US recovers millions in cryptocurrency paid to Colonial Pipeline ransomware hackers

[DippyDem]

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN)US investigators have recovered millions of dollars in cryptocurrency paid in ransom to hackers whose attack prompted the shutdown of the key East Coast pipeline last month, according to people briefed on the matter.

The Justice Department on Monday is expected to announce details of the operation led by the FBI with the cooperation of the Colonial Pipeline operator, the people briefed on the matter said.
The ransom recovery is a rare outcome for a company that has fallen victim to a debilitating cyberattack in the booming criminal business of ransomware.
Colonial Pipeline Co. CEO Joseph Blount told The Wall Street Journal In an interview published last month that the company complied with the $4.4 million ransom demand because officials didn't know the extent of the intrusion by hackers and how long it would take to restore operations.
But behind the scenes, the company had taken early steps to notify the FBI and followed instructions that helped investigators track the payment to a cryptocurrency wallet used by the hackers, believed to be based in Russia. US officials have linked the Colonial attack to a criminal hacking group known as Darkside that is said to share its malware tools with other criminal hackers.
A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/07/politics/colonial-pipeline-ransomware-recovered/index.html

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LOL The Russian hackers must be so pissed off. Short article .... may have more added at a later time

[catrose]

1. Wow! The police financial fraud division once said to me that it's impossible to recover money

if you paid it to a country who haven't agreed to cooperate with the US in financial matters, like Nigeria or Ghana. I somehow imagine that we don't have such agreements with Russia. Either way, bravo, FBI!

[marble falls]

5. Fortunately, cryptocurrency is located in no one's country.

[lagomorph777]

24. Ironic that cryptocurrency may make perps MORE vulnerable to law enforcement.

Wouldn't that be delicious?

I hope they reveal which brand of filthy digital lucre fucked them over.

[marble falls]

26. That thought occured to me only today.

[mitch96]

29. So did "they" figure out how to crack cryptocurrency or find out where it goes after it's

removed from the cryptocurrency bitcoin security... Either way this is great... The ransom plan only works if the money goes into a blind no traceable hole...
m

[PSPS]

30. Anything done digitally is traceable and that includes cryptocurrency.

[COL Mustard]

37. Well Done!

Had this happened a few short months ago, TFG would have demanded a cut in his own account!

[Sanity Claws]

2. Nice news to break before the meeting with Putin

Putin and the rest of the Russian mob were probably counting on their share of that money. That is now gone and future thefts are at risk.

How is Putin to pay for his dachas and private security?

[samnsara]

3. hubby and i were actually wondering if bitcoin can be marked and traced..

..guess it can!

[Yavin4]

6. But doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of Bitcoin? n/t

[ProfessorGAC]

10. Sure Seems The Opposite Of "Crypto"...

...if it can be traced this accurately

[marble falls]

8. They aren't "marking" bitcoins, they're trailing transactions.

[awesomerwb1]

18. Not marked and traced!

"Marked and traced"

I'll just stop there but thanks for the laugh.

[reACTIONary]

23. Bitcoin works by proving a...

... publicly accessible write-only ledger of transactions. All transactions between accounts are fully documented and completely transparent for everyone, anywhere, to scrutinize. The only anonymity provided is that the account numbers don't have to be registered to a specific name. But if you want to use the bit coins for anything substantial, you have to tell someone who you are so they can deliver the goods.

And, if the government knows more than we do about the cryptography involved, they may know how to fake an account, and then make the transfer disappear after the payoff. Who knows?

[mathematic]

4. Wait a second. Wasn't the payment to prevent the release of private data?

They had the data and said "we're going to release this unless you pay us". Surely they still have the data? Why wouldn't they just ask for the ransom again?

[marble falls]

12. They weren't "stealing data", they locked up the business and account records of the company.

The hackers weren't returning anything but access to the computers.

[AllaN01Bear]

7. good .

[PoliticAverse]

9. Another reality check for those that think most crypto is anonymous. n/t

[lagomorph777]

25. Yup - pokes a big hole in the crypto scam.

[Bristlecone]

11. Big win!

[oldsoftie]

13. We dont need details. Dont let them know more

Just that it was accomplished is fine

[NCjack]

14. Did Trump get a cut, and if so, was that clawed back?

[DippyDem]

15. What if Trump was still president?....

He would not allow the FBI to interfere! So typical of Trump. I heard a blurb on Bloomberg just a hour ago after the press briefing today by the Justice dept or was it the FBI??? Anyways it was about the fact that 90 companies were victimized by the same Russian hackers from Darkside. I wonder if some of those were from the Trump years??

[George II]

17. That was my thought, if he was still around he'd want a cut as a "finders fee"!!!!

[George II]

16. If trump was still president he'd probably skim 10% off the top for "finders fee"!

[Beacool]

19. Good!!!

[FelineOverlord]

20. US recovers millions in cryptocurrency paid to Colonial Pipeline ransomware hackers

I love that the FBI had the password to the hackers’ Bitcoin account. 😂😂😂

Link to tweet

[bronxiteforever]

21. Kick and recommend. Great job FBI

[Rocknation]

22. Well, duh dot com (if you'll pardon the expression) -- they paid it out once they KNEW

Last edited Tue Jun 22, 2021, 02:54 PM - Edit history (1)

that they would be getting it right back.

Ransomware is less of a threat these days if you've taken the precaution of being able to re-encrypt your databases and files and upload them to another sever. I've have do that myself when my seven-year-old daily health news blog got too big for my Web hosts to handle!


Rocknation

[roamer65]

27. Three letters.

NSA.

They have back doors into just about everything.

[Sapient Donkey]

33. I wonder if they would risk exposing their access just to recover some money, though.

Isn't that the whole NSA thing? They prefer to sit back and collect information rather than take actions that would expose their positions and likely end with them losing access once the systems are fixed/patched. At least that is what I gathered from reading books and listening to various people directly involved in that. Apparently this brings about conflict with the more aggressive offensive cyber teams from the military. Although, I suppose there is nothing preventing them from sharing their less secretive and high value access/methods/tools, aye?

[roamer65]

38. My gut tells me they helped as a "fuck you" to Putin.

[marble falls]

28. And then there's times when I think that NY/NJ criminal organizations did it and made it look ...

... like Russia did it.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

31. Or it was done by Colonial Pipeline, to provide an excuse to raise prices.

We need this extra money to study whether we should improve security.

Or, we need this extra money for the chairman's yacht.

[Sapient Donkey]

32. If only they could make it so they lose more than just what they stole.

Make it even more risky to attempt such schemes.

"Do we really want to go after a US company? That might get their cyber people after all of our money"

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

34. Pooty's going to lodge a protest when he meets with Biden

[Lonestarblue]

35. Trump would have said where's my cut?

Either that or he would have refused the attempt to protect his buddy Putin.

[keithbvadu2]

40. Donald would have gotten his cut during his job performance review from Putin.

Donald would have gotten his cut during his job performance review from Putin.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

36. Wouldn't the best response have been to say nothing? No press conference; just silence.

Let the hackers figure it out.

[Historic NY]

39. Stealing back from the criminals....

[CCExile]

41. Does the U.S. government get to keep the money?

Or at least keep a 20% finder's fee?