Bitcoin hit by denial of service attacks as regulators prepare clampdown

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Bitcoin hit by denial of service attacks as regulators prepare clampdown

BY EMILY FLITTER AND DOUWE MIEDEMA
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK Tue Feb 11, 2014 9:29pm EST

(Reuters) - Bitcoin is being hit by attacks from unknown computer hackers who are sending "mutated" lines of code into the program that runs the virtual currency, a spokeswoman from its main trade organization said in a statement on Tuesday.

The attacks are responsible for problems experienced by two bitcoin exchanges that caused them to temporarily halt withdrawals by customers who stored bitcoins in digital wallets provided by the exchanges, the Bitcoin Foundation said in a statement.

"This is a denial-of-service attack," said the spokeswoman, Jinyoung Lee Englund. "Whoever is doing this is not stealing coins, but is succeeding in preventing some transactions from confirming. It's important to note that DoS attacks do not affect people's bitcoin wallets or funds."

Englund said a team of core software developers who focus on bitcoin were working to fix the problem, but until it was solved some users would not be able to do anything with their bitcoins, and the affected bitcoins would appear to be "tied up" in transactions.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/12/us-usa-bitcoin-idUSBREA1A20X20140212

[BlueStreak]

1. If hackers can inject "mutated code" it isn't just DoS

Maybe the code they are injecting today is not stealing value today. Maybe they are simply testing for vulnerability. But if they can inject code onto the servers, they can do a lot more than DoS. It seems really disingenuous of the Bitcoin people to brush this off as simply a DoS attack.