Earlier this year I had a virtual roundtable event attended by a record crowd for the 13 years that I have been doing them. I invited an amazing expert on IT security (Uri Rivner) to talk on this topic and I recorded the entire thing. My suggestion is that you stream this to your phone as you drive and just absorb the content as Uri goes through the presentation. From a pure educational perspective it is very useful. I hope you enjoy.

The key points from it are as follows – Links to streaming content are at the bottom.

Bitcoin, as a currency is gaining immense popularity because of its huge advantages. Bitcoin is a payment currency that enables you to have total control of your money and transfer cash instantaneously from any corner of the world. Another great advantage of Bitcoin is that it allows you to make payments without revealing your personal details related to the transaction. This is indeed a great protection against identity theft. Moreover, with Bitcoin, you can also secure your money with encryption.

Bitcoin also features exceptional wealth preservation characteristics and this makes it all the more popular. Uri Rivner, the Co-Founder of BioCatch, shares some useful facts about Bitcoin that every CIO, IT Business Executive, IT leader, Cyber Security Professional and people who want to own Bitcoin should know about this digital currency.

Some of you may consider Bitcoin as a crazy digital currency the dollar value of which has been rising significantly in recent times. Some of you might also be stuck in the dilemma of buying or not buying Bitcoin. Here are some important facts about Bitcoins that you should be aware of:

1. What is Bitcoin? A decentralized digital currency that facilitates instant payments without the intervention of banks and other authority.
2. How is Bitcoin manufactured? Bitcoin is mined with the help of mathematical computations and mining software.
3. What is Bitcoin’s role in money-laundering? Lack of government oversight has made Bitcoin a useful tool for money laundering. If Bitcoin is used for money-laundering, the account cannot be closed as it is not under the control of any central authority.
4. The IT Security Challenges Bitcoin: Bitcoin wallet is often targeted by hackers and this is emerging as a serious threat.
5. What protection do Bitcoin owners have and how you can protect your own bitcoin: Bitcoin provides adequate privacy if used correctly. For example, you should never carry out big transactions from a shared PC. You should also refrain from storing your wallet identifier along with your password. Experts are making efforts to prevent the act of tainting several addresses simultaneously while making a payment. Bitcoin owners can protect their wallet by making multiple copies of their backup and storing them in multiple locations that are safe and secure. Moreover, they are advised not to keep their bitcoins in a single wallet.
6. How to buy a Bitcoin: Bitcoin can be bought either from regulated exchanges or from people who sell bitcoins.
7. How to steal a Bitcoin: EveryBitcoin address has a secret key that helps calculate the public key. If you can obtain the secret key for a Bitcoin address, you can access that address and use it for transferring funds.

For more information on Bitcoin, view our recent Education webinar here:

You can watch and listen to the Slideshare Video here

You can watch and listen to the You Tube Video here

Best regards,

Bill