Criminal gangs change modus operandi, demand cryptocurrecy as ransom

Criminal gangs change modus oparandi, demand cryptocurrecy as ransom, is ghana safe?

By Divine Sewornu Dzokoto

When Henry Ford started his first car and drove it around, he did not envisage that his contraption would be used as a get-away car after a successful robbery one day. The Wright Brothers could not have foreseen that an aircraft could be used as a weapon to slam into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre. So obviously, Satoshi Nakamoto, the faceless human who invented the “blockchain” and its close companion – “Bitcoin” did not plan that his invention would be used to trade cocaine and heroin. He could not have known that it would be used to launder money. He could not know that bitcoins will be demanded by criminals as ransom. That has always been the nature of things. The criminals are able to find uses for things that have been developed for the good of humanity. When a criminal raids a home, he will pick an android phone and leave a Nokia 3310. They know what is valuable and what is not.

According to Sophos, a security firm, a set of cyber attackers have collected about $16.5 million in bitcoins from victims in a little over one month. How did they do it? They seized files on several computers and took down public websites. Then they asked their victims to pay a ransom in bitcoins before the site or files are unlocked.

The criminals do not have any specific target. A malware is released and anybody who opens it infects his/her computer. The software will then encrypt all the files on the computer. A key is offered to unlock the files in exchange for bitcoin payments. The only reason why they do not demand virtacoins is because the value currently is only between $0.00000200 and $0.00000800. However they might start demanding virtacoins soon.

A malware like “CryptoWall” is believed to have infected about 800,000 computers worldwide and there are newer versions like “TorrentLocker”, “Dirty Decrypt” etc.

The criminals like bitcoins because it can be held in a wallet that does not require registration with any government or financial authority. It can also be exchanged for fiat money without any trace, they do not have to meet up with a real human being before ransom is transferred. The fact is that virtacoins and bitcoins operate on the same principle so with value, it can aldo be demanded. Their victims include financial institutions, individuals and even Police Departments.

More recently in the month of August, criminals who hacked into the extra-marital affair website Ashley Madison, and stole personal information are blackmailing users with exposure, threatening to expose them to their better-halfs. A hacker group "Impact Team" released a load of data containing account details of 32 million users including tens if thousands related to government and corporate email accounts. A later revelation shows source code and emails attributed to Noel Biderman, CEO of Avid Life Media Company, owners of Ashley Madison. A blackmail victim is being threatened with exposure unless a payment of $450.00 is made In bitcoins.

Why is this important? Bitcoin is available in Ghana and there is a triving trade going on. Apart from that there is a new version of bitcoin called virtacoin which is also present in Ghana. It is based on the same code base as bitcoin so it operates almost the same way as bitcoin. It is in its latent stage and very cheap so Ghanaians are grabbing large amounts of it left right and centre. Reason is that when bitcoin was launched in 2009, many people did not hear about it and many also heard but ignored it until one bitcoin shot to $1250.00 in November 2013. Today, bitcoin is down to between $220 and $280 or there about. Not many Ghanaians want to lose another opportunity of the kind bitcoin provided.

How are Ghanaians getting virtacoins? First they download a desktop wallet from http://www.virtacoinwallet.eu/virtacoin-win.zip (only works in windows) and install, and one that works for Mac from http://virtacoin.com/wallets/virtacoin-mac.zip. Others just open an online wallet at http://jovirtacoinwallet because it is faster, does not necessarily need a laptop or or desktop and easier. After that some just Google “Buy virtacoin in Ghana” and are able to get a number of sellers. Those who do not have the money or do not want to spend their money are getting it for free at zapit.nu/vtaforfree

Does this development have any security implications? Yes. Once virtacoins and bitcoin are circulating in Ghana and can be exchanged for cash, the criminally minded may want to take advantage of it and perpetuate evil on unsuspecting victims. A three-pronged solution is suggested.

Firstly, if our police have a Cyber Department, which I believe they do, they must begin to research into cryptocurrency. They should learn about the blockchain, virtacoin, bitcoin, mining, explorer, transaction procedures, rainbot etc and be one step ahead of the criminals.

Secondly, individuals should acquire lots of virtacoins, now that it is freely available. One can buy from the online exchanges like bleutrade.com, www.swisscex.com, www.banx.io or http://zapit.nu/mobilecash. If a website or computer is taken over by any criminal gang one day, one does not need to spend hard cash to buy virtacoins to pay off. Buying and holding virtacoins may seem like a big "lol" today but that might be an insurance cover in the years to come.

Thirdly, owners of websites must start looking for greater protection from unscrupulous hackers. They are not friends, they must be feared. Corporate organisations, government departments and para-state institutions all over the world must try to make their websites more hack-proof than it currently is. It is possible.