Category Archives: Uncategorized

xxx Kromtech researchers found that the crooks were creating fake Apple ID accounts and then using the stolen cards to buy virtual goods on three games – Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, and Marvel Contest of Champions. They then sold what they’d bought on third party sites. From Crooks use mobile games to launder moneyContinue reading “Crooks use mobile games to launder money from stolen credit cards”

xxx A team of University College London (UCL) researchers recently found likely evidence of payments for those alleged exploits by examining transactions in Zcash, a privacy-focused cryptocurrency that the Shadow Brokers asked potential customers to use, and traced the movement of some of the coins to a specific cryptocurrency exchange. From Cryptocurrency Transactions May UncoverContinue reading “Cryptocurrency Transactions May Uncover Sales of Shadow Broker Hacking Tools – Motherboard”

xxx “Just because you followed the software requirements spec doesn’t mean you met the capability need,” From The U.S. Air Force learned to code—and saved the Pentagon millions. xxx

xxx “But Zuckerberg truly believes that stuff—that by connecting human beings we will all start behaving better. Thousands of years of human history to the contrary, he thinks that the mere act of connection contains some positive force, without anything else being present.” From “The Zuckerberg Follies | Dave Denison”. xxx

xxx “Nick Abouzeid, a 21-year-old in San Francisco who works at a tech startup, received an unexpected $149 from a stranger along with the message ‘for a wonderful evening.’ Two minutes later, he got another message: ‘I again made a mistake (((.’ He decided to investigate. (The app allows users to view the transaction history ofContinue reading “You Accidentally Sent $149 to a Stranger on Venmo? Good Luck Getting It Back – WSJ”

xxx “All Bitcoin transactions and wallets are recorded on a database known as the blockchain, by a network of computers that anyone can join.” From “How Russian Spies Hid Behind Bitcoin in Hacking Campaign – The New York Times”. xxx

xxx “The eyes of the world are on one of history’s largest cash withdrawals ever. Earlier this week, the Central Bank of Iran ordered its European banker, Hamburg-based Europaeisch-Iranische Handelsbank AG, to process a €300 million cash withdrawal. Germany’s central bank, the Bundesbank, is being asked to provide the notes. If the transaction is approved,Continue reading “Moneyness: The €300 million cash withdrawal”

Listening to Manuela Saragosa’s interesting BBC Business Daily episode about “fraud in the food chain” (I wouldn’t listen to it while you are eating, incidentally) I was reminded how long and complex the supply chains are in the food industry. That’s great for producers and consumers, but it has risks. How do you trust theContinue reading “POST Blockchains and supply chains”

In his new book “Digital Human“, Chris Skinner sets out a straightforward vision of the bank of the future. He says (I paraphrase slightly) that the back office is about analytics, the middle office is about APIs and the front office is moving to smart apps on smart devices. Here’s the three part model that ChrisContinue reading “POST Amazonisation as a bank strategy”

The Deutsche Bank report is not all doom and gloom though. It goes on to make the point that banks can themselves Of course, the beneficiaries will be the new financial service providers such as FinTechs or other software suppliers, who can now seamlessly attach their innovative services to the existing (banking) infrastructure. For BigTechsContinue reading “POST Banks can use open banking too, you know”