Interesting to read today that possibly up to a billion dollars have been stolen from a range of banks in a sophisticated and coordinated attack by hackers that started in 2013.
It’s even more interesting however to hear that not one single bank has, to date, stepped forward to admit that it’s lost cash. And that the attack might even still be taking place today.
We hear criticisms so often within the digital currency ecosystem that imply that Bitcoin (for example) has inherently inferior security. Yet the reality is that whilst some early stage startups within Bitcoin have struggled with inexperienced leadership as they scaled, the so-called safe and traditional sector has struggled at least as badly over the years. In any organisation where your model is to pool valuable resources (in this case, cash), you effectively wave a big red flag and the reality is that someone somewhere will either try to steal it or they’ll negligently misplace it.
As I often mention when I give talks about Bitcoin, it’s worth remembering the (perhaps apocryphal) response of prolific criminal Willie Sutton when asked why he kept robbing banks.
“It’s where the money is”, he replied.
That’s the centralised system we have at present. Time for a change?