-suite placements across the industry through his previous business Priority Crypto.

“Metacade’s novel business plan will depend on forward-thinking people with multi-disciplined experience. I’m excited to bring those leading minds to Metacade.”

About METACADE:

Metacade is a seamless Web3 Gaming platform connecting developers and players through plug-and-play community initiatives. Providing an unfair advantage through early access, dev-player collaborations, and financial rewards.

SPECIAL OFFER (Sponsored)
LIMITED OFFER 2024 for CryptoPotato readers at Bybit: Use this link to register and open a $500 BTC-USDT position on Bybit Exchange for free!
Continue Reading

Cryptocurrency

Vitalik Explains Ethereum’s Next Steps After Dencun Upgrade

letizo News

Published

on

Blobs have officially come to Ethereum through its latest “Dencun” hard fork, making it far cheaper to transact on the network’s layer 2 (L2) blockchains. So what’s next?

In a blog post published on Thursday, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlined how he expects Ethereum to scale for mass adoption, emphasizing a shift in developmental focus to L2s.

Vitalik’s View On Ethereum Layer 2s

According to Vitalik, the newly implemented EIP 4844 (aka “blobs”) marked a “zero to one” milestone for Ethereum scaling, after which all remaining scaling improvements will be “incremental” by comparison.

The upgrade creates dedicated data availability space – or “blobspace” – on Ethereum’s base layer where layer 2 networks can post batched transactions for a much lower cost than previously allowed. Networks poised to benefit from the upgrade include Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism, among others

With blobs in effect, one of Ethereum’s next goals may be to implement “data availability sampling,” a more efficient method for verifying blobs that could help greatly increase the network’s blobspace. These could allow blobs to process roughly 1.33 megabytes of data per second.

“From here on, data availability sampling can be introduced and blob count can be increased behind the scenes, all without any involvement from users or applications,” wrote Vitalik.

The next scaling goals, he claimed, will be to increase blob capacity and improve on existing L2s, both of which carry minimal need for a hard fork.

To improve L2s, the developer recommends reducing transaction sizes using data compression, using L1s for security more sparingly, and scaling rollups internally. He also pushed for a true shift towards decentralization with L2s whose code can only be modified by security councils under rare circumstances.

Ethereum’s Next Ten Years

With blobs released and rising adoption of L2s underway, Vitalik stressed that developers must begin developing protocols that meet the standards of the current decade – not the last.

“We no longer have any excuse,” he wrote. “Today, we have all the tools we’ll need, and indeed most of the tools we’ll ever have, to build applications that are simultaneously cypherpunk and user-friendly. And so we should go out and do it.”

Vitalik is still a proponent of developing more advanced features on Ethereum’s base layer, enabling more simplicity and reducing bug risk on layer 2 networks.

In recent weeks, Vitalik has proposed multiple ways to help decentralize Ethereum staking away from large staking providers. These include creating new, more accessible tiers of staking through “rainbow staking,” and imposing harsher financial penalties on staking whales.

SPECIAL OFFER (Sponsored)
LIMITED OFFER 2024 for CryptoPotato readers at Bybit: Use this link to register and open a $500 BTC-USDT position on Bybit Exchange for free!
Continue Reading

Trending

©2021-2024 Letizo All Rights Reserved