Could The US Government Pay Anonymous in Bitcoins to Mount Cyber Attacks against The Islamic State?
The Islamic State (IS) might be trying to use bitcoins to fund its operations. According to a well-respected journal, Foreign Policy, the US government should try the same in the fight against IS. An individual called "Abu Ahmed al Raqqa" appealed to supporters of the Islamic State to send funds to the militant group in bitcoins to expand its "caliphate" in Internet messages posted last May. The messages were posted on the darknet. IS has used online propaganda to further its cause, in particular with social media and other marketing blitzes to gain attention. As Washington Post writes of....
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News that Bitcoin can be tied to the Islamic State circulated on the internet in the wake of the Paris attacks. European Union leaders even held a so-called "emergency meeting" on virtual currencies themselves, reportedly investigating how to better control the currency. To be sure, evidence that the Islamic State uses Bitcoin in any significant manner is non-existent, the claims specious at best. Researcher Nicholas Weaver, from the Berkeley-based International Computer Science Institute, is aware of no evidence that the Islamic State uses Bitcoin. "There was a recent material support....
Editor's update: After being pointed to by CCN's readers, the original featured image containing al-Qaeda's flag is now replaced with one containing the Islamic State flag. Following the recent attacks on Paris, GhostSec, an Anonymous off-shoot which actively hacks ISIS efforts worldwide, said that ISIS regularly uses cryptocurrencies to fund its operations. It offered evidence from September, in which the group believed it had uncovered a single address worth $3 million in bitcoins (which would have appreciated significantly here recently.) The group had a lot more to say during an....
A report drafted by EU law enforcement agency Europol has found that there is no evidence to back up reports linking the Islamic State (IS) to the use of bitcoin or other alternative digital currencies. Released on 18th January, the report is the product of a review held by EU member states and Europol in the wake of the 13th November Paris attacks. Included was the finding that there have been no recent changes in how IS has been seeking to finance its operations. The report reads: "There is no evidence however of IS-financing networks in existence. Despite third party reporting....
Hacktivist collective Anonymous claims it has already published millions of leaked Russian emails. The group has been waging a cyberwar on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, carrying out attacks on government institutions, state-run television channels, and the central bank.
Russia’s Culture Ministry Becomes Latest Target of Anonymous
Anonymous has released well over two million emails obtained in cyberattacks on Russian organizations, the decentralized hacking group announced through social media. “This is just the beginning,” read a message posted on....
Several of London’s largest banks are stocking up on Bitcoin in order to pay off cyber criminals who threaten to bring down their critical IT systems, say IT experts. The banks are now coming to terms with the view that it is cheaper to pay off criminals than risk ferocious cyber attacks on a high scale. According to a Guardian report, paying ransoms with Bitcoin seems the better way to go because even though senior police officers have been made aware of the practice, the police do not have the resources to deal with the significant growth in the number of cyber attacks. Dr Simon Moores,....