Autor Cointelegraph By Brayden Lindrea

North Korea’s Lazarus behind years of crypto hacks in Japan: Police

North Korea’s Lazarus behind years of crypto hacks in Japan: Police

Uverejnil používateľ | okt 17, 2022 |

Japan’s national police have pinned North Korean hacking group, Lazarus, as the organization behind several years of crypto-related cyber attacks. In the public advisory statement sent out on Oct. 14,  Japan’s National Police Agency (NPA) and Financial Services Agency (FSA) sent a warning to the country’s crypto-asset businesses, asking them to stay vigilant of “phishing” attacks by the hacking groupaimed at stealing crypto assets. The advisory statement is known as “public attribution,” and according to local reports, is the fifth time in history that the government has issued such a warning. The statement warns that the hacking group uses social engineering to orchestrate phishing attacks — impersonating executives of a target company to try and bait employees into clicking malicious links or attachments. “This cyber attack group sends phishing emails to employees impersonating executives of the target company […] through social networking sites with false accounts, pretending to conduct business transactions […] The cyber-attack group [then] uses the malware as a foothold to gain access to the victim’s network.”According to the statement, phishing has been a common mode of attack used by North Korean hackers, with the NPA and FSA urging targeted companies to keep their “private keys in an offline environment” and to “not open email attachments or hyperlinks carelessly.”The statement added that individuals and businesses should “not download files from sources other than those whose authenticity can be verified, especially for applications related to cryptographic assets.”The NPA also suggested that digital asset holders “install security software,” strengthen identity authentication mechanisms by “implementing multi-factor authentication” and not use the same password for multiple devices or services.The NPA confirmed that several of these attacks have been successfully carried out against Japanese-based digital asset firms, but didn’t disclose any specific details.Related: ‘Nobody is holding them back’ — North Korean cyber-attack threat risesLazarus Group is allegedly affiliated with North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau, a government-run foreign intelligence group.Katsuyuki Okamoto of multinational IT firm Trend Micro told The Yomiuri Shimbun that “Lazarus initially targeted banks in various countries, but recently it has been aiming at crypto assets that are managed more loosely.”They have been accused of being the hackers behind the $650 million Ronin Bridge exploit in March, and were identified as suspects in the $100 million attack from layer-1 blockchain Harmony.

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Tether commercial paper exposure now under $50M, says CTO

Tether commercial paper exposure now under $50M, says CTO

Uverejnil používateľ | okt 4, 2022 |

Stablecoin issuer Tether (USDT) has nearly completely slashed its commercial paper holdings, with less than $50 million worth of commercial paper units as of Sept. 30, 2022.Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino made the announcement in an Oct. 3 tweet, adding also that Tether’s United States Treasury bills increased to 58.1% of its total portfolio, up 25.1% from its Jun. 30 figure of 43.5%.#tether portfolio update. Tether as of 30 September 2022 holds ~58.1% of its assets in US t-bills. Up from 43.5% on June 30 2022.CP exposure is < 50M now.@Tether_to— Paolo Ardoino (@paoloardoino) October 3, 2022Commercial papers are short-term debt instruments issued by companies, which are often used to finance various business operations, while treasury bills are claimed to be more stable than commercial papers as they offer “zero default risk” since investors are guaranteed to at least recoup the purchase price.In June, Tether said it was aiming to decrease commercial paper backing of USDT to "zero," and rolled into short-maturity U.S. Treasury bills — aimed at increasing the stability of its ecosystem and USDT stablecoin.The stablecoin issuer has also been seeking to increase transparency into its dollar reserves and backing. In July, it appointed European accounting firm BDO Italia as a new auditor to independently review its stablecoin reserves in a bid to improve transparency and more regularly disclose audit and attestation reports. Last month, Tether was ordered by a United States District Court in New York to provide documents that prove the U.S. dollar 1-to-1 backing of the USDT stablecoin on Sept. 19. As for when Tether’s transparency report will be updated, Ardoino said the deadline usually takes 45 days, but now expects its new auditor to improve this process and reduce that timeline. Related: Tether aims to decrease commercial paper backing of USDT to zeroTether’s plan to slash its entire commercial paper holdings by the end of 2022 is well underway, with the firm cutting down its reserves from 20 billion units as of Q1 2022 to 8.4 billion units as of Q2 2022. USDT is currently the largest stablecoin, with a market capitalization of $67.95 billion, the third highest of all digital assets according to CoinGecko data.

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Covalent CEO: There’s an ‘unresolved backlog’ of unfilled Web3 data roles

Covalent CEO: There’s an ‘unresolved backlog’ of unfilled Web3 data roles

Uverejnil používateľ | okt 4, 2022 |

Ganesh Swami, CEO of blockchain data aggregator Covalent says there continues to be an “intense demand” for on-chain data analysts, that is yet to be satisfied. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Swami said that analysts are in “intense demand” as there’s a “real need” for data experts to “make sense” of on-chain data, explaining: “There is an unresolved backlog of unfilled data-driven roles. This demand is a testament to how eager blockchain and non-blockchain companies alike are to make sense of their own and competitors’ on-chain data.”Swami explained that while the demand for on-chain data analysts has yet to eclipse their Web2 counterpart, the growth of stablecoin usage, lending, and decentralized finance (DeFi) products over the last 18 months has led to increasing demand for the job title. Swami said similar to data analysts in traditional industries, on-chain data analysts can expect to analyze a company’s “reach, retention and revenue” metrics, except, in this case, the intelligence would be found on-chain data across multiple blockchains.For example, in the case of an NFT project, Swami explained that “reach” would look into “how many people mint your tokens” and “retention” would relate to “what is the average holding period for these tokens” which is important to know whether investors are using these for “quick flips” or “holding on to them” long term.”Revenue” is about sales — with blockchain analysts able to determine whether the sales are “concentrated through a handful of sales or distributed across multiple collections,” he explained. But the role doesn’t e there. Swami said that “to make better protocols and better serve users,” on-chain analysts can “cross-target users for marketing purposes or for user acquisition purposes” by reviewing what’s happened on competitor protocols, as the blockchain leaves what Swami likes to call “historical breadcrumbs.”Swami also predicted that “Web3 data will exceed Web2 data” at some point in the next 20-30 years, and that Web3 data analysis “will be much, much bigger than the current business intelligence market, which is currently worth hundreds of billions of dollars.”Addressing the current deficit of on-chain analysts, Covalent is set to launch a four-week “Data Alchemist Boot-Camp” on Oct. 19, which aims to train over 1,000 individuals in on-chain analytics.“The only prerequisite to joining our Data Alchemist Boot-Camp is a desire to learn about Web3; come with that, and we’ll pay you to learn,” said Swami. Related: Six helpful tips for Web3 companies searching for top data analystsOver the near term, however, Swami said on-chain analysts will likely find more job opportunities in Web2 companies which are entering Web3, rather than Web3 native projects themselves:“It will be faster and better for a Web2 company with their hundreds of millions of players or users to add over Web3 experiences, and what we can see, immediately what we have a line of sight to is Web2 businesses, adding a Web3 experience.”“Companies such as Adidas and Samsung also now have departments of metaverse data scientists and analysts to serve the dashboards and metrics management,” he added.

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Robert Kiyosaki calls Bitcoin a ‘buying opportunity’ as US dollar surges

Robert Kiyosaki calls Bitcoin a ‘buying opportunity’ as US dollar surges

Uverejnil používateľ | okt 3, 2022 |

Robert Kiyosaki, businessman and best-selling author of Rich Dad Poor Dad has called Bitcoin, silver and gold a “buying opportunity” amid the strengthening United States dollar and continued interest rate hikes. In an Oct. 2 Twitter post to his 2.1 million followers, the author noted the prices of the three commodities — sometimes referred to as “safe haven” assets — would continue getting lower as the U.S. dollar strengthens, proving its worth once the “FED pivots” and drops interest rates. BUYING OPPORTUNITY: if FED continues raising interest rates US $ will get stronger causing gold, silver & Bitcoin prices to go lower. BUY more. When FED pivots and drops interest rates as England just did you will smile while others cry. Take care— therealkiyosaki (@theRealKiyosaki) October 2, 2022In a post the day before, Kiyosaki predicted this “pivot” could happen as soon as January 2023, which would see the U.S. dollar “crash” in the same way as the recently collapsed English Pound Sterling.“Will the US dollar follow English Pound Sterling? I believe it will. I believe US dollar will crash by January 2023 after Fed pivots,” said Kiyosaki, adding he “will not be a victim of the F*CKed FED.”Since as early as May. 2020, Kiyosaki has been a proponent for asset classes that the Fed cannot directly manipulate, having once warned investors to “Get Bitcoin and save yourself” following the Fed’s immediate mass money printing episodes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.Interestingly, Kiyosaki’s liking for Bitcoin stands despite not believing there’s any value to it, he said in a recent interview on Rich Dad. The author appears to be standing behind Bitcoin again in his most recent tweet, noting: “When FED pivots and drops interest rates as England just did you will smile while others cry.”In a September letter to his mailed subscribers, Kiyosaki stressed the need to invest in digital assets now in order to score outsized returns over the long term: “It’s not enough to WANT to get into crypto […] Now is the time you NEED to get into crypto, before the biggest economic crash in history.”The U.S. dollar has been gradually gaining strength over other major global currencies over the last year, with the GBP/USD, EUR/USD, and JPY/USD falling 18.24%, 15.54%, and 23.33% respectively, according to Trading Economics.At the same time, the Fed’s interest rate hike, along with a strengthening USD has coincided with a 55% drop in the crypto market cap over the last 12 months.Related: The British pound collapse and its impact on cryptocurrency: Watch the Market ReportLast month, hedge fund co-founder CK Zheng said he expected October to be a “very volatile” month for BTC.“October is a pretty volatile period of time, especially when combined with high inflation, with a lot of debate in terms of the Fed and policy change. The concern is that if the Fed tightens too much, the U.S. economy may actually go into a severe recession.”

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Transit Swap ‘hacker’ returns 70% of $23M in stolen funds

Transit Swap ‘hacker’ returns 70% of $23M in stolen funds

Uverejnil používateľ | okt 3, 2022 |

A quick response from a number of blockchain security companies has helped facilitate the return of around 70% of the $23 million exploit of decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator Transit Swap.The DEX aggregator lost the funds after a hacker exploited an internal bug on a swap contract on Oct. 1, leading to a quick response from Transit Finance team along with security companies Peckshield, SlowMist, Bitrace and TokenPocket, who were able to quickly work out the hacker’s IP, email address and associated-on chain addresses.It appears these efforts have already born fruit, as less than 24 hours after the hack, Transit Finance noted that “with joint efforts of all parties” the hacker has returned 70% of the stolen assets to two addresses, equating to roughly $16.2 million. These funds came in the form of 3,180 Ether (ETH) ($4.2 million), 1,500 Binance-Peg ETH and ($2 million) and 50,000 BNB ($14.2 million), according to BscScan and EtherScan.Updates about TransitFinance1/5 We are here to update the latest news about TransitFinance Hacking Event. With the joint efforts of all parties, the hacker has returned about 70% of the stolen assets to the following two addresses:— Transit Swap | Transit Buy | NFT (@TransitFinance) October 2, 2022In the most recent update, Transit Finance stated that “the project team is rushing to collect the specific data of the stolen users and formulate a specific return plan” but also remains focused on retrieving the final 30% of stolen funds. At present, the security companies and project teams of all parties are still continuing to track the hacking incident and communicate with the hacker through email and on-chain methods. The team will continue to work hard to recover more assets,” it said. Related: $160M stolen from crypto market maker WintermuteCybersecurity firm SlowMist in an analysis of the incident noted that the hacker used a vulnerability in Transit Swap’s smart contract code, which came directly from the transferFrom() function, which essentially allowed users’ tokens to be transferred directly to the exploiter’s address. “The root cause of this attack is that the Transit Swap protocol does not strictly check the data passed in by the user during token swap, which leads to the issue of arbitrary external calls. The attacker exploited this arbitrary external call issue to steal the tokens approved by the user for Transit Swap.”

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