Recently, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department, released a report on ransomware trends stating that during the first half of 2021, 68 different ransomware variants extracted approximately $600 million from victims across the country. FinCEN identified Bitcoin as the most common ransomware-related payment method in reported transactions and noted that ransomware incidents requesting Monero (XMR) – what FinCEN refers to as an anonymity-enhanced cryptocurrency – are increasing as hackers seek to reduce the transparency and traceability of such transactions.

Given this environment, the White House and Treasury Department have sought to counter the ransomware threat by taking a number of actions, including holding a virtual two-day multinational summit on ransomware, conducting classified threat briefings for critical infrastructure executives, and establishing some expected cybersecurity thresholds for critical infrastructure providers. Compounding these efforts, the Treasury Department is leveraging existing Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) controls that already apply to fiat…

Technological advancements have set cryptocurrencies on the path to potentially change the future of money. Because of this, people around the world have begun investing in various altcoins in preparation for cryptocurrency’s predicted growth. One such altcoin is Monero (XMR), which promises unrivaled privacy and security due to its special codebase and protocol.

If you’re a total beginner to crypto—much less Monero—you may have the impression that purchasing this altcoin is quite a complicated process. The good news is that you don’t need a powerful computer or knowledge of programming to get started. All you have to do is sign up for an XMR wallet, learn the basics of how it works, and then go and purchase the altcoin from a trustworthy source.

To help you get started, here’s everything you need to know before buying Monero:

Getting a Wallet

The very first step to doing absolutely anything that involves cryptocurrency is to get a digital wallet, and the same goes for buying Monero. Luckily, a plethora of wallets are compatible with the coin, and picking one to use is mostly a matter of preference. Still, it’s a good idea to look at each option with a critical eye,…

Monero (CCC:XMR-USD) is a potential play that crypto traders are going to want to keep an eye on as regulations surrounding digital assets increase.

Let’s jump into Monero crypto with some details for traders.

• First off, note that Monero is one of the oldest blockchains around.
• It got its start back in 2014 before the crypto craze really kicked off.
• The blockchain’s big focus is on offering privacy to investors.
• That includes the ability to make transactions on the blockchain untraceable.
• It’s also looking to offer its services to more than just those crypto savvy.
• That includes efforts to allow the use of the blockchain by those without intricate knowledge of it.
• Monero offers its own crypto wallets that users can download and get started trading with.

• After that, they can add XMR to it in a variety of ways.
• That includes mining, working for Monero, as well as simply buying XMR with fiat currencies.
• It’s also worth pointing out that XMR is listed on several exchanges, both centralized and decentralized.
• After that, traders can hold the crypto to wait for potential gains, or use it for trade with select…

Cryptocurrencies are getting more and more popular these days. Trading, online banking, and other transactions are impossible to imagine without these platforms. Currently, various cryptocurrencies offer their services to facilitate trading between various countries. Online trading through cryptocurrencies has many advantages over traditional ones. First and foremost, the main feature that attracts the users is their decentralized government. They do not belong to a certain government or bank.

Moreover, the transactions are done within some minutes. Moreover, the high security of the platforms ensures that your identity will not be easy to reveal. XMR and BTC are two popular cryptocurrencies, and if you doubt whether it is worth doing XMR to BTC convert, you are welcome to continue reading this summary about each of them.

How Do BTC and XMR Function?

Both BTC and XMR are examples of digital money, which are widely used these days. Each of them has its working algorithm and unique services to offer the investors. Bitcoin, which is shortly known as BTC, is one of the most popular cryptocurrencies launched in 2009 by an anonymous person. Up to know the foundation of this…

Several versions of the npm package for UA-parser.js, a widely used JavaScript library, have been modified to include malicious code and have been made available for download.

The malicious versions check whether the device on which they have been installed runs Windows or Linux and, depending on the result, install a XMRig Monero cryptominer. Windows victims can also get saddled with a trojan that will try to steal cookies from Chrome and passwords for various browsers, email clients, FTP clients, messaging apps, dialers, VPN accounts, online poker accounts, Windows passwords, and so on.

About UA-parser.js

UA-parser.js is a JavaScript library that detects browser, engine, OS, CPU, and device type/model from User-Agent data.

The library’s lightweight npm package is extremely popular: according to the numbers on its npm registry page, it surpasses 8 million weekly downloads. Over 1,200 (often widely used) modules depend on it, and so do many big tech companies.

What happened?

“I believe someone was hijacking my npm account and published some compromised packages (0.7.29, 0.8.0, 1.0.0) which will probably install malware as can be seen from the diff here,” Faisal…

The number one reason for anyone to transact with and invest in Monero cryptocurrency is its unique commitment to private and secure transactions and usage. In comparison, many transactions made using the largest and most popular cryptocurrencies can still be traced to keys, or in other cases, transactions are recorded and publicly viewable.

While some of these cryptos now offer add-ons for better privacy or have wallet options that perform these security for them, only Monero guarantees such anonymity baked into the coin itself, which leaves much less to consider when deciding on the best Monero wallet for managing all crypto transactions. A growing number of people around the world have already placed their investments on this coin, consequently increasing its value rapidly.

To understand why Monero is turning into a top cryptocurrency, here are some of the basics of XMR and what sets it apart from the rest.

Privacy from the Beginning

Originally called Bytecoin in 2012, the new cryptocurrency was created as an altcoin focused on privacy and anonymity. Unlike other altcoins, its code was not based on the most popular cryptocurrencies at the time, but instead, it…

Last week, Sonatype reported our discovery of three malicious npm cryptomining packages on npm: klow, klown, and okhsa. These packages, which infiltrated the npm registry between October 12th and 15th, installed Monero miners on Windows, macOS, and Linux machines. Interestingly, at least one of these packages was seen impersonating a popular, legitimate library called “ua-parser-js.”

By Friday, the maintainer of the real “ua-parser-js” surprisingly announced the project had been hijacked—with versions 0.7.29, 0.8.0, 1.0.0 of the package now laced with cryptominers.

Sonatype’s security research team has cataloged these versions under Sonatype-2021-1529 in our data.

Based on the announcement, the cause of the hijack seems to be an npm account takeover:

“I believe someone was hijacking my npm account and published some compromised packages (0.7.29, 0.8.0, 1.0.0) which will probably install malware,” announced Faisal Salman, the developer behind “ua-parser-js.”

The real “ua-parser-js” has been downloaded almost a billion times to date and gets over 7 million weekly downloads. Big tech companies, including Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Google,…

Photo by Rebcenter on Pixabay

The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

You don’t have to be an aficionado of the financial markets to know that cryptocurrency is booming.

As Bitcoin breaks the $60,000 mark, millions of crypto miners are reaping the rewards of their labor, and millions of others are joining the chase.

One such entrant is OLB Group (NASDAQ: OLB). Joining the likes of Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA), Bit Digital (NASDAQ: BTBT), Hut 8 Mining Corp. (NASDAQ: HUT), Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ: RIOT) and Canaan Inc. (NASDAQ: CAN), OLB Group is developing a state-of-the-art, mining-machine line to capitalize on the crypto surge.

But the clock is ticking. According to Blockchain.com, 18.84 million Bitcoins have already been mined, and crypto miners are already diversifying into smaller coins like Cardano (ADA), Monero (XMR), Ravencoin (RVN) and Doge (DOGE).

For crypto miners, the added competition and the diminishing supply only intensify the need to create as efficient a mining system as possible.

And here is where OLB Group has an edge.

What Makes a Good…

Cryptocurrency buy signals for Tezos (XTZ), Monero (XMR) and Orion Protocol (ORN)

Tezos (XTZ)

Above: Tezos (XTZUSD)

Tezos (XTZ) has made some impressive gains over the past few months, easy becoming one of the best outperformers of 2021. It’s experience some weakness, profit taking and an overall slump since hitting its most recent all-time high on October 4th. In fact, it’s currently trading -30% lower from its all-time high. Some consolidation has come in, but there still needs to be some clear conditions before creating a strong uptrend. Ultimately, the Lagging Span needs to remain above the candlesticks and in open space. For this to occur, bulls will need to push Tezos to new all-time highs. Or, buyers will have to wait roughly sixteen days where the threshold to put the Lagging Span above the candlesticks drops from $9.47 to $7.31.

Monero (XMR)

Above: Monero (XMRUSD)

Monero (XMR) has nearly all conditions fulfilled to initiate an Ideal Bullish Ichimoku Breakout – save one. The close must be above the candlesticks. If you want a good chart image that is a perfect example of why the Cloud is horrible, just look at Monero’s…