On 6/08/2014 5:01 PM, Brian Parish wrote:
On 6/08/2014 1:15 PM, Brian May wrote:
On 6 August 2014 12:39, Brian Parish <bmp@sepit.com.au <mailto:bmp@sepit.com.au>> wrote:
We have a customer who has been bitten by synolocker. So at present their NAS is encrypted, their backups are not looking good and therefore they are willing to pay the 0.6 bitcoin ransom demanded and hope to get their data back.
Catch is that we have not previously established a bitcoin account and it seems that there's no good way of doing that which allows the required transaction within the short time limit required.
So I'm looking for someone who has a bitcoin account, who can do a 0.6 BC transaction for us without having to serve 7 day waiting periods. We can do a verified EFT transfer to cover it plus a bit extra for your trouble if you can help us out.
I would be very nervous about conducting any sort of transfer like this based on an insecure email. This could be a scam in itself. Just giving a bank account number is potentially risky.
If this is genuine, there are three options I can think of.
* open a Coinjar account. I don't remember having any delays with my account. Think the biggest delay was getting BPay, which is 1 to 2 business days (depends on when you get the transaction in - might have to be before 4pm on a business day for next day service). This will possible give you the best exchange rates. If you try it and find it takes to long, you should be able to transfer the money back again when it arrives.
* Visit one of the Bitcoin ATM in Melbourne. The Lamassu, e.g. one run by MelbourneMAD at The HUB, is easiest and fastest to use, probably with better rates then, say, the Robocoin ATM in Emporium. The Robocoin ATM also requires numerous forms of ID for initial registration (mobile phone number, government issued ID card, palm print, and facial photo), and can (IMHO) be confusing to use (badly designed UI IMHO - could make it easy for the novice to miss key points - I almost did and I thought I knew what to expect). Both options will be relatively quick and fast. Both options support taking cash and turning it into Bitcoin. You will need to have a bitcoin app installed on your phone (e.g. Blockchain seems a good secure easy to use cloud based solution).
* Have a look at https://localbitcoins.com/ - apparently this is the defacto standard for finding a local trader. Never used it myself.
This is assuming you do want to pay the scammer, and you trust the scammer to provide the encryption key. Am assuming you have already reached this decision.
Once you do get the data back again, take steps to ensure you are not scammed again (I have heard repeat attacks are very common).
Hope this helps. If you want more details on any one option, just ask. -- Brian May <brian@microcomaustralia.com.au <mailto:brian@microcomaustralia.com.au>>
Thanks again for your advice Brian. I went to The HUB and they were very friendly and helpful, but unfortunately their ATM had less than $10 worth of bitcoin available for purchase. Having a go with coinjar now.
cheers Brian
_______________________________________________ luv-talk mailing list luv-talk@luv.asn.au http://lists.luv.asn.au/listinfo/luv-talk Well Brian's suggestions were all good, but unfortunately we are still in the same quandry. The HUB ATM couldn't sell me a useful amount. An account I have created with igot.com a couple of days back now has .6 of a bitcoin in it, but won't let me spend more than 0.01 for another 7 days. I've created an account with coinjar and asked them about the minimum time required and got the same answer - minimum 7 days.
Unless someone here has a better suggestion, looks like I'll have to just hassle the HUB people to re-stock their ATM. Apparently "a designated person" has to go there physically to do that, which seems strange for a digit currency, but I guess physical access to the machine provides a higher security factor. So far, for me at least, bitcoin is a major pain is the rear. cheers Brian