The digital currency Bitcoin has suffered yet another hack. Bitcoin wallet site Instawallet has been taken offline after a security compromise, has suspended its service indefinitely.
Instawallet didn't say in a notice on
its website how many bitcoins were stolen after hackers fraudulently
accessed company database. "The Instawallet service is suspended
indefinitely until we are able to develop an alternative architecture.
Our database was fraudulently accessed, due to the very nature of
Instawallet it is impossible to reopen the service as-is."
Bitcoin is a virtual currency
that uses a peer-to-peer system to confirm transactions through public
key cryptography. The company also announced it will accept claims for
individual Instawallets for the first 90 days, using the wallets’ URL
and key to file the claim. Clients will then be refunded the currency
value if the balance is less than 50 BTC.
The breach follows a series of
attacks targeting bitcoin services. In September 2012, Bitfloor has
suspended all operations after a hacker stole $250,000 worth of
bitcoins. In May of last year, exchange site Bitcoinica was also
breached, and attackers managed to grab bitcoins valued at $90,000.
It may be a day or two before
the effect of this theft on the currency can be
determined. Bitcoin-Central is expecting to have their services back up
and running within 48 hours and have promised to give 24 hours notice
before going live. Instawallet however has been permanently compromised
and is closing.
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