Could Ransomware Be Driving Up Bitcoin Prices? - page 2.

lobat999

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Quote from: angelo2 on October 23, 2019, 03:47:55 PM

Research is suggesting that the number of ransomware incidents has risen in 2019. The payment method of choice for the majority of this cybercrime is cryptocurrency, predominantly bitcoin. Could BTC price fluctuations be linked to the increase in this online nefarious activity?

https://bitcoinist.com/could-ransomware-be-driving-up-bitcoin-prices/

I think this assumption is unfounded especially when the article mentioned a correlation between these "ransom incidents" and Bitcoin prices - positing the idea that big companies are buying up Bitcoin to prepare for such attacks.

And I find it quite confusing and ridiculous since companies allocating a huge amount of its money to buy up Bitcoin in preparation for ransonware attacks didn't make sense when ideally it could allocate that money to further strengthen its security so as not to be victimized by these types of malwares.

If you were the CEO of a company, would you buy $1 million worth of BTC and wait for an attack or would you spend it to harden your computer systems defenses to avoid such attacks and maybe do contingency planning instead?

Reosta_

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Quote from: angelo2 on October 23, 2019, 03:47:55 PM

Research is suggesting that the number of ransomware incidents has risen in 2019. The payment method of choice for the majority of this cybercrime is cryptocurrency, predominantly bitcoin. Could BTC price fluctuations be linked to the increase in this online nefarious activity?

https://bitcoinist.com/could-ransomware-be-driving-up-bitcoin-prices/

It is true that ransomware forces people to pay before letting them reaccess their folders on their computers etc. . But the thing is that it is not that easy to drive up Bitcoin price dramatically by doing that.

batang_bitcoin

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IMHO, Nope. Yes, it's known that ransomware attacks has increased overtime and it requires the victims to buy bitcoin. But these attackers probably eventually selling it afterwards and like what explained by hatshepsut with those facts that the article has brought. The market has grown before because of the FOMO, it had contributed but minimal.

Pearls Before Swine

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Quote from: Immakillya on October 23, 2019, 04:35:38 PM

Might be true. Victims of this ransomware are forcing them to pay in Bitcoin.

Yeah but the quantities of bitcoin are probably not enough to affect the price in a meaningful way. I would also point out that bitcoin prices have *not* been driven up lately. It's been just the opposite, and anybody would know this with a quick look at a 1 year bitcoin price chart.

There was a thread about this a couple years ago if I'm remembering it correctly. And as I said, whatever ransom these extortionists/criminals are asking, even if the victim had to buy bitcoin on the open market the number of bitcoins isn't enough to drive the price anywhere. I'm sure if they had to pay something like 100,000BTC that might be true, but nobody is asking that for a ransom.

Immakillya

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Might be true. Victims of this ransomware are forcing them to pay in Bitcoin. Meaning, it could affect the price because victims have to buy Bitcoin just to pay them. I just don't know if hackers are quickly liquidate Bitcoin after victims paid. But it's a bad publicity for Bitcoin. Hackers are now more free and safe because of this technology. Even the transaction can be tracked. Still no one ever caught on ransomware. That's why I can't blame government why they are some against it.

hatshepsut93

legendary

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No.

Ransomware authors have collected a few milllions of USD worth of Bitcoin, meaning their victims bought those BTC, driving the price up. Obviously that amount is nowhere near enough to influence the market on any truly noticeable scale. And then, the people behind ransomware probably sold a lot of those coins, offsetting any price gains.

I'm amazed how these crypto journalists spin stories out of nothing, without applying any common sense at all.

Kyraishi

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No, ransomware based crimes are big enough of a market to be pumping up bitcoin rates. People aren't going to push up the BTC price just because they are required to pay of hackers...

Ransomware has been around for years and it's the press once again spinning it a new angle with it only being popular due to crypto-currencies. Not true, it's been around and people where previously forced to pay via fiat transactions anyway.

Probably something hard to put a finger on, whales buying up, or there just being a larger demand for crypto-currencies.

migws

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Quote from: angelo2 on October 23, 2019, 03:47:55 PM

Research is suggesting that the number of ransomware incidents has risen in 2019. The payment method of choice for the majority of this cybercrime is cryptocurrency, predominantly bitcoin. Could BTC price fluctuations be linked to the increase in this online nefarious activity?

https://bitcoinist.com/could-ransomware-be-driving-up-bitcoin-prices/

Bitcoin is quite expensive, so such scammers doing this online nefarious activity are interested in receiving it. Your guess seems right to me

angelo2

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Research is suggesting that the number of ransomware incidents has risen in 2019. The payment method of choice for the majority of this cybercrime is cryptocurrency, predominantly bitcoin. Could BTC price fluctuations be linked to the increase in this online nefarious activity?

https://bitcoinist.com/could-ransomware-be-driving-up-bitcoin-prices/

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