"Mark Zuckerberg Calls Obama to Complain about NSA"
March 13, 2014 | Jose Pagliery, CNN Money
Press
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg called President Obama on Wednesday night to express frustration about the government's spying and hacking programs. "When our engineers work tirelessly to improve security, we imagine we're protecting you against criminals, not our own government," Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post Thursday afternoon.
"NSA and British Intelligence Impersonating Facebook, Hijacking Adbots to Infect Millions of Computers with Malware"
March 12, 2014 | Neal Ungerleider, Fast Company
Newly released documents indicate that the NSA is masquerading as Facebook to hijack millions of computers worldwide with spyware... and that the surveillance agency is also piggybacking on commonly used adbots to infect computers worldwide with programs that let spies activate webcams and microphones.
"Implosion of Bitcoin Exchange Spawns Mutant Digital Currency"
March 5, 2014 | Robert McMillan, Wired
As big-name bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox descends into bankruptcy — the victim of a $460 million hack — the outlook is bleak for those with money in the company. The courts in Japan, where Mt. Gox is based, may not recognize bitcoin as a currency, meaning they’re unlikely to catalog customer assets at anywhere close to full value. And even if they did, it may be difficult for anyone to retrieve even a fraction of what they had in the exchange. The bankruptcy systems here in the real world just aren’t prepared to deal with bitcoin.
"Will Hacking Be the End of Virtual Currencies Like Bitcoin?"
March 4, 2014 | Jordan Chittley and Kevin Newman, Kevin Newman Live, CTV News Channel
For the second time in a week, users of a bitcoin bank were unable to exchange cash for the virtual currency. On Sunday one exchange was forced to close after hackers stole almost $700,000 in bitcoin. Flexcoin, an Alberta-based bank, shut its website down and issued a statement saying, “On March 2nd 2014 Flexcoin was attacked and robbed of all coins in the hot wallet…AsFlexcoin does not have the resources, assets, or otherwise to come back from this loss, we are closing our doors immediately.”
"Silk Road Heist Could Doom Bitcoin Black Markets"
February 19, 2014 | Jose Pagliery, KSPR 33, ABC
The jig may be up for online drug bazaars that accept bitcoins. Black markets on the Deep Web offer everything: money laundering and a one-stop-shop for illegal drugs and guns. But a recent series of heists, busts and fraud have shown why these bazaars can't be trusted.
"Money Laundering Charges Stymie Momentum For Bitcoin Currency As It Seeks Legitimacy In Financial World"
February 17, 2014 | Jared Feldschreiber, Lawyer Herald
Florida's state authorities announced last Thursday that three men were facing criminal charges, in which they clandestinly moved large amounts of cash in and out by using the Bitcoin virtual currency. Experts said these instances of money laundering are just the types, which could shut down one of the last remaining avenues for purchasing Bitcoins anonymously, as reported by RT. It also has undermined the strength of Bitcoin as a legitimate form of currency worldwide.
"Silk Road Pledges to Pay Back Users After $2.6 Million Bitcoin Hack"
February 17, 2014 | James Eng, NBC News
Silk Road 2.0, the reincarnated Internet black market for drugs and other illicit goods, is promising to pay back customers and vendors who were victimized by a hack that drained the site of millions of dollars in bitcoins.
"Irate Over Spying, EU Barks Up Wrong Regulatory Tree"
January 14, 2014 | Amir Mizroch and Frances Robinson, Digits, Wall Street Journal
Neelie Kroes’ call for more globalization of the way the internet is run isn’t the first attempt to use allegations about NSA spying to bolster Europe’s position and give new impetus to existing reform efforts.
"Silk Road 2.0 'Hack' Blamed On Bitcoin Bug, All Funds Stolen"
February 13, 2014 | Andy Greenberg, Forbes
The same bug that has plagued several of the biggest players in the Bitcoin economy may have just bitten the Silk Road. On Thursday, one of the recently-reincarnated drug-selling black market site’s administrators posted a long announcement to the Silk Road 2.0 forums admitting that the site had been hacked by one of its sellers, and its reserve of Bitcoins belonging to both the users and the site itself stolen.
"New Silk Road Hit with $2.6 Million Heist Due to Known Bitcoin Flaw"
February 13, 2014 | Cyrus Farivar, Ars Technica
Not only are Bitcoin trading sites like Bitstamp and Mt. Gox susceptible to the recent accleration of the "transaction malleability" problem, but apparently the Silk Road—or at least its newest incarnation—is too.