This week marks the annual Cyber Week Cybersecurity Conference at Tel Aviv University—an event made up of 8,000 attendees and 50 speakers, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Times of Israel reports that while most of the blockchain and cryptocurrency discussion circling the event has been optimistic and positive, during one panel discussion, a leading expert warned that cryptocurrency-related attacks will surpass all other types of cyber-related crime in 2018.

During a talk titled “Blockchain, the New Digital Age” a threat intelligence analyst with the Israeli cybsecurity company Check Point Software Technologies, named Lotem Finkelsteen, pointed out that, “Not a day goes by without our hearing about a new ICO scam or mining attack.” He stated further that, “Blockchain is suffering from reputational damage. And this is one of the main obstacles for blockchain technology to move forward.”

Finkelsteen isn’t wrong in his assessment. This year alone, over $1.1 billion have been stolen in crypto-related attacks. Furthermore, reports of new attacks are ocurring almost daily, most recently from South Korea’s Bithumb.

Finkelsteen’s concerns were echoed by Haim Pinto, the CTO of Bank Hapoalim, Israel’s largest bank, who claimed that there are no blockchain applications that are currently reliable.

“Blockchain is still in a hype cycle. We can’t just take it and use it.”

Pinto also believes that cryptocurrencies present a number of problems for banks seeking to comply with anti-money laundering and privacy regulations.

“As long as we are under anti-money laundering and FATCA rules, we have to know the source of customers’ money . . . That’s just one of the challenges. In addition, there are mathematical challenges. Distributed general ledgers can’t scale up to the volume of transactions we need to serve.”

Perhaps the most distressing news from the conference came in its final session, during which Tel Aviv University Economics professor, Neil Gandal, presented a paper titled “Price Manipulation in the Bitcoin Ecosystem“.

The paper, which was first published in January, makes the assertion that Bitcoin’s first major price spike in 2013, when it rose from $150 to over $1,000, was likely caused by a single person using trading robots. Gandal states, “It’s possible for a small number of actors to manipulate things. We need some sort of regulation [of cryptocurrencies]. There is a loss of confidence in the system.”

Gandal also asserted that if price manipulation has happened in the past it is likely to happen again, alluding to recent reports that Bitcoin’s price jump to nearly $20,000 last year may have been due to a coordinated effort from the organizations behind Tether (USDT) and the Bitfinex exchange.

Again, the news from the conference wasn’t all negative. In response to Finkelsteen, John Velissarios, Principal Director and Global Blockchain Tehnology Lead at Accenture (a global management company), reminded the audience, “There are real projects rolling out. We’re seeing blockchain applications for capital markets, exchanges, clearing and settlement systems and payment systems. The technology is evolving and the applications are becoming more significant.”

Indeed, many entrepreneurs and computer scientists recognize the enormous potential in blockchain technology. As do many large companies and banks including Microsoft and New York’s Metropolitan Bank. Furthermore, the much-awaited federal regulation of cryptocurrencies could be on the horizon in countries like the United States.

Lastly, it should be noted that while reports of crypto-related cybercrime are coming out regularly, global interest in blockchain technology continues to be on the rise. In most recent news, the South Korean government has announced plans to invest $207 million into launching public service projects utilizing blockchain technology.

While crypto tries to rid itself of its “wild west” image, hopes remain high that cryptocurrency and blockchain technology are playing a pivotal role in the coming 4th industrial revolution.

The post Expert Claims Cryptocurrency-Related Crime Will Surpass All Other Cyberattacks in 2018 appeared first on UNHASHED.

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