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Qntra - Herald Of The Most Serene Republic |
The U.S. State Department has announced a reward of up to USD $3 million1 for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Russian national Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev. Bogachev is wanted by the FBI for numerous alleged cybercrimes including an association with a botnet named Gameover ZeuS. Continue reading
Payable in bezzlars, not bitcoin. ↩
A report by Europol's European Cybercrime Centre makes the claim that, despite much of the evidence being anecdotal1, Bitcoin is increasingly being used to pay for the live streaming of kiddy porn2. The report was produced with the supposed intention of assisting law enforcement and the private sector to reduce and prevent such crimes from occurring, but it reads as nothing more than an attack on Bitcoin itself. Continue reading
"Although much of the evidence is still anecdotal, concerns have been expressed by LE and financial experts in the wider international environment that commercial CSE online, among other criminal activities, is moving to a new unregulated, unbanked digital economy. Payment mechanisms providing a certain degree of anonymity are always open to abuse by those with criminal intentions, as developments in the use of Bitcoin show." ↩
It is recommended by organisations such as Europol that the term Child Abuse Material or CAM is better suited to describe such material as the word pornography implies that the children were willing participants and paid, but if Europol cannot be reasonable and differentiate between a paedophile and the use of Bitcoin, I cannot be expected to know the difference between the words kiddy porn and CAM. ↩
The United States Supreme Court without comment denied Adel Daoud, a 21 year old FBI trained terrorist, access to secret court orders which authorized electronic surveillance against him. Without access to the documents authorizing surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act there is no practical means for Daoud to mount a legal defense against the legality of the surveillance he was placed under. Daoud was arrested for triggering a device outside of a Chicago bar which was provided to him by the FBI and which the FBI swears they told him was a bomb. Continue reading
The New York Times reports that a legislative impasse in the United States Congress might leave the Department of Homeland Security without funds. If this comes to pass, roughly 30,000 employees in mostly administrative positions will be furloughed while the remaining 200,000 employees deemed "critical" would be compelled to report for work as normal. The "critical" employees would be working without the expectation of receiving a pay check.
Bryan Micon of Seals with Clubs has released a video in which he details some of the previously unknown "operational security" concerns which forced the site offline earlier this month.
Micon alleges that on the 11th of February, armed gaming agents acting for the Nevada Gaming Commission knocked on his front door with a sledge hammer and pointed guns at him in order to serve a search warrant for his involvement with SwC and Bitcoin poker. Micon further alleges that much of his electronic equipment was stolen despite not being charged with a crime. Continue reading
The Chicago Tribune reports that the Midlothian Police Department paid a ransom last month in order to regain access to police files and backups encrypted by the ransomware known as Cryptoware. The Village of Midlothian obtained the bitcoins by way of sending a money order to a New York Bitcoin cafe1 after attempts to wire the money via Bank of America failed. Continue reading
Possibly coincafe.com but not confirmed. ↩
The United States Marshals Service has announced yet another auction for an amount totalling 50,000 BTC which were seized during the 2013 Silk Road bust.
The amount of bitcoin on offer, available blocks1 and deposit requirements mirror that of the last auction which was held in December of 2014. It is not yet known if Tim Draper, whose Sillycon Valley condo languishes for sale will make a big show of announcing his intention to bid. Continue reading
Series A = 10 blocks @ 2000 BTC, Series B = 10 blocks @ 3000 BTC ↩
A drug dealer who sold 17.6 pounds of methamphetamine totalling 3169 orders via the original Silk Road today plead guilty for his role in what was a four man operation.
Jason Weld Hagen, who went by the name hammertime on the SR, was arrested back in December of 2013 and originally plead not guilty. Hammertime's operation came unstuck after another man who was facing drugs charges agreed to cooperate with law enforcement. With that assistance, federal agents in Maryland ordered 17.5g of meth over the December 2012 to January 2013 period. Continue reading
A British man, Mohammed Ammer Ali, was arrested after allegedly attempting to buy ricin powder. He however was transacting with an FBI agent who fraudulently sent 5 vials of harmless white powder that was not the ricin he was alleged to have paid $500 for. The counterfeit ricin was marketed as actual ricin on a darkmarket website and delivered to Mister Ali hidden inside of a toy car. Ali is a father of two who is now facing charges under the United Kingdom's Chemical Weapons Act for receiving a toy car full of a substance that was not ricin at all. Continue reading
Kaspersky Labs in a report to be released soon will allege that up to a Billion United States Dollars in fiat value appears to have been stolen in an operation that has persisted since at least late 2013. Unlike in many similar thefts, this one directly targeted the banks themselves rather than customer accounts. More than 100 banks spread across 30 countries have been affected. The thieves' modus operadi involves stealing up to 10 million dollars from each targeted bank before moving on to the next target. Continue reading