Undoubtedly, the current crypto market beats all popularity ratings in the media, blockchain technology and digital assets are discussed not only at private meet-ups but also at political meetings. But it wasn’t always so. I remember when people associated the word “Bitcoin” with either an exotic dish or a strange name. If you are just starting to dive into this exciting industry, you can comfortably get crypto education, ask questions to experts, and freely buy any crypto asset directly from your credit card. I like to compare the development of the crypto industry with the growth of a person. I also suggest you analyze the changes in the cryptocurrency environment and make your predictions about its future.

Boost in publicity

Despite the fact that Bitcoin appeared in 2008, people really started talking about it only when its price was already in the hundreds of dollars.

Until the legendary rally in 2017, the industry’s main source of news was online profile media and publications on bitcointalk. Now, any newsfeed gives out hundreds of materials using keywords like “blockchain”, “bitcoin”, “tokens”. Top American media write about what the new head of the SEC said about cryptocurrencies, and Bloomberg leaks insights about large purchases of institutions and the entry of platforms to the public market.

The level of media noise pushes the Bitcoin rate up, and the indicators of transaction volumes and the number of active wallets have grown exponentially.

For example, at the beginning of 2015 there were just over 200 thousand, and at the beginning of 2021 — more than 900 thousand. And this situation is observed with almost all the coins from the TOP-10, although the TOP-10 is no longer the same as 5 years ago — more than half of the currencies included in it 5 years ago either didn’t exist at all or the projects related to them have just started.

Well, the most vivid example is the growth of capitalization. In 2021, the crypto market crossed the $1 trillion mark. To say that this figure looked fantastic in 2015 when all the coins were worth less than 4 billion is to say nothing.

Technology development

Of course, not only the media influenced the popularity of cryptocurrencies, but also the improvement of the conditions for their use for the average participant. We understand that crypto assets would never have been able to attract so many supporters if everyone had to download the full blockchain to register a wallet.

Now this direction has achieved good results in the approach of storage (we download understandable wallets even to our smartphones, operating with funds in any location), exchange (convenient services and exchanges for buying/selling cryptocurrencies are presented on the market), investing (investing in a project is no longer difficult than online shopping).

This cannot but rejoice, especially the guys who nostalgically recall the time when, in order to buy Bitcoin, you had to chat with the owner on LocalBitcoin and bargain for the crypto, like for tomatoes at a country market.

Only 5–6 years have passed since then, which is a surprisingly short time for such rapid development. The industry is now not just a few enthusiasts, but a global focus that includes decentralized exchanges, automated market makers, innovative investment algorithms, easy participation in investing in the traditional market through institutional funds, and much more.

Do you want crypto? Not a problem! Just three minutes to register on any exchange you like and any crypto is already on your balance. No access to the computer? And this is not a problem too — just access to the Internet from your smartphone is enough.

I’m sure that this is just the beginning of the maximum adoption of cryptocurrencies. At this stage, several companies have already become partners with global payment systems and are issuing crypto cards, with the help of which we can abandon fiat forever.

Fundraising evolution

When humanity realized that Bitcoin is not just a virtual asset, but a means of payment, its value has grown even more. Based on the experience of the first cryptocurrency, the projects tried in every way to prove that they are also worth something, attracting funds to implement their ideas.

The ICO boom was the loudest first shot of the crypto market. However, remembering about it is a little sad, since it was ICO that became a game of trust, where investors became the losers in many cases.

From the point of view of the historical context, this method of attracting investment has become the first entry point into the world for many projects and crypto owners.

In the end, the ICO negatively affected the popularity of the industry, but investors have learned to distinguish between truly worthwhile projects from scammers who promised mountains of gold, describing unrealistic ideas in smart words in their documents. ICOs were replaced by IEOs, exchanges became the main actors. It was trading platforms that guaranteed the safety of investments, becoming a kind of accelerators for crypto startups and channels for pumping investments. Thanks to IEO, the industry has also replenished with several worthy projects, which, by the way, introduced the now popular staking for the first time.

Now we are at the stage of decentralized finance (DeFi), which not only offers us alternative ways of investing but is rightfully considered the main competitor of the traditional financial system. Now everyone can, without wasting time and paperwork, take a loan in cryptocurrency or provide it, making a profit. You can also make money on staking or farming. And all this without expensive mining equipment and deep-diving into the technological aspect of the blockchain.

Recognition of crypto as an adult market

In 2015, a confrontation began between states with assets that were incomprehensible at that time. Someone tightened the nuts, someone simply didn’t pay attention to it. However, the market still remained in limbo for a long time and without a certain status, which automatically closes access to the big capital market.

And only in the last few years, regulators have begun to take an active interest in this area. Over the past few years, there have been positive regulatory movements in many countries. For example, the United States has approved a cryptocurrency bank, allowed traditional banks to use stablecoins, and continue to integrate crypto into the stock market, in several European countries, for example in Estonia an excellent foothold for doing crypto-business was formed, and China is even bringing its digital yuan to the testing stage.

And this is just the beginning.

If we draw any conclusions, then we can say with confidence that the crypto market from a fearful teenager gradually turned into a high school student, then into an applicant with good potential, and now has become a successful student at some prestigious university.

Further, it still has to go through a difficult path of study and transform into a revolutionary movement that affects both financial and social norms.

It seems to me that many have already had this happen: after talking on some topic, online advertising often showed the subject of the last discussion. At first it seems that this is a rebellion of machines, but in fact, it is called ultrasonic tracking and is often used without your knowledge.

The first conclusion at once — it isn’t confidential

To begin with, we will understand what ultrasonic tracking is.

This is a method of determining the user’s location through the use of sound waves. Sound waves are detected by device microphones and are used to analyze data. People are not able to catch these sounds, however, this approach is more than enough to set up targeted advertising.

Most often, ultrasonic tracking is built into apps, which users may not be aware of because a single standard has not yet been developed that regulated this moment in order to comply with confidential norms. It is unlikely that someone will like that the microphone of his smartphone or tablet transmits all the conversations to someone.

Ultrasound tracking goals

I already mentioned that for human hearing these sounds are not perceptible, but nothing is impossible for developers. Now, this method is actively used to track mobile devices — sounds are encoded with data and thus lighthouses are created. These lighthouses can be transmitted from any device with a microphone and then you can easily listen to all user conversations.

It is unlikely that anyone will buy the device, knowing that it is watching you and has the ability to record all conversations. Of course, we all know that microphone operation requires permission, which is requested when installing an application. But many users, without thinking about their privacy, trustingly provide applications with too many opportunities to collect information about them.

At the same time, experts say that apps only need ultrasonic sounds, so they filter recordings and minimize all privacy issues. But the lack of a standard suggests that not all apps use filters.

Plus, there is always the possibility of obtaining information and storing it on the servers of the other companies.

Exit exists

Avoiding ultrasound tracking is difficult, but possible. Firstly, be careful when downloading and using some applications. Think a few times before providing permission to access your microphones and cameras by downloading another dating app. Maybe it is not so important to you?

Read the privacy policy! Yes, I also thought that it is read only by those who wrote it, but in a world where each device is an entrance to your personal life, this can be a good habit. Interestingly, many developers are trying to disguise the use of ultrasonic tracking, calling it inaudible sounds or something else.

But you already know about it, so you won’t be fooled!

The deployment of 5G networks will open up a new level of data exchange for us: everything will become faster, and devices connected to the network will become more interconnected. But, on the other hand, such conditions will provide hackers with more opportunities to obtain secret information and to organize attacks.

5G + IoT devices =?

The fact is that the more devices are connected to the same network, there is a greater chance of receiving information from all of them, that is, the scale of attacks can increase.

But the disadvantage is not in the 5G technology itself, but in IoT devices, the number of which is constantly growing. According to Gartner’s forecast, by 2021 the number of devices connected to the Internet will grow to 25 billion. At the same time, the level of security of data exchange between devices remains quite low.

Since IoT devices connect to 5G networks, they can become objects of desire for cybercriminals.

It is no secret that hackers always try to aim for new technologies that are still imperfect and have many vulnerabilities. Thus, 5G will provide all conditions for hackers so that they can quickly and unhinderedly analyze devices for vulnerabilities.

Hackers have already used this scheme: in 2016, the “Mirai botnet” attack was carried out. Then Twitter, Spotify and the New York Times were hacked using IoT cameras, routers and digital video recorders.

Faster and riskier

If cybercriminals take possession of a device that is connected to 5G, this will mean that all confidential data and important information will be in their hands faster than before. Moreover, it is known that IoT devices connect directly to the mobile Internet, which means that hackers don’t have to circumvent the more stringent security of a home or corporate networks.

The most popular example of using IoT technologies is the concept of a smart home, but when connected to 5G, the owner of such a house puts himself at great risk, because after gaining control over the devices, a hacker can paralyze the work of the whole house, which can provoke unforeseen consequences.

Security issues can also arise when using a 5G network inside a company to send confidential data.

At this stage of development, there is no security standard for 5G and the Internet of things, which is direct evidence of problems in this area.

The massive increase in data volume through 5G technology expands the available area for attacks and as a result, makes it easier for hackers to exploit vulnerabilities for extortion or fraud.

Undoubtedly, the evolution of networks means the industry is moving forward, but you shouldn’t rush into the technological pool with your head. First of all, you need to take care of security and take into account all the points that may arise during the use of new technologies.

An interesting question: if organizations spend a lot of effort and money on information security, take all measures to resist attacks, then why does this problem still exist? Moreover, most of the funds are spent on the elimination of negative consequences.

One of the reasons for this situation is that, as a rule, in large organizations, information is stored on many computers. Moreover, due to a large amount of data, an employee of one department cannot know what information from another department is important for the company (although all the data is undoubtedly important). Another difficulty is the analysis of documentation and data — the office manager doesn’t know where the data is protected successfully, and where — additional security measures are required.

It is also worth paying attention to the fact that some information can be posted on the information resources of partner organizations. All this together provides opportunities for hackers to take advantage of gaps in security systems.

Deloitte experts are confident that the business will have to deal with these problems for a long time. So, this situation cannot be called stable. A survey of the same company showed that less than 6% of respondents were absolutely sure that their organization was taking effective and sufficient measures to ensure data security and minimize risks. At the same time, almost 40% of respondents expressed uncertainty about the reliability of the information protection system built at their enterprise. You must understand that the violation of security policy affects the entire enterprise as a whole. This can be seen even in financial loss. According to Ponemon Institute estimates, a single incident of data loss or compromise can cost a company from 613 thousand to 32 million dollars.

And while you are reading this article, hackers continue to send phishing emails to millions of addresses around the world.

But what should a company do to ensure maximum data security? Firstly, to make a list of confidential information that is subject to protection. It’s also a good idea to prioritize the data, i.e. to determine which information is the most important, and appropriately assess the potential risks. Do not forget about staff training, because not every employee can recognize a malicious email.

Experts also advise having an action plan if the security policy is violated because a quick response can stop data leakage with minimal consequences.

And one more small but practical advice — change passwords more often.

Every morning, reading the news, we are no longer surprised by reports that hackers have gained access to the confidential data of millions of people. Different in these cases, only the places where the information leaked.

Just the other day, detailed information about 92 million Brazilians was put up for auction. Can you imagine the data of almost the entire working population turned out to be online! At the same time, the hacker without any hesitation advertises the search service he developed, claiming that everyone can get information about any Brazilian citizen.

As it is known, this database is 16 GB in SQL format. The initial auction price is $15,000 with a bid increase of $1,000. Records in the database are divided by province and include the names, dates of birth, and taxpayer identification information (CPF — Cadastro de Pessoas Físicas) of individuals. The database also contains data on taxpayers and legal entities. Experts have already managed to conduct minimal checks and make sure that information about citizens is accurate. At the same time, no one has ventured to become a participant of the illegal auction, but the hacker expects to earn money in another way, offering various services to return confidential data.

X4Blood is the pseudonym of the information seller and, as he promises, using the input only a full name, taxpayer identifier or phone number, you can extract the data available in national identification documents (identification card, driver’s license). In addition, it is not a problem to find out phone numbers (mobile and landline), old addresses, email addresses, profession, level of education, possible relatives, neighbors, license plates and vehicles.

This is far from the first, albeit a grandiose case.

For example, last year, a hack was discovered in the regional health management system of Southern and Eastern Norway (Helse Sør-Øst RHF). Hackers gained access to personal data and medical records of almost 3 million Norwegians, and this is more than half of all citizens. The stolen medical data contained information about government officials, secret services, military, politicians and other public figures.

Of course, you can reassure yourself that your data is not interesting to anyone. But it should be understood that attackers are not hacking your device, but government services and information systems of large companies. The fact is that the main goal of hackers is not your secrets, but personal data in large volumes. Databases are on sale, and on a massive scale. They can be used for fraud, phishing (including telephone), as well as selling to spammers.

In the digital age, getting rid of this problem will not work. Even if you don’t use online shopping and social networks, your data is still stored somewhere. For example, passport data is in state registries, and information about your credit card can be obtained by someone if you just paid it in a store, which used the services of another company.

Today it is impossible to be 100% sure that your personal data is safe: in all areas, there is no competent approach, the culture of information security is only at the initial stage of formation. How many more info bases will be sold on the darknet before we learn how to control the data? Dozens? No, hundreds and even thousands.

But there are already decentralized ways of storing data, including encryption and cryptography. Maybe it’s time to take a closer look at new technologies and a tablet for the digital world disease will be found?

Technology development involves simplifying many processes and saving time. How often do you order food online? I’m sure that many people use various food delivery apps to treat themselves to delicious pizza or spend a lazy Sunday without cooking.

However, have you ever thought that while you finish the last piece of pizza, all your data will belong not only to you?

Let’s understand what is dangerous in apps for ordering food online.

As an app’s user, you provide the third-party service with your confidential data, including the exact address and apartment number, as well as your phone number and all information about your credit card. In turn, couriers also indicate their personal data, and also provide the service with their documents for the transport on which they deliver.

If we are talking about a service that provides delivery from various restaurants — don’t hesitate, you can also find important supplier data in it if you try.

Thus, if the application contains such a large array of various data, then it can be obtained from there.

A similar case has already happened with the popular in the US and Canada platform for ordering food online DoorDash. Last week, developers warned all their users about a serious violation that affected the data of almost 5 million people.

The fact is that DoorDash detected an “unusual activity” from a third-party service provider. During the investigation, it turned out that the attackers managed to gain access to the personal data of the platform and the financial data of its users. At the same time, the security system was hacked on May 4, 2019. That is, it took the company more than four months to discover the vulnerability in its security.

Now imagine what cybercriminals could do in four months with the data of 4.9 million users, with their names, email addresses, delivery addresses, order histories, phone numbers and hashed passwords. Moreover, hackers managed to get the last four digits of payment cards and access to drivers’ license numbers of 100,000 couriers.

Of course, DoorDash regrets what happened, now it is working more seriously on its security system and apologizes to everyone.

But the fact remains. A gap exists not only in this service, your data right now may already become the property of third parties, and you, without suspecting anything, are just waiting for your sushi.

I don’t urge to refuse delivery services, but I advise you to be vigilant and monitor the statements on your bank and payment cards in relation to any unusual actions and inform the bank if something causes suspicion.

And, of course, don’t follow any instructions specified in unknown emails, because they can turn out to be phishing and, as a result, will contribute to the leak of your password or bank data.

Let’s change all passwords immediately!

Just last week, a cybersecurity specialist, Tavis Ormandy, discovered a dangerous vulnerability in the LastPass password manager that could have leaked all your passwords from previously visited sites.

Fortunately, the vulnerability has been fixed, but the problem is the likelihood of such leaks.

According to the conclusions of LastPass developers, the detected attack is based on the execution of JavaScript code and doesn’t require the user’s participation, which is why the vulnerability is considered dangerous and potentially exploited. This means that a cybercriminal can easily create a malicious website and trick users into it by cunning, which opens up the prospect of getting all the passwords that he previously entered on other resources.

It is worth noting that the problem concerns only the LastPass extension for Chrome and Opera. I advise you to upgrade it to version 4.33.0 if you haven’t done this before.

A positive moment in this story can also be noted that there were no confirmed facts of this vulnerability use by fraudsters. But we all know when problems came up from the hacker abyss even a few years later.

Of course, storing credentials in password managers is much more reliable than in browsers, from where attackers can easily remove them using special tools and malware. But as we see this doesn’t give a 100% guarantee that your accounts and important information will not be in the scammers’ hands.

Fraudsters are becoming more dangerous and cunning, their methods are being improved, and there are more and more victims. This is especially true of online fraud.

Thousands of databases are sold on the darknet, it is easy to go unnoticed and anonymous there, which is actively used by cybercriminals.

Ravelin experts monitor the actions of scammers on the network and try to identify their new tools before the first victims appear.

So, among cybercriminals, it’s fashionable now to:

Use advanced privacy software

Today, scammers’ trend is using such heavy-duty software as Anti-Detect and Kameleo. This software allows to remain untraceable, that is, scammers can create multiple instances of virtual machines in browser windows.

Be vigilant if the location is blocked — it could be a criminal.

Change locations

As mentioned above, on the darknet you can get the data of the cards, and if this information falls into the hands of fraudsters, then it is easy to find out everything about the cardholder, including the place where it is registered. Then the criminal can fake the location in order to create fictitious situations.

Change phone numbers

By acquiring real phone numbers, fraudsters have the opportunity to get to your bank account without even seeing your smartphone.

By setting the forwarding of all calls from the stolen number to their personal one, they can confirm various purchases. Moreover, there are cases when fraudsters called the bank and changed the phone numbers of account holders.

Play the role of a true buyer

On the darknet, criminals share another secret with each other: if you don’t want to look suspicious, act calmly, don’t rush. Some scammers exposed themselves because they placed orders quickly. Now there is a tendency when the criminal carefully adds things to the basket, then removes them from there, makes small orders, and only then breaks the jackpot.

Mix IDs

Another scheme is that a fraudster can create fake accounts based on several types of data. In addition to personal information, they will need, for example, device identifiers and a driver’s license. Such a scheme works great in banking fraud.

What new fraud schemes have you seen?

Sign up for Facebook: what could be easier? You entered all your data, provided access to your mail and phone number. Yes, you heard that Facebook databases are constantly being leaked, but you think, “Who needs my phone number? I’m not a politician or a superstar. ”

However, just a week ago, the data leakage scandal on Facebook was again discussed on the net. And the most interesting thing is that we began to perceive this as an ordinary situation. I want to say that this is not normal: Facebook has a huge problem with the storage of our private information. At the same time, the company got off with 5 billion dollars to settle the investigation on this charge.

This case was hushed up, but here Facebook again became the main hero of all the news feeds. 419 million phone numbers and user IDs have successfully migrated to a public database. Of these, 133 million numbers and identifiers belong to American users. That is, every curious person with any intentions was able to access millions of confidential data.

It became known that the data was seized more than a year ago since now Facebook has closed access to the phone numbers of users from developers. At the same time, representatives of the social network claim that the data was deleted, and they didn’t find any evidence that the Facebook accounts were compromised. Good news? Unfortunately not. After all, it didn’t become clear who owned the database, when it was seized, or what it could be used for.

And the real problem is not that some hacker has downloaded and transferred all the data to the network, but that the same thing happens on Facebook again, again and again. That is, each user of such a giant mechanism is not protected.

If your number is in one of the open databases, then get ready for numerous risks, for example, spam calls or attacks with the substitution of a SIM card by deceiving mobile operators by providing an attacker with a person’s phone number. Using someone else’s phone number, an attacker can force a password reset for any Internet account associated with this number.

Even Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was unlucky — he was hacked last week.

The conclusion suggests itself: everything that you post on Facebook is not confidential. Facebook is not Las Vegas, what is happening on the social network does not remain on it, and this is a problem for each of us, not only for the developers.

Is such a negligent attitude towards user data the norm for the entire industry? Then it’s worth considering that our data is in danger 24/7. If such leaks occur even with a huge corporation, which, it would seem, should guarantee security, then what about small companies that don’t have such huge budgets aimed at the security and preservation of their users ‘data?

Such situations suggest that the industry cannot cope with the problems of information storage, therefore, it is worth changing something, but rather quickly and abruptly. New approaches to data protection have already been developed — you just have to look at them.

Cybersecurity US experts report the most technical form of fraud, which is actively gaining momentum. The danger called Synthetic Identity Fraud (SIF) last year cost its victims more than $60 billion.

Fraudsters, using an inactive minor social security number and gaps in state information databases, create a fictitious person with a specific Social Security Number (SSN).

In practice, this type of identity fraud can be considered in this case: a child named Tom Robbins was born on one end of the country and assigned his SSN. In paper form, this document is stored in the safe of Tom’s parents.

Suddenly, Tom Robbins will also appear on the other side of the country, but he is 50 years old and in his safe, there are a lot of documents with this name (of course, fake). For several years, an adult Robbins uses credit cards in this name and, if necessary, provides electronic copies of his fake documents. Fraudster builds trust relationships with financial institutions — he pays his bills on time, actively uses his credit card and interacts quickly with banks on several issues.

One day, Tom Robbins decides to take a very large loan of approximately $200000 into a debit account. Providing electronic copies of various documents, Robbins is minimally checked by the bank and received the requested amount to his account. After cashing out the money, the fraudster disappears from the state structures’ radars.

A detailed check of federal databases reveals that everything is in order with the social security number; it really belongs to Tom Robbins. However, after the intervention in the prosecutor’s case, it becomes known that the real Robbins hasn’t even started to lose his milk teeth and he lives on the other side of the country.

As a result, all documents of 50-year-old Tom turned out to be fakes, such a person doesn’t exist, and his many years of financial activity is the result of deliberate fraudulent actions.

Synthetic Identity Fraud (SIF) has become a scammer feeder for several reasons.

One of them is the different levels of access to personal information of Americans from state and private structures.

The fact is that for the sake of the residents’ safety, their personal information is scattered across various sources, which gives impetus to the development of this fraud’s type.

For example, FBI employees have a complete dossier for every citizen, but insurers or banks can find out the maximum address of their client, SSN and credit card balance. Thus, criminals use the inability of lenders to 100% verify the borrower’s identity and create the appearance of an adult and financially active person by the stolen child’s SSN.

However, it is worth noting that fraud for $200000 requires good preparation: for several years to build a good credit history, pay bills and rental housing on time and much more. In California, a fraudster managed to trick several banks for more than half a million dollars. Renting a prestigious apartment for three people, fake SSNs were created. Of course, no one lived in the apartment, the fraudster only checked the mailbox periodically and paid the bills.

As the investigation found out, the apartment was framed for a person who in reality also didn’t exist. The contract was signed over the Internet by electronic signature.

Cybersecurity experts consider SIF a huge problem for the state. New fraud can only be prevented through a global restructuring of the Social Security electronic database. This will require large financial investments and a few more years of work.