De-anonymizing Bitcoin

Andy Greenberg wrote a long article — an excerpt from his new book — on how law enforcement de-anonymized bitcoin transactions to take down a global child porn ring.

Within a few years of Bitcoin’s arrival, academic security researchers — and then companies like Chainalysis — began to tear gaping holes in the masks separating Bitcoin users’ addresses and their real-world identities. They could follow bitcoins on the blockchain as they moved from address to address until they reached one that could be tied to a known identity. In some cases, an investigator could learn someone’s Bitcoin addresses by transacting with them, the way an undercover narcotics agent might conduct a buy-and-bust. In other cases, they could trace a target’s coins to an account at a cryptocurrency exchange where financial regulations required users to prove their identity. A quick subpoena to the exchange from one of Chainalysis’ customers in law enforcement was then enough to strip away any illusion of Bitcoin’s anonymity…

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Smashing Security podcast #192: Ritz and robocalls with Rory

A scam involving restaurant bookings at The Ritz is suitably sophisticated, the second wave of UK coronavirus testing apps, and we take a look at one of the biggest studies ever into the scourge of robocalls.

All this and much more is discussed in t… Continue reading Smashing Security podcast #192: Ritz and robocalls with Rory

New Relic is changing its pricing model to encourage broader monitoring

In the monitoring world, typically when you spin up a new instance, you pay a fee to monitor it. If you are particularly active in any given month, that can result in a hefty bill at the end of the month. That leads to limiting what you choose to monitor to control costs. New Relic […] Continue reading New Relic is changing its pricing model to encourage broader monitoring

Smashing Security podcast #187: Huawei ban, MGM hack, and a contact-tracing cock-up

Login chaos for the UK’s contact tracing service, our drill-down on the Britain’s Huawei 5G ban, MGM’s blockbuster breach, and how to pronounce “Gigabyte.”
All this and much more is discussed in the latest edition of the a… Continue reading Smashing Security podcast #187: Huawei ban, MGM hack, and a contact-tracing cock-up

Smashing Security podcast #187: Huawei ban, MGM hack, and a contact-tracing cock-up

Login chaos for England’s contact tracing service, our drill-down on the Britain’s Huawei 5G ban, MGM’s blockbuster breach, and how to pronounce “Gigabyte.”
All this and much more is discussed in the latest edition of the … Continue reading Smashing Security podcast #187: Huawei ban, MGM hack, and a contact-tracing cock-up

Lightrun raises $4M for its continuous debugging and observability platform

Lightrun, a Tel Aviv-based startup that makes it easier for developers to debug their production code, today announced that it has raised a $4 million seed round led by Glilot Capital Partners, with participation from a number fo engineering executives from several Fortune 500 firms. The company, which was co-founded by Ilan Peleg (who, in […] Continue reading Lightrun raises $4M for its continuous debugging and observability platform