Verady Unveils Ledgible Accounting Partnerships With Blockchain.Com and Algorand – AiThority

Verady, the leading cryptocurrency tax and accounting software company, announced two major Ledgibleplatformclients, Blockchain.com and Algorand. The accelerated adoption by two prominent blockchain organizations highlights theLedgibleplatforms adaptability, security, and trusted brand within the cryptocurrency space.Ledgibleadds a necessary financial infrastructure component to both organizations as they expand their offerings.

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Blockchain.com, who has over 48 million wallet users and an exchange providing best-in-class trading capabilities, will benefit from the integration by incorporatingLedgiblesinstitutional grade reporting internally.

Algorand, a next-generation blockchain platform that enables the frictionless exchange of value, will leverageLedgiblefor internal accounting and auditing. In addition,Ledgiblewill be integrating ALGO into its software, so that all holders of the native token of the Algorand platform (managed by the Algorand Foundation) will have integrated accounting. Thisexpands the growing suite of digital financial products and services that are available to Algorand users.

Algorands next-generation blockchain technology is already breaking new ground with notable applications like the worlds first central bank digital currency.Ledgiblesintegration for institutional level financial management and reporting helps to further innovations like these that advance the crypto industry as a whole.

New product and service offerings, likeLedgiblesprofessional-grade accounting can leverage blockchain technology to spur mainstream adoption. As these solutions become more widely available and accessible, they will become as familiar as traditional financial solutions.

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WithLedgiblesability to perform AICPA SOC assured tax, accounting, and reporting of cryptocurrency activity, Blockchain.com and Algorand now have reliable, secure insight into their crypto financial transactions.

As one of the oldest crypto companies and one of the largest crypto exchanges with more than 48 million wallets in 140 countries with over 100 million transactions to date our accounting needs are immense, said a spokesperson for Blockchain.com. WithLedgible, weve found a platform that meets our institutional standards and brings best-in-class speed to our financial reporting and tracking.

One of Algorands goal is to enable enterprises to easily embrace the opportunity that blockchain provides, said W. Sean Ford, COO of Algorand. Broadly applicable financial reporting tools likeLedgible Accountingfurther that goal. Were excited to partner with Verady to not only account for our own assets, but to provideLedgible Accountingto our partners who are helping to develop and grow the Algorand blockchain.

Verady is determined to help move the cryptocurrency industry forward with advanced, secure, and intuitive reporting tools. In a rapidly changing economic landscape, were glad to work alongside leaders in the industry to make crypto more accessible, said Kell Canty, co-founder and CEO of Verady.

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Verady Unveils Ledgible Accounting Partnerships With Blockchain.Com and Algorand - AiThority

Binance-Backed Chiliz Partners With UFC to Bring Cryptocurrency to Global Audience – The Daily Hodl

UFC, the worlds premier mixed martial arts (MMA) organization, and fintech company Chiliz have announced an exclusive global partnership to introduce cryptocurrency to the masses.

Chiliz, backed by Binance, completed a private placement in 2018, and subsequently launched its digital currency (CHZ) for sports and entertainment fans.

The crypto asset is designed to power a voting platform that allows fans to have direct input on the direction of their favorite sports organizations. UFC says it will utilize the token to allow its fans to vote in club-designated polls and earn once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

Those experiences include access to exclusive UFC offers and rewards, as well as early access to ticket sales.

Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO of chiliZ, has indicated that Binances investment in chiliZ is significant and that support from the worlds leading cryptocurrency exchange, which includes shared resources, is allowing the fintech to accelerate its global vision of building a regulated ecosystem of innovative fintech and blockchain companies in the entertainment space.

According to the announcement,

The partnership will also enable UFC to capitalize on Chiliz fintech expertise in the sports space, creating further opportunities to grow the UFC brand and increase fan engagement through innovative blockchain, tech, and mobile app solutions.

UFC is the worlds leading mixed martial arts organization (MMA), with over 318 million fans around the globe.

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Binance-Backed Chiliz Partners With UFC to Bring Cryptocurrency to Global Audience - The Daily Hodl

The IRS Wants to Know About Your Cryptocurrency Transactions – Interesting Engineering

Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Ripple, make the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) nervous. They want to know what you're up to so that they can tax it, and due to COVID-19, you must file your 2019 income tax by July 15, 2020.

On their new Schedule 1 form, the IRS has thrown in a new question: "At any time during 2019, did you receive, sell, send, exchange, or otherwise acquire any financial interest in any virtual currency?"

RELATED: IS NASA DEVELOPING ITS OWN CRYPTOCURRENCY?

Unless you have a death wish, or don't mind doing hard time, you've got to include your cryptocurrency dealings on your income tax filing. We're going to tell you how to do it, but first, a disclaimer.

We're not tax professionals, so take the facts provided below as informational only. Also, those living in countries other than the U.S. may have very different income reporting obligations.

The IRS identifies cryptocurrencies as property, just like collectible coins, valuable paintings, vintage cars, or stocks. Property can appreciate or depreciate in value.

You must report all cryptocurrency transactions and all cryptocurrency, or digital currency income even if you didn't receive a tax form from a cryptocurrency exchange.

While some exchanges, such as the popular site Coinbase, provide a transaction history to every customer, they only provide an IRS Form 1099-K to those customers whose transactions meet a certain dollar amount.

According to the IRS website, "A Form 1099-K includes the gross amount of all reportable payment transactions, and you will receive a Form 1099-K from each payment settlement entity from which you received payments in settlement of reportable payment transactions."

The IRS requires you to report your gains and losses on each of your cryptocurrency transactions. You report cryptocurrency transactions at their fair market value in U.S. dollars.

To calculate your gains and losses, you'll need the cost basis of each transaction, that is, the amount you spent in dollars to buy the cryptocurrency and the amount in dollars that it was worth when you sold it. You can use losses to offset capital gains, thus making losses deductible.

You must pay taxes on cryptocurrency if you:

You don't have to pay taxes on cryptocurrency if you:

Section 501(c)(3) is the portion of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code that allows for federal tax exemption of nonprofit organizations, specifically those that are considered public charities, private foundations or private operating foundations.

On its website, the IRS states that "Only individuals are required to file gift tax returns. If a trust, estate, partnership, or corporation makes a gift, the individual beneficiaries, partners, or stockholders are considered donors and may be liable for the gift and GST taxes."

An airdrop is a usually free distribution of a cryptocurrency token or coin to numerous wallet addresses. Airdrops are done to help newer cryptocurrencies gain attention and new followers.

Recipients are either selected randomly or the airdrop is publicized on bulletin boards or in newsletters. Some airdrops require joining a group, retweeting a tweet, or inviting new users.

Airdropped cryptocurrency should generally be taxable as ordinary income, and valued at its fair market value on the date of receipt. If your exchange doesn't yet support the new coin, meaning it can't be sold, then it isn't taxable.

A fork is an upgrade to a blockchain network. Permanent forks are used to add new features to a blockchain, to reverse the effect of hacking, or to fix bugs, as was the case with the Bitcoin fork that occurred on August 6, 2010, or the fork that separated Ethereum and Ethereum Classic.

Crypto that is received in a fork becomes taxable when it can be transferred, sold, or exchanged. The IRS discusses forks on its Frequently Asked Questions on Virtual Currency Transactions webpage.

Things get even more complicated if you bought cryptocurrency at different times, then sold only a portion of it. You need to choose the cost based on FIFO (First-in-First Out), LIFO (Last-in-Last Out), or the Specific Identification method, which identifies exactly which coins were sold. This IRS page provides information on this choice.

If there is one thing the IRS has a lot of, it's forms. Some of those you may need to use to report cryptocurrency on your income tax include:

If you followed the last link provided, you land on an IRS page with the word "Attention" in red, which is never a good sign. It's followed by several paragraphs, the first of which states: "Copy A of this form is provided for informational purposes only. Copy A appears in red, similar to the official IRS form. The official printed version of Copy A of this IRS form is scannable, but the online version of it, printed from this website, is not. Do not print and file copy A downloaded from this website; a penalty may be imposed for filing with the IRS information return forms that cant be scanned. See part O in the current General Instructions for Certain Information Returns, available at http://www.irs.gov/form1099, for more information about penalties."

If you understood this last paragraph, please let me know so I can put you up for a MacArthur Genius Grant. In the meantime, in July 2019, the IRS sent out over 10,000 letters telling recipients that they owed back taxes, interest, and penalties on their cryptocurrency transactions and that they needed to file amended returns. The IRS also lets recipients of the letters know that they could possibly face criminal prosecution and fines of up to $250,000.

In case you think dabbling in cryptocurrency sounds too complicated, consider this: on March 20, 2020, the value of Bitcoin rose 23% in just 24 hours, reaching $6,172.61.

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Rand Corporation report finds bitcoin is still the dark webs preferred cryptocurrency – Yahoo Finance

A newly-published study from think tank Rand Corporation explored the use of the privacy-centric cryptocurrency Zcash among criminals. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the report found that bitcoin is still king in those circles.

As first reported by Forbes, the Electric Coin Company the company behind Zcash commissioned the study, which was released on May 6. Zcash "has only a minor presence on the dark web," according to the think tank, "indicating that Zcash is seen as a less attractive option to dark web users and is used less often compared to other cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin and Monero."

Specifically, Rand looked at three areas: money laundering, terrorism financing and illicit goods trade, of which Zcash seemingly plays a small role compared to more-widely used cryptocurrencies in this context.

"While there are certainly some indications or anecdotal evidence that Zcash may have been used or advertised for illicit purposes, there is no evidence of widespread illicit use of Zcash. Of course, absence of evidence does not equate to evidence of absence, meaning that enduring vigilance against malicious use of this cryptocurrency is nonetheless important," the report noted.

"We didn't find any significant evidence that the zcash was used for illicit activities, but also as we know, that doesn't mean that zcash isn't at all used for illicit activity," Rand Europe analyst Erik Silfversten was quoted as saying by Forbes. "We have to look at technology as a neutral, that it could be used for a wide variety of applications, and then we have to look at the actual evidence."

The findings echo those published last October by The Block Research, which found bitcoin, monero, and litecoin are the most-frequently-used cryptocurrencies by dark web marketplaces.

Of the 31 dark web marketplaces surveyed at the time, 29 utilized bitcoin, whereas just two offered Zcash support.

2020The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

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Rand Corporation report finds bitcoin is still the dark webs preferred cryptocurrency - Yahoo Finance

Cryptocurrency Market Update: Bitcoin leaves behind Ethereum and Ripple in the dust as bulls start consolidating their positions pre-halving -…

ETH/BTC bears had a field day this Thursday as it dropped from 0.0227 to 0.0022. IN the process, the bears managed to take control for the fifth consecutive day. Since ETH/BTC is now trending below the 20-day Bollinger Band, it shows that the price is currently undervalued and may face bullish correction soon. The RSI indicator has dipped to 33.75 and is on the verge of entering the oversold zone. On the downside, there are three support levels that the bulls must defend at 0.0217 and 0.0212.

BTC/USD bulls remained in control for the second straight day as the price flew up from $9,029.73 to $9,341.85 and entered the red Ichimoku cloud. The price is trending in an upward channel formation as the bulls aim for the $9,500 psychological level. The resistance levels beyond that are at $9,615.85 and $9,941.73. On the downside, there are two healthy support levels $9,187 and $8,826.75. SMA 20 is about to crossover the SMA 200 to chart a bullish cross. The MACD indicates increasing bullish momentum, while the RSI is trending within the overbought zone at 76.45.

ETH/USD bears remained in control for four straight days, as the price fell from $205.46 to $205.64. The price is presently consolidating in a flag formation. On the downside, there are two support levels at $196.85 and $188.60. On the upside, ETH/USD must overcome resistance levels at $214.25 and $224.35. The MACD indicates decreasing bullish momentum, while the Elliott Oscillator is has had three straight red sessions.

XRP/USD fell from $0.217 to $0.216 as the bears retained control for the fourth straight day. The price is consolidating in a pennant formation as the sellers aim for the $0.2125 and $0.203 support levels. On the upside, resistance lies at $0.2236 and $0.235. The MACD indicates decreasing bullish momentum, while the Elliott Oscillator has had four straight red sessions.

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Cryptocurrency Market Update: Bitcoin leaves behind Ethereum and Ripple in the dust as bulls start consolidating their positions pre-halving -...

Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption Market Share Analysis and Research Report by 2025 – ZZReport

Latest Market Research Report onHardware-based Full Disk Encryption Market size | Industry Segment by Applications (IT & Telecom, BFSI, Government & Public Utilities, Manufacturing Enterprise and Others), by Type (Hard Disk Drive (HDD) FDE and Solid State Drives (SSD) FDE), Regional Outlook, Market Demand, Latest Trends, Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption Industry Share & Revenue by Manufacturers, Company Profiles, Growth Forecasts 2025.Analyzes current market size and upcoming 5 years growth of this industry.

The report on Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption market is an all-inclusive study of the current scenario of the industry and its growth prospects over 2025. The report is a meticulous endeavor to present a comprehensive overview of Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption market based on growth opportunities and market shares. The report presents a detailed outline of the product type, key manufacturers, application and key regions concerned in the Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption market.

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This report considers various parameters to calculate the Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption market size especially, value and volume generated from the sales in such segments as product type, application, region, competitive landscape etc.

The competitive scenario of the Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption market has also been evaluated by the report while presenting detailed analysis of notable manufacturers and vendors participating in the Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption market.

Major companies covered in the Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption market report are as follows:

Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption market has been segmented by product type as follow:

Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption market has been segmented by application type as follow:

Additionally, the report discusses key trends driving the growth of the market, opportunities involved, major challenges and risks that are often confronted by key manufacturers besides presenting an overall idea of the market. The report also analyses in details emerging trends in the marketplace and their impact on current and future development of the Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption market.

Research objectives of the study included the analysis of global Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption market consumption in terms of volume and value based on parameters such as regions, application and product type based on data and forecast for the period of 2025. In an effort to describe, define and analyze the volume, value, market share, sales, competitive landscape, development plans and SWOT analysis for the ensuing years, the report focuses on key manufacturers and their actions in Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption market.

The report analyses Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption in respect to growth trends, future prospects and contribution of individual players in the Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption market. It also reveals detailed information about the growth potential, drivers, opportunities, risks and challenges that influence the development of Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption market. The report presents a comprehensive projection of the regional submarkets of Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption along with the key countries where the submarkets are most dominant. It also analyses developments such as new product launches, agreements, acquisitions and expansions as well as provides strategic profiles of key players in Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption market while highlighting their growth strategies.

An overview of Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption market segmentation

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Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption Market Share Analysis and Research Report by 2025 - ZZReport

Encryption Software Market 2020 Global Analysis, Research, Review, Applications And Forecast To 2026 – Press Release – Digital Journal

"Encryption Software Market"

A WiseGuyReports Announces New Market Study on - Encryption Software Market 2020 Global Analysis, Research, Review, Applications And Forecast To 2026 To its Research Database.

Encryption Software Market 2020

Summary: -

The encryption software market is anticipated to reach over $11,600 million by 2026. In 2017, the BFSI segment dominated the global market, in terms of revenue. North America was to be the leading contributor to the global market revenue in 2017.

The growing need for protection of critical data, and increasing number of data breaches has boosted the adoption of encryption software. The rising penetration of mobile devices, and increasing trend of BYOD to primarily support the growth of encryption software market during the forecast period. Similarly, the rising adoption of virtualization, cloud, and big data analytics has also positively influenced the encryption software market growth over the years. Furthermore, increasing investments by vendors in technological advancements coupled with growing demand for cloud-based encryption software would accelerate the growth of this market during the forecast period. However, high costs and complexities associated with advanced encryption solutions, and lack of awareness among small and medium enterprises hinder the market growth during the forecast period. Growing demand from emerging economies, ad technological advancements are expected to provide numerous growth opportunities in the coming years.

Get Free Sample Report of Encryption Software Market @ https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3695703-encryption-software-market-by-deployment-model-on-premise

For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.com

Key Players of Encryption Software:

The major players in the encryption software market include Microsoft Corporation, Symantec Corporation, IBM Corporation, EMC Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., Intel Security, Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., Oracle Corporation, Trend Micro, Inc., and Sophos Group PLC among others.

The study on the global Encryption Softwaremarket discusses key market metrics, such as total market value. The aim of the report is to give the readers a detailed market analysis covering the global Encryption Softwaremarket in depth. The study provides a portrayal of the conditions and aspects of the market. The market research covers the period between 2020 and 2026. The forecast is extensively validated by industry experts with highly accurate and authentic data from various sources in recent years. The report gives the Encryption Softwaremarket forecasts to provide the market analysis with a future-oriented approach.

Market Dynamics of Encryption Software

In this research report, different Encryption Softwaremarket factors that influence growth in the Encryption Softwareindustry are listed and evaluated. The major determinants of the market, such as supply, demand and price levels, are fully covered. This study also discusses the interplay between production and consumption forces on product pricing. The key customer behavior patterns have also been explored. The study reveals trends in market forces in the Encryption Softwareindustry. The competitive condition of the industry and the government regulations implemented have been examined.

Segmental Analysis of Encryption Software Market Report

In order to better understand the dynamics of the market, various submarkets and sectors of the global Encryption Softwareindustry are examined. In terms of product forms and consumer sections the main market divisions were established. The Encryption Softwaremarket report also categories the market according to the geographical locations into various regional parts. The primary consumer areas included South America, North America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa which covering key regional markets. The report provides projections of product share of the market in these markets.

Research Methodology of Encryption Software Industry

The market research team has thoroughly analyzed the overall Encryption Softwaremarket based upon Porter's Five Forces model, using important market factors. The analysis also covers the competitive rivalry in the Encryption Softwareindustry in determining the threats posed by new market aspects including entrants and substituting companies along with the pricing power held by consumers and distributors. The report also offers a competitive benchmark based on a SWOT analysis and aims to produce results that contribute to informed market decisions.

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Table of Contents Major Key Points

1. Overview and Scope

2. Executive Summary

3. Encryption Software Market Insights

4. Encryption Software Market Size and Forecast by Deployment Model, 2018-2026

5. Encryption Software Market Size and Forecast by Organization Size, 2018-2026

6. Encryption Software Market Size and Forecast by Application, 2018-2026

7. Encryption Software Market Size and Forecast by End-User, 2018-2026

Continued

NOTE : Our team is studying Covid-19 and its impact on various industry verticals and wherever required we will be considering Covid-19 footprints for a better analysis of markets and industries. Cordially get in touch for more details.

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Increase Card Payment Security With This Blockchain Single Sign On Encryption – High Tech Deck

Cyber fraud results in total losses of more than $5 trillion per year, with the figure expected to grow in the future. A decentralized encryption system can be a powerful way to protect your business or organization from cyber threats.

Stealth Entry announced a new patent-pending single sign-on encryption solution that can help you eliminate the risk of cyber fraud. The technology uses blockchain to protect credit, debit and payment cards from fraud and significantly improve the security of all your digital transactions!

Go to https://www.facebook.com/StealthEntry to find out more!

The latest announcement aims to respond to the increased demand for high-security payment and digital access solutions.

Recent years have seen growing public awareness of the relatively high risk of data theft associated with standard encryption protocols. Since digital identity and payment data are often closely associated, hacking a single password or payment method can lead to massive data theft and credit fraud.

The latest security solution announced by Stealth Entry leverages blockchain technology to create a decentralized infrastructure that you can easily adapt to a variety of processes.

From securing credit card transactions to improving e-commerce security for online vendors, the patent-pending system has a wide range of potential applications. The technology uses advanced geo-tracking, smart contracts and other security solutions to enable secure data transfer while meeting the highest standards of data protection and security.

With the latest announcement, Stealth Entry continues to expand its range of high-quality digital security solutions for clients across industries.

The company was established in 2009 by Israel Arroyo, Jr, an award-winning cybersecurity expert with extensive experience in the commercial and military sectors. Israel has served as a cyber-threat intelligence analyst for the United States Marine Corps Reserves from 2007 to 2018, a technical consultant and security engineer with Hewlett Packard from 2007 to 2008, and has held numerous other technical consulting and security engineering positions.

Stealth Entrys mission is to partner with our clients and provide relevant, actionable solutions and exceptional services as required through security best practices, regulatory compliance and business requirements, said Israel. Through our work, we will tenaciously and consistently exceed expectations to maintain high availability for mission-critical military systems, government operations, and corporate environments using top industry talent, strong ethics, and integrity.

Click on the link above to get started. Stealth Entry can also be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/stealthentry and its official website https://www.stealthentry.com is an ideal starting point for all your cyber security needs!

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Increase Card Payment Security With This Blockchain Single Sign On Encryption - High Tech Deck

New ‘EARN IT Act’ Alternative Seeks $5 Billion to Hunt Child Predators Without Wrecking Encryption – Gizmodo

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), chief author of the Invest in Child Safety Act, credited news reporters with shining a light on Washingtons failures to properly address child sexual abuse material online. Photo: Samuel Corum (Getty)

Democratic lawmakers unveiled new legislation Wednesday aimed at drastically expanding the federal governments resources devoted to the targeting and prosecution of child predators, developing new technologies to identify child sexual abuse material online, and funding leading community organizations that work to prevent children from becoming victims.

Nothing is more heinous than sexual abuse of child, but our ability to combat these crimes has not kept up with technology, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said in a statement.

The legislation, dubbed the Invest in Child Safety Act, seeks to establish a new office under the direction of the White House to better streamline the governments efforts at identifying and prosecuting online predators. In coordination with the FBI and the secretaries of Education, Defense, and Health and Human Services, among others, the new office would act to develop and support new enforcement strategies and fund new and existing programs to stop child abuse, including those run by local governments and other non-federal entities.

The bills chief author, Sen. Ron Wyden, credited reporting by, primarily, the New York Times, with exposing what he called a failure by Congress and the White House to respond to disgusting crimes against children that are shared online. Harrowing investigations by Times reporters Michael Keller and Gabriel Dance last year laid bare the failure of Washington and Americas tech companies to aggressively halt the circulation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online, despite having the technical means to do so.

Our bill will finally provide agencies with enough investigators and prosecutors to confront this menace, fund the organizations who help protect at-risk kids from becoming victims, and provide aid to survivors, Wyden said.

Last year, tech companies reported more than 45 million instances of child sexual abuse material being circulated online, said Sen. Bob Casey. The proliferation of these heinous crimes are overwhelming law enforcement agencies and they need support to stop these perpetrators.

The bill, which also directs funding to school-based mental health services, amends the existing law behind the CyberTipline, the nations central reporting system for child abuse content, managed by the nonprofit National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), doubling the allotted time companies can preserve digital evidence from 90 to 180 days. The bill also requires entities reporting to the CyberTipline to preserve illicit material using only methods established by information security experts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

CyberTipline has received over 72 million reports to date, according to NCMEC President and CEO John F. Clark.

Matthew Green, a professor at Johns Hopkins University who specializes in cryptography and cybersecurity, said in a statement that, as a parent, he was gratified to see the bill provided law enforcement additional resources to eliminate the spread of CSAM. Unlike other recent proposals, which use Silicon Valley as a scapegoat while failing to fund law enforcement agencies, this bill is a serious attempt to provide resources to the front-line agencies that do this essential work, he said.

In March, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham and Democratic member Richard Blumenthal rolled out highly contentious legislation called the EARN IT Act, which threatens to strip online platforms, such as Facebook, of civil immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act if they did not follow guidelines laid out by the attorney general, a vocal opponent of strong encryption. Section 230 is the law that protects website owners from being sued over the content posted by users. Its passage in the mid-90s is widely credited with creating the legal conditions that helped kicked off the internet age.

Legal experts and digital rights advocates have roundly condemned the EARN IT Act, claiming it is both unconstitutional and a disaster that would undermine the privacy and security of consumers while rattling the digital economy. Riana Pfefferkorn, associate director of surveillance and cybersecurity at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, labeled the bill a sneak ban on encryption.

Alex Stamos, the former chief information security officer at Facebook, who now directs the Stanford Internet Observatory, joined Green in applauding the alternate approach of Wydens new bill, saying it would modernize an overloaded technical infrastructure that has created huge prosecution backlogs. Americas tech companies report tens of millions of instances of child sexual abuse per year, he said, but only a tiny portion of those reports are investigated and even fewer perpetrators are prosecuted and convicted.

More on the technical side, the bill will allow NCMEC to offer nonprofit partners access to hash values derived from child sexual abuse images. Hash values are mathematical algorithms used to generate fingerprints from electronic images, among other file types, represented by an alphanumeric string. One such technology known as PhotoDNA, originally developed by Microsoft, is widely used by tech companies, including Facebook, to scan for CSAM across vast digital platforms.

The Invest in Child Safety Act would additionally lead to the hiring of not less than 100 new FBI agents and investigators tasked with developing cases against online predators. And it would double funding for various related programs, including the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force, overseen by the Justice Department, and the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC), which trains criminal justice professionals in the prosecution and prevention of child victimization cases.

Ahead of its introduction, the bill received endorsements from the National Childrens Alliance, the Child Welfare League of America, and the Family Online Safety Institute, as well as David Kaye, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Promotion and Protection of Freedom of Expression.

Law enforcement agencies at all levels in the United States are significantly under-resourced when it comes to investigating and prosecuting child sexual abuse material online, and only able to pursue a fraction of the cases referred to them, the Open Technology Institute said in its endorsement. The Invest in Child Safety Act would directly address this problem, providing meaningful resources that would equip law enforcement and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to more effectively combat this crisis and hold predators accountable.

Original post:
New 'EARN IT Act' Alternative Seeks $5 Billion to Hunt Child Predators Without Wrecking Encryption - Gizmodo

New strain of Windows ransomware targets Taiwan organisations – iTWire

Several organisations in Taiwan have been targeted by a new Windows ransomware family that has been named ColdLock by the Japanese security firm Trend Micro.

In a blog post, the company said large databases and email servers appeared to be the targets for encryption.

The attacks appeared to have started early this month. Analysis of the malware showed similarities with the LockerGoga, Freezing and EDA2 educational ransomware kit, with more similarities to the last named than the previous two.

Trend Micro said it was unaware of the vector used by ColdLock.

"From this point, they were able to set Group Policies that led to the ransomware file being downloaded and run onto machines within the affected domain."

There was no indication as to whether ColdLock first downloads a victim's files before encrypting them and issuing a ransom note.

The ColdLock payload arrives as a ,NET executable (as a .DLL file) and uses PowerShell reflective loading to run this file.

One notable feature was that the executable would run only if the time was at, or after, 12.10pm on the victim's system.

Given its targets, ColdLock shut down any database or email server processes (mariadb, msexchangels, mssql, mysql, oracleservice) before getting down to encryption.

"Ransomware continues to be a lingering threat, something we mentioned in our last Annual Security Roundup after seeing that the number of ransomware cases we detected climbed from 55 million in 2018 to 61 million in 2019," Trend Micro said.

"Cases like these are more dangerous, as threats that compromise enterprise systems allow for much easier propagation within enterprise networks."

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New strain of Windows ransomware targets Taiwan organisations - iTWire