Bitcoin: as easy to fly as the liquid and easier to handle
Bitcoin like other crypto-currencies are no longer just the target of cyber criminals. Classical banditry is interested because this money is much easier to "launder" than gold or species.
A few days ago, criminals forced under the threat of a weapon of the owners of cyber-currencies to make a transfer. A first, perhaps, but "we must expect that these cases are increasing," said Éric Larchevêque, founding president of Ledger, the French start-up that has created a safe for these values. He explains that in the case of virtual money, bitcoin has something in common with cash or gold. "We knew cyber-attacks, we now know that physical attacks can also rob the owners of cryptocurrency".
Indeed, if the bitcoin, or any other cyber-currency, is online, it is not less accessible as ingots or tickets stored in the trunk of an apartment. To access it, the thugs physically threaten the person or his relatives. Like what happened in Britain this couple of traders forced to transfer to an account the assets they had. We do not know the amount of the flight, nor in what currency it was made.
Everything can fly off in one click
This hold-up will obviously be investigated, but it will not be easy for the police to question the culprits. She will obviously question relatives, those who knew that the victims possessed these riches. But in this case, tens of thousands of people around the world have access to this information.
Traders have been careful not to say too much about them. They used a pseudonym to perform the transactions. But people have circulated their true identity. "Whether you have gold, jewelry, money or bitcoins, you have to be discreet whether in real life or in the virtual world," says Éric Larchevêque.
Not to follow this advice is even more risky when you hold a magot in cryptocurrencies, than for a bank account. Withdrawals with a card are limited, the flights are insured and at least part of the amounts withdrawn are reimbursed by the banks. The victim has little to lose unlike the virtual world where everything can fly away with one click.
Get inspired by the real for virtual protection
"With real money, an armed robber is limited by what you have in your wallet or the daily withdrawal limit in a distributor, but a thief of bitcoins can steal millions of dollars instantly," confirms on Twitter Nouriel Roubini, an international expert on the cyber-economy.
And not easy to find the values even if the virtual currencies are traceable in the blockchain. We can still draw a parallel with numbered gold bullion. However, gold melts and crypto-currencies drown in the web without leaving a trace. As proof, the sums stolen during cyber-robberies that have occurred have evaporated. The last robbery dates back to a few days. It amounts to more than $ 400 million in bitcoin. Coincheck, the financial institution that owned this fortune, had no choice but to repay its customers.
If it is necessary to be discreet to protect one's assets, one must also develop methods to protect them. And for Eric Larcheveque, it may be necessary to draw inspiration from the real world. "Real-world values are stored in secure vaults which, to open, require multiple authorizations and have delayed opening," says the protection specialist.
"We are studying these techniques for an upcoming version of our electronic safe." In the meantime, discretion is the safest protection. As for the investigators, they will have to not only try to find the funds, the culprits and find out if the victim is really innocent as the case occurred in 2015 during the MtGox case in which the boss of the company, a Frenchman, was arrested in Japan.