back to article Hackers scam half a million from Enigma digital currency investors

Cunning hackers have successfully duped investors out of almost $500,000 after compromising the servers of the online currency platform Enigma. The organization, set up by MIT whiz kids and due to launch its new cryptocurrency on September 11, had its website, email servers and Slack channel hacked. The attackers then used …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    MIT

    Is this a case of those who can do, those who can't, teach?

  2. Mage Silver badge
    FAIL

    So why use Enigma coins?

    They can't even do basic security properly.

    Cryptocurrencies seem a great idea for anonymity, sadly when money is involved that seems most useful for criminals buying & selling, money laundering, speculation and scammers.

    Are there now so many versions because no-one has solved the problems? Scalability is also a problem for true distributed systems rather than peering and centralised electronic funds transfer such as Swift, IBAN and PayPal.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Are there now so many versions because

      I've kinda gained the impression, without researching it at all, that if you get in on the ground floor of one of this digital currencies, and its successful, you get a massive return on your initial investment. Isn't it true that a fairly low amount of effort in the early days of bitcoin would have enabled you to 'mine' bitcoins that now go for a lot of dosh?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Are there now so many versions because

        Yes, which is why so many different flavors have been coming out recently. To capitalize on all the fools who think "well it happened with bitcoin, so why not spend a few bucks to get in on this early and maybe make millions?"

        Basically that's like arguing that because those who got in on the ground floor of Facebook have nine digit bank accounts, you should invest in whatever random social networking startup comes along because it might be the next Facebook.

        1. Charles 9

          Re: Are there now so many versions because

          It also happens to fit the basic definition of a Pyramid Scheme.

          1. Tom 38

            Re: Are there now so many versions because

            All these coins have value as long as people are prepared to accept them in return for goods. Most of them work quite well. It is actually irrelevant how much a crypto-coin is worth, because the most common use of it is as a transient token for conveying wealth. If you are only holding the resource transiently, then there is no comparison to a pyramid scheme.

            1. Charles 9

              Re: Are there now so many versions because

              If you're using it as a transient tokrn, that's true, but the poster was referring to getting in early and holding the cryptocoin.

  3. Jason Hindle

    Ahh, digital currency

    Farting pools from their actual currency since 2009.

  4. Winkypop Silver badge
    Devil

    Naughty but quite clever really

    They certainly knew their marks well.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Yawn..

    We're changing all passwords, engaging 2FA, and taking other security precautions

    Wowiee, dorks, hell of a press statement, you just forgot ".. because we couldn't be arsed before, after all it's only your money". The whole idea of creating a monetary structure is that you create something people can trust, so the fact that you did not even bother with security from the ground up (2FA, for instance, should have been a default instead of an afterthought) pretty much nukes any trust you can generate with those who have a clue.

    By the way, am I the only one who thinks that the more crypto currencies emerge, the more their overall value dilutes?

    1. imanidiot Silver badge

      Re: Yawn..

      By the way, am I the only one who thinks that the more crypto currencies emerge, the more their overall value dilutes?

      It's not (entirely) a zero sum game. But mostly a few wel established players will remain and the rest will vanish into thin air like all the other "me too" tech/software/hardware in the past. Bitcoin is pretty much here to stay. Etherium seems to be doing well and will probably stick around. The rest? Let's say I have my doubts...

      1. MonkeyCee

        Re: Yawn..

        Do more crypto devalue other crypto? Not really. Only if there is some problem that makes headlines and panics specualtors in coin A, resulting in panic about price of coin B.

        There are many uses for crypto, the point is usually to have something that is more than just a blockchain transaction (like BTC and LTC) so you the tokens have more use than just money. Hence ETH being quite popular.

        Thus there are a number of different algos that a coin can be based on (~10 or so currently) and a number of different coins off each one. So there might well be a winner per algo, but that will still result in ~10 coins at a minimum.

        The "roll your own" crypto have been around for ages, at least since LTC started (so 4+ years), and picking a winner versus one of the also rans is pretty hard. But if you mine it and cash it out right away it doesn't really matter what you get paid in. I get my payout in BTC, despite not having any SHA256 miners.

        The latest issue for miners (at least) is the mass of ICOs. They are (as noted) like an IPO, except without any legal protections. Or paperwork. Or SEC rubber stamping. Using them as initial funding rounds also puts massive selling pressure on the coins they issued it in (since they need that money). They also are particularly vulnerable to being scammed, as all you need to do is change a wallet address and Bobs your uncle.

  6. Wyrdness

    Enigma

    So something called Enigma has been cracked. Who'da thunk it?

    Has anyone tried searching Bletchley Park for the hackers?

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