A database problem has knocked Blockchain's Bitcoin wallet service offline for hours.With the high-profile collapse of Bitcoin exchange site Mt.Gox in February and then Flexcoin's failure earlier in March, Bitcoin backers could be forgiven for fretting about the fate of their virtual currency.Blockchain servers house nearly 1.4 million bitcoin wallets, but the company says the access problem is only a temporary glitch -- albeit one that's lasted more than 16 hours so far.Blockchain Limited Chief Security Officer Andreas M. Antonopoulos said in a blog post Monday: Blockchain is experiencing a technical issue that has forced us to temporarily interrupt services.The outage was caused by a bug in some database handling code.We are working hard to fix the issue and restore service as soon as possible, but anticipate the outage may last more than an hour, as it requires restarting database servers with very largedata sets.We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this recent outage has caused you.

Please rest assured that your wallets are safe and this outage does not affect the security of funds or the completion of executed transactions... Later, the company added another blog post on how to import wallet data into a local wallet app.The company recommends using the Multibit wallet software and gives instructions on how to do so for those who have their wallet information.For those who don't, Blockchain said people can file a request from Blockchain to get it.Blockchain doesn't take control of users' bitcoins, the company said: Unlike other services that have ownership over private keys [data used to sign bitcoin transactions], Blockchain is superior because it allows users to access their private keys, thus enabling them to have access to their funds under circumstances such as this.It is very important for us to emphasize how crucial it is that users make regular backups of their wallets.Doing so will allow users to import their funds into a wallet client such as MultiBit and therefore avoid the headache and stress of being unable to access their funds, for whatever reason.

Blockchain said that as of January, it had 1.1 million registered users and 200 million page views per month.The site is popular among those monitoring Bitcoin statistics such as new coins that have been mined through the public ledger confirmation process.Pilots have a new way to outfox youHospitals, schools, companies and governments around the world were assessing the damage Saturday after a massive cyberattack hit almost 100 countries, infecting computers with malware that demanded ransom payments.No one has yet claimed responsibility for the worldwide attack, which some experts believe was inspired by a National Security Agency tool kit that was leaked last year.Antivirus provider Avast reported that some 100,000 computers had been infected by the crippling malware and that the "WanaCrypt0r 2.0," as it is called, ransomware had been detected in 99 countries with Russia, Ukraine and Taiwan the top targets.More than 20 British hospitals and major companies, including FedEx and Spain's largest telecom, were affected in Friday's hack.

British Home Secretary Amber Rudd said 45 public health organizations had been hit and admitted that her officials had no idea who was behind the attack.Auto makers Renault and Nissan were the latest multinationals to announce their computer systems had been compromised.In Germany, customer information screens at railway stations were hit but there was no impact on services.buy bitcoin in dublinRussia's Interior Ministry also confirmed it had been hit, while Russia's central bank said it had thwarted the attack.bitcoin mining hosting ukThe malicious software — known as the Wanna Decryptor, or WannaCry — locks a system and its files from use unless money is paid to hackers.bitcoin ted talkThe malware typically spreads through email phishing programs and had exploited a known bug in Microsoft Windows' operating system.crear cuenta bitcoin gratis

It is especially nasty because it acts like a worm — finding security holes in a computer to spread throughout a network.Computer experts told NBC News that the leaked NSA tool kit demonstrated to the hackers how they could attack Windows systems.But they specified that whoever was behind the attack did not use an NSA ransomware tool as some media reports have suggested.ethereum supplyAndrew Komarov, chief intelligence officer for the cybersecurity firm InfoArmor, said there was no indication that either WannaCry or Friday's attack had anything to do with the NSA "or any other state-sponsored cyber offensive activities."bitcoin svenska kronorIt was the size of the attack that shocked experts."The scale of it — that's pretty unprecedented," Ben Rapp, the CEO of IT support company Managed Networks, told NBC News' British partner ITV News."There's been a lot of ransomware in hospitals, but to see 16 hospitals, last time I looked, and reports of other people — this is probably the biggest ransomware attack we've seen."

Microsoft said it was pushing out automatic Windows updates to defend its clients from the malware.This is a special case.Had @NSAGov disclosed the vuln when they discovered it, hospitals would have had years -- not months -- to prepare.https://t.co/HJj1TsfQYn— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) May 12, 2017 The U.S.Department of Homeland Security said Microsoft released a patch to address the vulnerability in March and urged users to install it.Whistleblower Edward Snowden blamed the NSA for the damage, tweeting: "If @NSAGov had privately disclosed the flaw used to attack hospitals when they *found* it, not when they lost it, this may not have happened."In a statement, FedEx said that it was "experiencing interference with some of our Windows-based systems caused by malware.We are implementing remediation steps as quickly as possible."The Memphis, Tennessee-based global delivery company did not immediately say whether a ransom was demanded for return of their computers' functions.Spanish telecom giant Telefonica confirmed in a statement that a "cybersecurity incident" occurred Friday that affected the computers at its Madrid headquarters.

China's official news agency Xinhua said secondary schools and universities were hit, but did not say how many or identify them.It could take days before some affected systems are cleaned up.In a twist, a 22-year-old U.K.cybersecurity researcher, known online as MalwareTech, has been hailed as an "accidental hero" for halting the spread of the malware bug.The researcher reportedly identified a domain name in the malware virus and purchased the site, which acted as a "kill switch", according to ITV News.He told NBC News that he purchased the site to track the malware virus — not realizing it would stop it from spreading further.It is not the first time ransomware has been used, and sometimes, hackers hit the jackpot: Last year, Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center forked over $17,000 after suffering a ransomware attack.Friday's demand — reportedly for $300 of digital currency Bitcoin — is relatively low, according to experts."It's a small ransom," said Gene Spafford, founder and executive director emeritus of Purdue University's Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security.