Latest news with #RayadKamalAyub
Khaleej Times
30-05-2025
- Business
- Khaleej Times
UAE: VFS Global partners with Rayad Group to offer immigration advisory services in US
VFS ETM, a subsidiary of the VFS Global group, has announced a partnership with UAE-headquartered Rayad Group to provide immigration advisory services across five major US cities — Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. According to a press release issued by VFS Global, the collaboration aims to make immigration services more accessible to US residents through designated VFS Global locations. As part of the initiative, the two organisations will set up a Centre of Excellence focused on high-quality immigration advisory services. The centre will leverage advancements in generative AI and draw on top-tier legal expertise to help clients navigate complex immigration procedures and stay compliant with evolving regulations. "As global immigration frameworks become more intricate and regulatory standards rise, this partnership will provide US residents with access to a network of experienced immigration, tax, and legal professionals,' the release stated. These experts will offer customised solutions for a wide range of immigration needs. Founded in 1994, Rayad Group has an extensive global network of associate attorneys in 45 countries and affiliations with 25 Citizenship by Investment Programmes. It also specialises in pathways to permanent residency, Golden Visas, US EB-5 visa programmes, and Green Card compliance. Rayad Kamal Ayub, Managing Director of Rayad Group, said the alliance comes at a time when immigration considerations for US Green Card holders are evolving. 'The recently announced 'Gold Card' initiative has generated significant interest among ultra-high-net-worth individuals,' he said. 'According to the US Department of Commerce, the programme may offer exemptions from income tax on global earnings for eligible participants, further enhancing its appeal.' Amit Kumar Sharma, Head of Americas at VFS Global, called the partnership a natural extension of both companies' strengths. 'Our collaboration with Rayad Group reflects a shared commitment to delivering exceptional service to our customers. By combining VFS Global's extensive worldwide operations and recognised leadership in visa services with Rayad Group's deep expertise in immigration and legal consulting, we are well-positioned to provide clients with comprehensive, up-to-date guidance on migration strategies and regulatory compliance,' he said. VFS Global, which partners with 69 client governments, operates over 3,800 application centres in 158 countries and has processed more than 461 million applications since 2001.
Khaleej Times
20-05-2025
- Business
- Khaleej Times
US Coinbase hack sparks concerns among UAE crypto investors
Thursday's hack of Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US, has sparked fresh concerns among UAE crypto investors, highlighting vulnerabilities in centralised exchanges. In a major cybersecurity breach disclosed on May 15, hackers gained access to Coinbase's internal systems by bribing outsourced customer support agents. This insider manipulation allowed unauthorised access to administrative tools, compromising the personal data of nearly one million users, about one percent of its global customer base, media reports said. The exposed data included names, email addresses, phone numbers, masked banking details, and government-issued ID images. Coinbase assured that passwords, private keys, and funds were not directly compromised. The attackers demanded a $20 million ransom to avoid leaking the stolen data, but Coinbase refused and alerted law enforcement. The company has since terminated the implicated employees and is cooperating with authorities. To mitigate user impact, Coinbase has pledged to reimburse customers tricked into transferring funds, with total remediation costs estimated between $180 million and $400 million. A wake-up call Cybersecurity expert and managing director of Rayad Group, Rayad Kamal Ayub, called the breach a wake-up call for crypto investors in the UAE. 'The MENA region, particularly the UAE, has seen massive growth in cryptocurrency adoption,' he said. 'According to a report by Chainalysis, the region accounted for 7.5 per cent of the world's total crypto transaction volume between July 2023 and June 2024, with an estimated $338.7 billion in on-chain value received. This means many users here are potentially at risk if exchanges do not bolster their internal security measures.' Ayub also pointed out growing concerns about bad actors in the region exploiting vulnerable investors. Cybersecurity consultant and blockchain analyst Dr Zohaib Zaheer, who worked on a project related to Coinbase, said the breach underscores the dangers of insider threats, particularly when third-party vendors are involved. 'Even major exchanges like Coinbase aren't immune,' he said. 'For UAE investors, it's a reminder: don't rely solely on platform security. Use hardware wallets, enable 2FA, and stay alert to scams. Stronger internal controls and tighter oversight are no longer optional but essential.' Investor confidence rattled Ijaz Awan, who runs a Youtube channel dedicated to crypto investing and trading, echoed the sentiment, noting that the breach has rattled investor confidence in the region. 'Coming just months after Bybit's $1.5 billion hack, the Coinbase breach is another major blow to user confidence. It's deeply worrying for the average user; many now feel their funds aren't safe anywhere. If crypto is to grow as an asset class, exchanges must implement much stronger internal controls and security protocols,' he said. Experts said the incident has reignited calls for enhanced regulations and improved security infrastructure in the UAE's burgeoning crypto sector. Obaidullah Kazmi, founder & CTO at Credo Technology Services, reiterated: 'This breach underscores a hard truth – technology is only as secure as the people and processes behind it. While Coinbase's core systems remained uncompromised, the exploitation of outsourced support staff highlights the growing risk of insider threats and third-party exposure." In a rapidly maturing market like the UAE, trust is everything. Exchanges must rethink their security models — moving beyond perimeter defences to adopt Zero Trust architectures, identity-centric controls, and continuous monitoring. Regulations will help, but proactive resilience starts from within," Kazmi underscored. Mohammad AlKaff AlHashmi, founder of Haqq Chain, stressed the need for stronger internal safeguards. 'KYC is crucial for compliance, but it also makes us custodians of sensitive data in an industry built on privacy. Compliance needs to come with security standards that treat identity like digital assets,' he said. 'It's about who you hire, how they're trained, and what they can access.'
Khaleej Times
23-02-2025
- Business
- Khaleej Times
$1.5-billion crypto theft: Dubai authority ‘monitoring situation' after Bybit hack
The news about Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange Bybit losing, in one fell swoop, $1.5 billion (approximately Dh5.51 billion) worth of digital assets following a "sophisticated attack" by hackers, has once again raised the question of security and volatility of cryptocurrency. Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) is "actively monitoring" the situation. In a statement shared with Khaleej Times on Saturday, the regulatory body said the hack remains a "highly evolving matter that we will continue to closely track until it stabilises". Vara clarified that Bybit has not been granted a regulatory licence in Dubai. The world's second-largest crypto exchange is currently working towards "fulfilling the stringent licensing requirements" to secure a Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) operating permit in the emirate. The Dubai-headquartered exchange said in September last year that it was granted a provisional (non-operational) approval for virtual asset exchange services in Dubai for retail, qualified investors, and institutional users. This marked an "essential milestone" for the company to securing full operational approval in the emirate, it said then. The cryptocurrency exchange on Friday reported a loss of over 400,000 ETH — the second-largest cryptocurrency network by market value after Bitcoin. Key crypto players came together to support the company. This "unprecedented show of solidarity" could lead to stronger industry-wide measures to counter and prevent future hacking incidents, Bybit said. How Bybit was hacked Khaleej Times also spoke to Dubai-based cybersecurity and crypto assets experts who shared their views on how the hacking was done and gave their insights on what's next for the industry and the public. Rayad Kamal Ayub, managing director of Rayad Group and leading investor/advisor on crypto assets, noted the largest hacking in crypto history happened after a group of hackers gained access to the so-called cold wallet in which Bybit stored its Ether and sent more than 401,000 Ether — worth about $1.5 billion at Friday's prices — to an unidentified address. What was unnerving about the cybercrime was that it was the crypto wallet — a digital cryptocurrency storage not connected to the internet to protect it from theft — that was hacked, Ayub highlighted. 'The incident occurred when the ETH cold wallet executed a transfer to the ByBit warm wallet (wallet that offers a middle ground as it has varied online exposure based on the user's needs as compared to hot wallet, which is completely connected to the internet). Unfortunately, this transaction was manipulated through a sophisticated attack that masked the signing interface, displaying the correct address while altering the underlying smart contract logic,' Ayub added. As a result, the attackers were able to gain control of the affected ETH cold wallet and transfer its holdings to an unidentified address. The hackers tricked Bybit's ETH cold wallet signers into approving a malicious transaction to gain control of the wallet. 'The stolen funds were initially sent to an address beginning 0x476, which received more than 400,000 worth of ETH, then used the 'sweep ETH function to transfer all available tokens from one contract to another, which likely explains why the transferred amounts are round numbers,' Ayub continued. 'ByBit CEO Ben Zhou said that accounted for about 70 per cent of Bybit's Ether. The exchange has $20 billion in assets under management and has pledged to honor all customer withdrawals," Ayub added. It was the biggest single attack — almost double than the previous record in March 2022, when Sky Mavis disclosed that attackers stole $620 million in cryptocurrency (173,600 Ethereum and $25.5 million USD Coin tokens) from Axie Infinity's Ronin network bridge. In April 2022, the FBI linked that incident to two North Korean hacking groups, Lazarus and BlueNorOff (aka APT38). One year earlier, in August 2021, a threat actor stole $611 million in Binance Chain, Ethereum, and Polygon assets from decentralised cross-chain protocol and network Poly Network. WazirX from India was hacked for $235 million in July 2024; Radiant was hacked for $50 million in October 2024; and DMM Bitcoin was made $308 million lighter in December 2024. In January, hackers stole at least $70 million in crypto from Phemex, a crypto exchange based in Singapore. Meanwhile, the US, Japan, and South Korea said in January that North Korean state-backed hacking groups stole more than $659 million worth of cryptocurrency last year. But blockchain analysis company Chainalysis said North Korean hackers actually stole $1.34 billion in cryptocurrency in 47 cyberattacks in 2024, breaking their previous record of $1.1 billion in 2022. Can the stolen crypto be recovered? On Saturday, Bybit announced up to $140-million bounty for anyone or any group who will help solve the crypto industry's largest heist. Justin Harper, Dubai-based business editor and co-founder of The Crypto Radio, told Khaleej Times: 'I think it will scare people with the sheer size of the amount taken. And the fact it was taken from a cold wallet — which is supposed to be one of the safest ways to store crypto — that will definitely scare people, especially at a time when the industry is facing a lot of negativities over scams and meme coins,' Harper added, underscoring: 'Trust is definitely something the industry should build again.' 'It's sort of like back to square one for Bybit to try and build the trust again with investors. But, on the other hand, the Bybit CEO has been very transparent about this from the start. We have to praise Zhou for quickly reassuring clients that number one, their money is safe, and that they can withdraw any of their cryptocurrencies at any time. Bybit said they have reserves of around $20 billion,' Harper continued. Harper said Bybit is on the right track in reassuring their customers and going after the cybercriminals. He added there was an instance in past where the hacked crypto was returned. It was the Poly Network exploit conducted by anonymous hackers on August 10, 2021. The cyber attackers transferred more than $610 million in digital cryptocurrency, only to return nearly all the assets less than 48 hours later, the company said. What happens next? So, the question remains: Is it still safe to invest in cryptocurrency? Irene Corpuz, founding partner and board member of Women in Cybersecurity Middle East, put it plainly: 'Anything can be hacked if there's a motivation from the hacker. It's not a matter of whether you will be hacked or not, it's a matter of 'when you will be hacked'.' Corpuz stressed: 'What is more important is transparency, as what the CEO of Bybit did; that was very important to maintain trust from the customers and investors. Because not only private information was compromised, but also money.' Ayub also pointed out: 'Cryptocurrency provides an alternative to traditional fiat currencies like the US dollar. While the dollar is holding strong relative to many other currencies, inflationary pressures have reduced buying power dramatically in recent years. 'Many types of cryptocurrencies are safer than some national currencies. However, price versus inflation aside, we also must consider the safety of cryptocurrency itself. A core group of blue-chip cryptocurrencies is considered to be safer than others. These include top assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum that have proven security and enjoy a robust worldwide market,' he added. Ayub also noted many cryptocurrencies can be extremely volatile, changing fast between 50 and 60 per cent. 'Investors, however, often buy crypto assets as part of diversified investment portfolios, giving them gains without concentrating price risk on one type of asset. Investing in any crypto asset can be much safer with proper diversification and a solid education on how to avoid crypto pitfalls,' he added. Ayub's advice is to consider using a self-custody crypto wallet to reduce risks associated with exchange insolvencies or paused withdrawals. 'Also, choose your exchange carefully, researching the reputation and staying power of the exchange before you make a deposit. Lastly, beware of crypto scams. The anonymity of the crypto world invites bad actors, so be discerning and learn to recognise potential scams to avoid becoming a statistic,' he added. 'All investments come with risks, including crypto. However, investing in crypto can be much safer with a proper understanding of the risks and a disciplined approach to your crypto portfolio.'
