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struggle, though, Bitcoin thrives – the currency again saw a boost in value. Finally, and most recently, the election of Donald Trump to the position of President- Elect of the USA sent Bitcoin prices shooting up again. In 2016, it has solidified its position as a “crisis currency”.
The increase in demand has been tempered by the insecure reputation of its exchanges. Bitfiniex, one of the larger Hong Kong-based sites, was hit by a cyberattack that lost it $65 million and sent prices plummeting. Further research found that almost a third of all exchanges have been hacked by criminals, with a much higher percentage being attacked on a regular basis. On top of those figures, more than half of all exchanges have shut down since 2010. Bitcoin, it seems, is still struggling to escape from its darker side.
The legality of digital currency is still a hotly-contested topic. The difficulty of taxing Bitcoin, as well as its history as the go-to for pirates, criminals and terrorists has left many governments across the globe wary of introducing it fully. Many countries and bodies, including the EU, believe that companies invest in Bitcoin at their own risk. Russia, ever confused when it comes to emerging technology and challengers to the ruble, had a love-hate relationship with Bitcoin in 2016. The country first banned it, then reconsidered, then decided to develop a competitor and ban it again. It’s been called a “virus” and “internet joke” by officials and derided by the government, yet that hasn’t stopped the financial regulator and banks from conducting experiments on its use.
It has been a quiet, unassuming 2016, spent living on the back of the success of blockchain. Whether that relative prosperity and peace will continue in 2017 remains to be seen, especially as the industry at large begins to properly divorce the currency from its ultra- hyped infrastructure.
Security: malicious and phishous
Security is becoming a larger and larger priority for the industry. No longer are firms attacked by bored teenagers in their bedrooms but by sophisticated teams creating complex viruses to bypass and siphon
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funds and information. The bank of 2016 had more than itself to worry about, though, as the amount of customer- attacking banking malware skyrocketed.
On an institutional level, SWIFT grabbed headlines for all the wrong reasons when hackers infiltrated Bangladesh Bank using software made by the organisation. The criminals got away with more than $81 million, siphoned into a variety of casinos across east Asia. Bangladesh Bank was thrown to the sharks by SWIFT, which blamed the institution’s poor security following news it had been using $10 second-hand routers and default passwords to protect its systems. Russian banks, meanwhile, were red-faced following a phishing attack that left them $25.7 million worse off. ATM malware, a sophisticated version of the brute-force attacks other criminals use, was deployed to steal more than $350,000 from Government Savings Bank in Thailand. Most recently the UK’s Tesco Bank suffered a damaging attack from a trojan that cost it more than £2.5 million. Some reports this year have shown that companies have now started stockpiling Bitcoins to pay off hackers before they attack like barbarians at the gates of Rome – a very ancient solution to a very modern problem.
A few names have re-occurred over 2016 – major malware suites that authorities have struggled to take down – Dorkbot, GozNym, Locky, FastPOS, Zeus… Most have a singular feature in common: they target the customer to get at the bank. The ubiquity of mobile banking and the ease of creating apps has meant that many cybercriminals have switched tactic. Unwitting users have downloaded malware into their phones to have the virus copy all their information and drain their bank account of all cash. Some even have the temerity to ask for selfies from victims to verify their identity (all the better for stealing).
Three main types of malware dominated the cyber world in 2016. Each has come top of its own sector:
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