back to article Manic miners, hideous hackers, frightful flaws, vibrating mock cock app shock – and more

Phew, we made it to the weekend. Let's take a look at everything that went down in IT security beyond what we've already covered this week. The week started badly after an anonymous individual managed to bork the Parity Ethereum wallet and lock up $280m with of the crypto-currency – an act that may or may not have been …

  1. EvaQ

    Manic Miner?

    Manic Miner was a cool game I played on my ZX Spectrum ...

  2. Pen-y-gors

    Bitcoins?

    A genuine question as I have no idea how these 'wallet' and bit-chain thingies work.

    Could a similar accident to the Ethereum case potentially affect Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies? Was the Ethereum weakness peculiar to Ethereum or was it a generic crypto-currency problem? In particular, could the whole of Bitcoin be erased in one fell swoop, or would only a bit of it disappear - thus making the remaining BCs instantly more valuable. Hang on...I don't like the way this is going...

    1. Raumkraut

      Re: Bitcoins?

      Could a similar accident to the Ethereum case potentially affect Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies?

      Short answer: No.

      As I understand Ethereum, its nature is that it provides a distributed programming platform with in-built support for a crypto-currency ("ether"). Anyone(?) can upload arbitrary scripts, which can then be executed by anyone else with an ether wallet.

      The serious vulnerabilities found/exploited so far have been bugs in scripts running on the Ethereum platform, rather than problems with the platform itself. No other crypto-currency that I'm aware of provides similar functionality.

      1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

        Re: Bitcoins?

        And the Banking Systems as are is, are Increasing Envious of the Ability and Facility, Raumkraut, as it proceeds to Decimate Any and All Opposition and Competition.

        Deny it be so, and you are recognised as part of the problem which is imploding in on itself, at every twist and turn which administrations might use to save themselves ...... rather than engaging with novel exploding expansive solutions.

    2. Snowy Silver badge
      Go

      Re: Bitcoins?

      @Pen-y-gors

      I believe not as it was the special "multi-signature Ethereum wallets " that had the problem and not all the wallets used to hold Ethereum

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Bitcoins?

      In particular, could the whole of Bitcoin be erased in one fell swoop, or would only a bit of it disappear - thus making the remaining BCs instantly more valuable

      A very good question.

      It shouldn't at this scale of problem, because AIUI, a blockchain currency uses distributed records so that the failure of any part of the system doesn't destroy the chain or the records. The Ethereum screwup made the BC inaccessible to the owners, possibly forever, rather than destroying them. From the perspective of all other currency holders they still exist. A bit like losing a fiver down the back of the sofa - you can't spend it if you can't find it, technically it is still part of the money supply. If the problem had "locked down" enough of a cryptocurrency to materially affect the trading market, then we might see rising values purely from lower liquidity, more so if the knowledge of the lockdown were public.

      Having said all that, blockchain appears to be the twenty-teens equivalent of Tulip Mania, with about three times as many cryptocurrencies as their are national currencies, worldwide. It won't end well, and when it doesn't I'll rub my hands and say "Yer yunguns, yer wurstnt listen, I told yees, digital currencies 'er shite". And then I'll have another swig of cider, brush the dribble from my beard, and go back to sleep.

  3. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    For Greater IntelAIgent Agency Users ......

    APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, has recently focused on using different themes. In this case it capitalized on the recent terrorist attack in New York City. The document itself is blank. ...... Threat Group APT28 Slips Office Malware into Doc Citing NYC Terror Attack

    Are you prepared to counter, rather than just a blank page, a sensitive informational document exchanging Dynamic Data for greater intelligent use, or would that be out of this world and widely welcomed?

    Such is surely an Attractive ACTive APT Attack Vector for Use against Prime SubPrime Targets in the Virtual Command with Remote Control Sector ...... which are surely morphs/clones of SCADA Executive Administrations?

    Is there any possible effective defence against such an Exploitative 0day Vulnerability or can one only pay to have its documentation sealed and put on ice for deployment another day and at a later stage of its fantastic development?

    1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

      Re: For Greater IntelAIgent Agency Users ......

      And it is DynamICQ MkUltra Type DocumentedD Exchanges that the Future holds and has In-House in Stores for Global Operating Devices ...... Exercising NGO Control for/of Command with Governments.

      One Real Sweet Offer. ........ Introducing Global Operating Devices @ UrService

      cc NCSC/GCHQ/Et al

      ......and IT's Real Heavy Heavenly Fuel ........ https://youtu.be/EExahMsBoWM

      1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

        For Greater IntelAIgent Agency Users ...... a Few Bits More

        A Legal Alien exercising NEUKlearer HyperRadioProACTive IT with RealTime Online, and here too on this Registering Station.?!

        Have a Nice Day, Y'All.

        1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

          Suck IT and See .... There is/are No Better Beta Choice/s

          What's not to like, random downvoters/thumb downers? ..... Future Command and Current Control beyond your Ken and Influence? Is that your worry and fear? Tough Luck, Hombre.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Suck IT and See .... There is/are No Better Beta Choice/s

            What's not to like, random downvoters/thumb downers?

            Hey, stop the gatling gun posts! I'm getting RSI in my left forefinger from upvoting you.

            I don't understand two thirds of your posts, but that's never the point.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    The Pentagon appreciates the Russian hackers

    "McAfee has spotted that APT28 – aka the Fancy Bear crew thought to be part of Russian military intelligence"

    'John Arquilla .. estimated there were around 100 master hackers in the world, with many, if not most, in Asia and Russia. He had established contact with several in the US'

  5. TrumpSlurp the Troll
    Paris Hilton

    Teledildonics?

    You would certainly need a working microphone!

    "And then at last the maiden cried

    Bum titty bum titty bum titty bum

    And then at last the maiden cried

    Enough, enough, I'm satisfied!"

    And we all know how badly that ended, don't we children?

    Oh, and I hate auto correct on this bloody tablet. Took me no end of retyping to get the second line right.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Teledildonics?

      I'll bite: Who were you before you were TrumpSlurp the Troll?

      1. TrumpSlurp the Troll
        Trollface

        Re: Teledildonics?

        amanfromMars 3

        Successful time travel buggers up your prose style.

  6. silverfern

    "teledildonics"?

    Really?

  7. Platelet

    FUD Browser Miner

    If someone has worked out how to monetise all the FUD that's out there they are going to make a fortune

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt

    1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

      Re: FUD Browser Miner

      Indeed they are, Platelet, and fully deserving of their lavish spending of fantastic reward. After all, you can't take wealth with you anywhere hellish or heavenly, for the one will steal it away from you whilst the other doesn't need it.

      And lest it is forgotten, here is a timely reminder from the past of what to do in the present for the good of the future ..... Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community. The man who dies thus rich, dies disgraced. .... Andrew Carnegie [1835-1919]

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