The Morning Download: Bitcoin Hack Underscores Persistent Challenge of Securing Digital Currency

Good morning. Bitfinex, the Hong Kong-based exchange where bitcoin is traded, said it was hacked, sending the price of the digital currency lower, the WSJ reports. The possible theft of $65 million in bitcoin follows the $60 million theft in June of rival digital currency ethereum, which together constitute something of a digital currency crime wave. ‘Securing the bitcoin trading platform has proved elusive,’ the WSJ notes.
There’s plenty of incentive to close the security problems, given that blockchain, the underlying technology, can make markets more efficient by removing the middleman. (See our CIO Explainer: What Is Blockchain?) International Business Machines Corp.said it is using blockchain to resolve customer disputes, as CIO Journal reported.
Perhaps it’s unreasonable to expect digital technology to eliminate crime as we know it. But there’s something uniquely disarming about the risk of theft in cyberspace, where vulnerabilities can appear to be more systemic in nature.
Samsung launches Galaxy Note 7 with emphasis on software, services. The focus on software and services is particularly important in the enterprise market, where Samsung Electronics Co. is deploying a new strategy in an effort to grow, Kevin Gilroy, executive vice president and enterprise chief of Samsung Electronics America., tells CIO Journal. ‘Part of our strategy is about selling business solutions and outcomes. The devices get dragged along by the solutions. That is the fundamental shift,’ he said. Mr. Gilroy is a veteran of H-P and SAP SE who was hired last year to reorient Samsung enterprise efforts in the U. S.

This post was published at Wall Street Journal on Aug 3, 2016.

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