The DarkSide ransomware gang was behind the attack on Colonial Pipeline, the largest fuel pipeline in the United States – The recovered ransom payment also belongs to the Pipeline.
A live-streamed joint press conference from the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and the FBI revealed that $2.3 million worth of cryptocurrency had been recovered from the operators of the DarkSide ransomware gang for compromising the country’s major pipeline.
SEE: DarkSide donates $20,000 in BTC to two charities
The DoJ and the FBI claim that using the blockchain technology, they could track down the DarkSide’s cryptocurrency wallet and clawed back the ransom amount that they ‘allegedly’ paid to the hackers.
Tables Turned for Cybercriminals
According to FBI’s Deputy Director Paul Abbate, through relentless efforts, they were able to turn the tables on the hackers.
“Today we turned the tables on DarkSide,” he said.
The department seized 63.7 bitcoins. The authorities could accomplish this unprecedented feat by reviewing the hackers’ Bitcoin ledger. They then tracked different cryptocurrency transfers and discovered that the amount paid by Colonial Pipeline after the attack was transferred to a specific address controlled by the FBI.
Although unconfirmed; this is the wallet address where authorities are keeping the ransom payment seized from the DarkSide ransomware gang
The US District Court issued a seizure warrant for the Northern District of California on Monday to allow the DoJ to act against the hackers. They managed to confiscate a considerable chun ..
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