BITCOIN

 BITCOIN

In the no so distant past, there was this craze called Bitcoin. Bitcoin, the worlds leading cryptocurrency. It's like digital money that's spread out all over the world and nobody really owns it. It's kind of like the money of the Internet. Way back in 2009, you could buy one Bitcoin for less than a dollar! Can you believe that? But then, by February 2017, the price went up to around $4,000 for each Bitcoin. And by the end of 2017, it was crazy expensive, like $17,000 for just one!

But then, in January 2018, the price started going down a bit. Now it's around $11,000 for a single Bitcoin. Some people think it might go up to $40,000 by the end of 2018, and others even say it could reach $200,000 someday! Surprise surprise at the turn of 2024 one bitcoin is worth $43,175.70

You see, all these other digital coins, like Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, are kind of like branches of the Bitcoin tree. They all come from the same place, the Bitcoin "blockchain." It's like the main trunk of the cryptocurrency tree, and the other coins are like the branches or leaves. But unlike a tree that grows its own branches and leaves Bitcoin doesn't. In order for a Bitcoin investor's value to increase, somebody else have to loose theirs.

But there are also some other digital coins out there that aren't related to Bitcoin at all. They're like their own separate trees in the cryptocurrency forest. So yeah, Bitcoin is a big deal, and it's changing the way we think about money and the Internet. But who knows what the future holds? It's all just a big guessing game for now.

THE DEEP WEB

THE DEEP WEB

For the past few months, Hackers have been making it to the news headlines virtually everyday and a lot has also been said about the "Deep Web". It is said that terror outfits flourish in the "Deep Web" and black market goods from illegal drugs, medical prescriptions, and firearms, etc, can be purchased directly from websites like Alpha Bay, Dream market, Korova, Outlaw Market, Valhalla (Silkkitie), etc,  and you can even hire a hit man to kill your mother-in-law. Having said purchase, implies online credit card transactions, but using this form of payment on the "Deep Web" could render your banking account empty. The way to transact on the "Deep Web" is to make payment with Bitcoins. Bitcoins are rapidly becoming one of the most popular currencies for both online and offline transactions. Bitcoins can be purchases from Silkroad and will require you to set up an account. Transactions are done with a a bitcoin address and a unique private key / PIN number (private wallet software). 

But first, the "Deep Web" is also known as the  "Invisible Web" and the "Hidden Web", which is Internet jargon (search terms) referring to the content on the World Wide Web that are not indexed by search engines. Many believe the "Hidden Web" to be 97 percent larger than the Internet as we know it, of which only 3 percent is available to search engines.  This is true to a degree because most private networks that make up a huge chunk of the Internet do not permit  web spiders to crawl their sites because their robots file denies access to web crawlers hence not available in regular search results. It is also said if you need to buy anything illegal from sites in the "Deep Web" you have to access the sites via a a VPN using a Tor browser in order to fly under the radar of the FBI and CIA and NSA. 

If you desire privacy and a degree anonymity when browsing the net, then the Tor network is an excellent idea, but you sacrifice speed. If you are using Linux then JonDo IP changer is a safer option than Tor. A Whonix-Gateway distro, provides even better protection against IP and location discovery on a Workstation. Then there is also the Tails distro which includes really cool networking features, using the Tor browser that does a good job of hiding  your identity and prevents traffic analysis by zig-zaging your connection through an array of anonymous servers.  These systems are secure but if you download anything fro the Internet via Torrent Network you still risk to expose your IP number which can be easily traced. The Tor browser can be downloaded here.

CIA AND FBI HACKED

THE CIA AND THE FBI HAVE BEEN HACKED

The young Black Hat hacker crew that hacked into CIA Director John Brennan personal correspondence and that of other  government officials acquired very sensitive security information regarding top-secret Intelligence matters. This enabled them to struck again, but  now infiltrated the FBI. They identified themselves as CWA - "Crackas With Attitude" and subsequently hacked into an  even more important target, which according to them is a private law enforcement portal that granted them access to the US arrest records database and at least  a dozen more law enforcement tools. Amongst which are the  Enterprise File Transfer Service, a tool for sharing files, as well as Intelink the United States Government computer system Justice Enterprise File Sharing, and so much more.

The CIA and the FBI just got hacked

Cracka the leader of the hacker crew provided a screenshot of the arrest records database called JABS which stands for Joint Automated Booking System. This could give them carte blanche to erase criminals records of anyone who has one, for a price and even clean their own slates if they have criminal records or were previously incarcerated. This portal also grants them access to arrest  information of suspected terrorists, gang members and drug merchants.  I wouldn't be surprised if this  information end up on Tor network or Alpha Bay on the deep web for sale to the highest bidder.

JABS database query tool infiltrated by the CWA hacker crew.

However yesterday CWA posted a list of names, phone numbers, and email addresses of more than 3000 government employees, military personel and FBI agents working at various local police departments through the country into Pastebin and Cryptobin. This was done to coincide with Guy Fawkes Day and in solidarity with the "million mask march" of  hacker crew "Anonymous" from the Philippines. As an indication of their seriousness, they named this release  “Part 1” implying that there is more to follow.  Cracka, also said it is their way to hurt the government and not innocent people and that  they are doing this to help the people of Palestine and not for name and fame.

CWA has certainly opened up a can of worms by targeting both the CIA and the FBI of the United States and is sure to become public enemy number one. If they haven't been on the intelligence agencies radar before, they certainly are now.