[OT] Bitcoin

I read it was one bitcoin. But since a kill switch was supposedly activated, the attackers might have raised the price in the aftermath?

According to CNN the cost was $300. initially and went up every hour the ransom remained unnoticed and unpaid, they also said it would be in the tens of thousands for those that didn't discover the attack last week and would first be seeing the demand on Monday after the weekend.

My understanding is a jr. programmer halted the attack accidentally by registering the domain name , if that's true that's amazing.

All of these companies/organizations should be paying for a forensic analysis, to whatever extent is possible, in case the ransomware aspect was/is just a cover for something else.

My understanding is that each computer that was infected displayed the ransomware message which requested $300 to $600 worth of Bitcoin, and hundreds of thousands of computers were infected. So, the total amount of requested funds was far more than 2 Bitcoins.

I meant per computer.

Price of 1 BTC is now $1980

I guess people are betting on it being used more and more successfully in future ransomware?

So buying drugs and other illegal products and services online and collecting payment for your ransomware. What other uses does it have?

Other uses:

• Side stepping foreign currency exchange fees. (I don't have AMEX Platinum).
• transfer or receive payments online from individuals, without PayPal or Paypal fees, or resorting to money order.
• sometimes I trade things I no longer need online or offer my contracting services and the recipient 'has BTC' but not much actual money. So I accept the BTC as barter.