33% of UK Firms are Buying Bitcoin in Anticipation of Cyber Attacks

A cyber-security survey by remote access developer Citrix has found an interesting use case for holding Bitcoin Bitcoin While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that Read this Term - being prepared to pay a ransom to hackers holding your files captive. The poll asked 250 British IT and cyber-security specialists representing companies of various sizes about their preparedness for cyber-crime and found that 33% said they were buying bitcoin in order to be able to pay off future ransomware attackers.

If you are luckily unfamiliar with ransomware, it usually works as follows: you open your computer and see that all your files are encrypted - effectively leaving you without all your information. You are than notified that you have been hacked and are prompted to send an amount of bitcoin to a certain address before a timer runs out, in order to undo the damage. In some cases people reported they were even guided in the process by the hackers' call-center, providing support in finding a nearby Bitcoin exchange and explanations about initiating transfers.

According to the survey, the storing of bitcoin or other Cryptocurrencies Cryptocurrencies By using cryptography, virtual currencies, known as cryptocurrencies, are nearly counterfeit-proof digital currencies that are built on blockchain technology. Comprised of decentralized networks, blockchain technology is not overseen by a central authority.Therefore, cryptocurrencies function in a decentralized nature which theoretically makes them immune to government interference. The term, cryptocurrency derives from the origin of the encryption techniques that are employed to secure the netw By using cryptography, virtual currencies, known as cryptocurrencies, are nearly counterfeit-proof digital currencies that are built on blockchain technology. Comprised of decentralized networks, blockchain technology is not overseen by a central authority.Therefore, cryptocurrencies function in a decentralized nature which theoretically makes them immune to government interference. The term, cryptocurrency derives from the origin of the encryption techniques that are employed to secure the netw Read this Term is being done by 36% of the smaller businesses who participated (those with 250-500 employees) and 57% of medium firms (those with 501-1000 employees). Only 18% of the larger firms (those with more than 2,000 employees) said they keep a similar ransomware stash, however they did say they are willing to pay up to £50,000 in order to unlock their files if they contain important intellectual property or business critical data.

This poll's results raise a few interesting questions such as: why not just open an account with an exchange, which would not cost anything until (or if) the money is really needed; why not invest the funds in improving security or just get an insurance plan against hackers instead of paying ransoms and encouraging future attacks; and, isn't holding bitcoin just giving hackers another target to aim for if they have already gained access to your systems?