BitConnect Announces Shutdown

BitConnect has announced that it will close down its lending and exchange platform after experiencing a series of long windows of server downtime over the past several days. The website claims the reason for the outage is a “continuous DDoS attack” but a notice on its site reads its team is “performing some maintenance.” Sean Newman, Director at Corero Network Security commented below.

Sean Newman, Director at Corero Network Security: 

“The cryptocurrency gold rush has dominated the news agenda in recent months, but as investors flock to these platforms, they have also become a hot target for cyber criminals looking to exploit the vast wealth and formative security policies in use.  This is in addition to increasing trend seen during 2017 where the anonymity afforded by cryptocurrencies saw a significant increase in their use as a payment mechanism for cyber-extortion and in particular Ransom DDoS (RDoS) threats.

With the growing popularity of digital currencies, the volume of these attacks is likely to increase dramatically during 2018. In particular, we’re likely to see an increase in DDoS attacks being used against digital currencies, to manipulate the exchange market or a specific currency, as a component of a broader attack. For example, they could prevent traders from logging into accounts and making transactions, causing the value to drop. Attackers could then buy as much as they can while the price is low – impacting the overall value of the currency.

To avoid falling victim to these types of attacks, investors need to take all steps possible to secure their cryptocurrency wallets. To keep up with the growing sophistication and organization of well-equipped and well-funded threat actors, it’s essential that organisations maintain a comprehensive visibility across their networks, in order to fully understand any malicious activity that takes place.”