Skeptic Project

Your #1 COINTELPRO cognitive infiltration source.

Page By Category

Forum - Macs Targeted By New Bitcoin-Mining Trojan 'DevilRobber'

Tags: bitcoins [ Add Tags ]

[ Return to News | Reply to Topic ]
Agent MattPosted: Oct 31, 2011 - 22:28
(1)
 

Genuine American Monster

Level: 70
CS Original
#1 [ Top | Reply to Topic ]
JimJesusPosted: Oct 31, 2011 - 22:58
(0)
 

Bacon Pancakes! Making Bacon Pancakes, take some Bacon and I'll put it in a Pancake! Bacon Pancakes that's what it's gonna make...Bacon Pancaaaaaake!! ♪

Level: 3
BUT MACS NEVER GET MALWARE OR VIRUSES!
#2 [ Top | Reply to Topic ]
Wolf BirdPosted: Oct 31, 2011 - 23:12
(0)
 

I shoot you dead.

Level: 9
CS Original
As a Mac user, I am going to continue doing what I always do...download things only from reputable sources. And not use bitcoins.
#3 [ Top | Reply to Topic ]
CyborgJesusPosted: Nov 01, 2011 - 02:38
(2)
 

Level: 6
CS Original
#4 [ Top | Reply to Topic ]
PathfinderPosted: Nov 01, 2011 - 07:05
(0)
 

This apple is your CT. Princess Luna represents logic.

Level: 1
CS Original
Response of some Mac users: Oh no, I can't download porn/music/movies from that super secret website. I'll rage and switch to Linux.
#5 [ Top | Reply to Topic ]
slayerx3Posted: Nov 01, 2011 - 20:27
(1)
 

Powered by: Coffee, Internet and Metal

Level: 0
"bash history file (this is a history of commands run in the Terminal application), saves the user's Safari history file, takes a screenshot and saves that, and, if the user has a Bitcoin wallet, saves that as well,"

So whoever get this will know which kind of porn you like, well since we're talking about Mac users that must be a lot of gay porn.

Jokes aside.

Pffff, OS X, Win 7, Ubuntu whatever, no system no matter how perfect or safe it is, is a match for human stupidity.

Seriously if someone ever made a malware or spyware that used a nice GUI to ask the user which was their passwords for their user, email and Facebook accounts I'm sure there would be a considerate amount of people who'd fall for that.

Generally Linux users tend to be more tech savvy and Windows users usually are somewhat aware of the perils they face but I've seen many Mac users fall under the false premise that Mac OSs don't have viruses or because they are Unix BSD based OSs they are free of security flaws (you have no idea how wrong that statement is) is turning the Apple OSs a very attractive target for cyber criminals and other less well intentioned people.

Not only that but Apple mostly refuses to acknowledge the OS X and iOS security flaws and it takes a quite long time (on IT terms) until they finally address to the issue with patches and service packs (which they will charge for).

Anyway there are also some virii for the iPhone's iOS and the Android that turn your smart phone into a recording station(turn on your camera when in use, record not only your calls but the environment around you and for last but not the least send GPS coordinates and locations of the user).

From the bitcoin: "A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online
payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a
financial institution."

This idea is so horrible I don't even know where to start, a system like is potentially vulnerable to "man in the middle" , spoofing and sniffer attacks it isn't even funny, and it isn't even for messages but currency, no wonder there were so many ill intentioned people interested in exploit this thing.

"The system is secure as long as honest nodes collectively control more CPU power than any cooperating group of attacker nodes."

I facepalmed so hard to this one, really any asshole with a couple mid range GPUs using either SLI or Crossfire can fuck up this badly, not even mentioning the ones that manage to use distributed attacks using zombie computers.

What the hell where they thinking ?
#6 [ Top | Reply to Topic ]
Agent MattPosted: Nov 01, 2011 - 21:16
(0)
 

Genuine American Monster

Level: 70
CS Original
They were thinking "I can use these to buy drugs."
#7 [ Top | Reply to Topic ]
CyborgJesusPosted: Nov 01, 2011 - 22:14
(0)
 

Level: 6
CS Original
They're getting more popular with gambling, too. Still, BTCs biggest fangroups are naive speculators and nerdy libertarians, and they're not the building blocks of a great currency.

I think they're interesting from an economic view though, makes one think how the currencies of the future might work.
#8 [ Top | Reply to Topic ]
Wolf BirdPosted: Nov 01, 2011 - 23:08
(0)
 

I shoot you dead.

Level: 9
CS Original
But will the currency of the future be backed by gold? If not, it's automatically worthless.
#9 [ Top | Reply to Topic ]
CyborgJesusPosted: Nov 02, 2011 - 03:29
(0)
 

Level: 6
CS Original
Nah, it's platinum, gold is just what they want* you to buy.

*In the EU, buying gold is VAT exempt.
#10 [ Top | Reply to Topic ]
slayerx3Posted: Nov 02, 2011 - 09:49
(0)
 

Powered by: Coffee, Internet and Metal

Level: 0
Hmm, there is something weird about the bitcoin, I'm not being able to find anything else about security besides the encrypted public/private keys and the node transaction propagation using time stamps on their hash tables to avoid double spending and abnormal transactions.

All I know is that there was a major incident where the Mt. Gox databank was hacked and all user's passwords were compromised and that coin mining is common using Botnets, servers and computers whose GPUs have been tasked with cracking the encryption and calculating the transaction algorithm creating bitcoins "out of thin air".

There is also issues with the massive value variation (inflation and deflation) and the lack of supporting commodities and bonds make the bitcoin currency as reliable as a piece of paper with "this worth 15 dollars or 19 Euros" written on it, besides it lacks the stable exchange rates other hard paper currencies have or the reliability other online currencies have citing the PayPal as an example.

I would think this was a good idea after making a deeper research about it but I found the value deflation and bitcoin mining is intentional and favors the early adopters, as newcomers arrive and new bitcoins are generated and randomly relocated to the early adopters which already have a massive amount of bitcoins.

Also, due to its high price fluctuation is easy for hoarders and speculators use this to their advantage, in order to deflate even more the value of the currency benefiting, again, the early adopters.

Now the only pro I could really find was the user's privacy, that is in fact preserved and is possible to remain completely anonymous even when trading and performing any transactions.

I even though I found myself interested in the crypto-currency system, there is far too many problems to call it reliable or even viable as an alternative solution for the centralized banks and trade institutions.

I guess this is all I have to say about bitcoin, but I'm surprised there weren't many Zeitards or Paultards talking about this and worshiping this alternative currency, I'd imagine that specially the zeitards would go apeshit over this and push for its implementation.
#11 [ Top | Reply to Topic ]
JimJesusPosted: Nov 02, 2011 - 12:38
(0)
 

Bacon Pancakes! Making Bacon Pancakes, take some Bacon and I'll put it in a Pancake! Bacon Pancakes that's what it's gonna make...Bacon Pancaaaaaake!! ♪

Level: 3
Wait a second.... I KNOW WHO YOU ARE, SLAYER!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TwZvx00BAM

Thought you could pull a fast one on us, eh?
#12 [ Top | Reply to Topic ]
emcadaPosted: Nov 02, 2011 - 14:11
(0)
 

Level: 0
wow that was just amazing, and I agree with everything that slayer has said.
#13 [ Top | Reply to Topic ]
CyborgJesusPosted: Nov 02, 2011 - 15:42
(0)
 

Level: 6
CS Original
Hmm, there is something weird about the bitcoin, I'm not being able to find anything else about security besides the encrypted public/private keys and the node transaction propagation using time stamps on their hash tables to avoid double spending and abnormal transactions.


Well, you'd have to gain processing power >50% of the network to be able to "fake" transactions. Unless BTCs get even more obscure I don't think that's likely to happen, even using larger botnets. The use of SHA-256 is a bit weird though, as it scales with the power of your GPU, some argue that bcrypt or something similar might've been a better choice.

Regarding volatility: BTCs just aren't used to store value or evaluate goods right now, nor do they have to be. You can still communicate your price in dollars and convert it into BTCs on the day of purchase, just as paypal converts my euros into dollars when I buy something from the States. High price fluctuations are just what you'd expect in a market with low trading volume where buying or selling $10,000 worth of goods can have a significant influence on price. This would change as the currency becomes more popular and use more frequent.

Two main problems I see:
- Scale: Dan Kaminsky makes this argument; as the number of transactions in the network increases, so does the data stored and bandwidth used by the supernodes which try to keep complete copies of all transactions. Using the transactions of VISA as an example, he comes up with 1GByte/sec required bandwidth, 50 cores and a new 1TB drive every 21 days. This makes the risk of a DoS more substantial, although it's not quite clear to me that the supernodes couldn't just be another network of computers within the larger BTC network.

- Integration: The best currency is useless if nobody's telling people to use it. American Express has one of the worst business models there is, yet the keep their place on the market through exclusivity contracts and a shitload of marketing.

As of now, BTCs are only useful if you like Wikileaks, pot, or both. Unless they can find a niche in the market that no other currency and/or payment process can fill, they're going to stay as obscure as they are.


I guess this is all I have to say about bitcoin, but I'm surprised there weren't many Zeitards or Paultards talking about this and worshiping this alternative currency, I'd imagine that specially the zeitards would go apeshit over this and push for its implementation.


Nah, to Zeitards all money is evil.
#14 [ Top | Reply to Topic ]