On Oct. 6, the United States Department of Justice, or DOJ, announced the creation of a specialized unit, the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, or NCET, tasked with prosecuting criminal misuses of digital assets and crypto infrastructure, as well as tracing and recovering the ill-gotten cryptocurrency. The move continues the U.S. authorities’ push to disrupt the corners of the crypto ecosystem that are thought to facilitate illicit activity, such as ransomware attacks. What does the government’s crypto enforcement ramp-up hold for the larger digital asset space? Pooling crypto expertise The new unit will operate according to the principles articulated almost exactly …

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has purchased cybercrime investigative company Excygent for an undisclosed amount, hinting that the two will continue to work together to help “dismantle ransomware operations.” In a Tuesday announcement, Chainalysis CEO Michael Gronager said the firm had collaborated with Excygent on the seizure of cryptocurrency connected to the now-defunct darknet market Silk Road, shutting down a major child abuse website, disrupting campaigns related to the financing of terrorism and other projects. Gronager said staff from Excygent would join the firm’s Investigations and Special Programs team to support investigations of thecryptocurrency used in cybercrimes. “Following the flow of …

Lossless, a decentralized finance (DeFi) security outfit, has assisted in the recovery of 5,152.6 Ether (ETH) siphoned during the Cream Finance exploit that occurred in August. Tweeting on Monday, Lossless identified white hat security expert Pascal Caversaccio as being pivotal to the successful recovery of the siphoned funds. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, DeFi lending protocol, Cream Finance suffered a flash loan attack to the tune of $19 million in ETH and Amp tokens back in August. Following the exploit, Cream stated that it would repay the siphoned funds via fees collected on the protocol to compensate affected users. Detailing …

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has reportedly suffered another security breach after attackers were able to bypass the company’s multi-factor authentication, or MFA, feature in a coordinated campaign earlier this year. The attackers stole cryptocurrency from 6,000 accounts, though the monetary value of the theft wasn’t disclosed, according to a report from Bleeping Computer. Earlier this week, Coinbase reportedly notified affected customers that the theft occurred between March and May. To gain access to the accounts, the attackers must have known the affected users’ email address, password and phone number. It’s not clear how the attackers obtained this information, though phishing scams …

In the wake of yet another iteration of China’s enduring crackdown on cryptocurrency, a particularly influential narrative on Crypto Twitter suggests that by banning Bitcoin (BTC), China has definitively put itself on the dark side of the struggle, while the collective West must now resolutely throw its weight on the opposite side by embracing crypto. Granted, this framework for thinking about the relationship between political power and decentralized finance is appealing for crypto allies. Yet the news coming out of the United States gives few reasons to believe that policymakers there see the situation this way. It appears that U.S. …

Blockchain cybersecurity company GK8 will be offering custody and tokenization services to the Stellar network, a move that could spark institutional interest in the Stellar Lumen (XLM) token. By integrating with Stellar, customers of GK8 can access XLM investments in a custodial setting, opening the door to offline transactions of the digital currency, the company announced Monday. GK8 has said that its infrastructure eliminates the risk of cyberattacks while also providing scalable, high-frequency transactions. GK8 co-founder and CEO Lior Lamesh said the partnership enables XLM’s institutional investors to “generate new revenue streams, digitize assets, trade, and transform currency as it’s …

A blockchain-based initiative from the United States Air Force will employ Constellation's Hypergraph Network to provide data security with the Department of Defense’s commercial partners. In a Thursday announcement, Constellation said it had been working with Kinnami Software Corporation to develop an end-to-end data security solution using blockchain encryption and distributed data management for the United States Transportation Command, Air Mobility Command’s 618th Air Operations Center, and a Civil Reserve Air Fleet partner. According to the platform, its goal is to securely exchange data with commercial partners on missions involving the operations of aircraft and ships under contract to the …

Blockchain, the underlying technology of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), has already gained mainstream popularity, according to global finance executives polled by Big Four auditing firm Deloitte. According to Deloitte’s “2021 Global Blockchain Survey,” 81% of the financial services industry (FSI) executives believe that blockchain technology is “broadly scalable” and has achieved mainstream adoption. Released on Thursday, the report queried 1,280 FSI professionals based in Brazil, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. The survey covered general FSI cohort respondents who had “at least a general understanding” of blockchain …

Coinbase has announced a new support phone line for customers who believe their account has been compromised by outside actors. Users will be able to speak to a live support agent, who can kick off an investigation immediately. In an industry where support tickets and emails are the standard method of communication, Coinbase expects that this implementation could help users save valuable time when dealing with this type of crisis. Coinbase also offers its customers additional layers of protection that include two-factor authentication, unknown device recognition and advanced hardware security keys. Account takeovers, or ATOs, involve a malicious actor gaining …

Decentralized finance protocol Poly Network has offered the person behind a $610 million hack an advisery position and $500,000 — whether they like it or not. In a Tuesday update, the Poly Network team said, in a seeming attempt to gain access to the hacker’s expertise, that it would be inviting them to the position of chief security adviser. In addition, the project will be sending a $500,000 bounty for the attacker, whom Poly dubbed "Mr. White Hat," despite the fact they have previously refused any payment. “Poly Network has no intention of holding Mr. White Hat legally responsible, as …

United States telecom giant T-Mobile is looking into an alleged massive data breach that may have compromised more than 100 million users. According to Vice’s Motherboard, T-Mobile is investigating an alleged data breach claimed by the author of the post on an underground forum. The Sunday report says the hacker claims to have obtained data on more than 100 million customers from T-Mobile servers. The seller is asking for 6 Bitcoin (BTC) — approximately $287,000 at current prices — in exchange for some of the data. Motherboard has seen samples of the data, which include social security numbers, phone numbers, …

These transfers have occurred across the three wallets associated with the Poly Network hacker across the Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and Polygon networks. Poly Network confirmed receipt of the returned funds via a tweet issued on Tuesday. Details from Etherscan show that $2 million worth of Shiba Inu (SHIB) and $616,000 in Fei USD (FEI) tokens are being returned. So far, we have received a total value of $4,772,297.675 assets returned by the hacker. ETH address: $2,654,946.051 BSC address: $1,107,870.815 Polygon address: $1,009,480.809 pic.twitter.com/bPFAQk4mvS — Poly Network (@PolyNetwork2) August 11, 2021 Data from BscScan also shows the hacker returning …