The Bitcoin business: Securing your crypto-currency

published 15 January 2014

Bitcoin, to some people, is the evil currency in which cyber criminals deal upon the 'Dark Web' as typified by the now infamous (and defunct, for all intents and purposes) Silk Road underground drugs and guns classified site. For others, including a growing number of small enterprises, it's a virtual crypto-currency that can bring very real and very profitable benefits.

Bitcoin isn't real. There are no paper notes or metal coinage, so there's nothing physical about Bitcoin. But that doesn't really mean that the currency itself isn't real, it just exists in a different form to our traditional view of what money is.

What is it?

Let's start with the basics, and cover what Bitcoin really is. Yes, I've already stated that it's a virtual crypto-currency, but what the heck does that actually mean? Perhaps it would be easier to quickly reel off the things that it isn't. It's not printed by a central bank nor regulated by government, and it's not impacted by fluctuations in international exchange rates.

The main thing that it isn't, although I will contradict this statement in just a moment, is that Bitcoin isn't real. There are no paper notes or metal coinage, so there's nothing physical about Bitcoin. But that doesn't really mean that the currency itself isn't real, it just exists in a different form to our traditional view of what money is.

When you think about it, the traditional view of money has travelled a long way down the same road to virtuality itself. Other than some loose change, most of us these days are used to paying with a contactless swipe of a plastic card, or even allowing virtual payment schemes such as PayPal to seal the transactional deal with a click of a button or touch of a screen. Real cash isn't as valuable to us anymore, which is one reason why Bitcoin has been able to come into existence.

There is enough trust in cash as being just numbers on a screen for the more technically savvy, for the early adopters and geeks (including business and finance geeks it has to be said) to run with the idea of a virtual crypto-currency. Yes, I've used that 'crypto' term again and still haven't explained it, so here comes the science bit.

The clue is in the name. Simply speaking each and every Bitcoin is in fact a private cryptographic key. The idea of such a crypto currency is nothing new, and Bitcoin itself dates back five years.

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Davey is a three-decade veteran technology journalist specialising in cybersecurity and privacy matters and has been a Contributing Editor at PC Pro magazine since the first issue was published in 1994. He's also a Senior Contributor at Forbes, and co-founder of the Forbes Straight Talking Cyber video project that won the ‘Most Educational Content’ category at the 2021 European Cybersecurity Blogger Awards.

Davey has also picked up many other awards over the years, including the Security Serious ‘Cyber Writer of the Year’ title in 2020. As well as being the only three-time winner of the BT Security Journalist of the Year award (2006, 2008, 2010) Davey was also named BT Technology Journalist of the Year in 1996 for a forward-looking feature in PC Pro Magazine called ‘Threats to the Internet.’ In 2011 he was honoured with the Enigma Award for a lifetime contribution to IT security journalism which, thankfully, didn’t end his ongoing contributions - or his life for that matter.

You can follow Davey on Twitter @happygeek, or email him at davey@happygeek.com.