What’s the best way to stop ransomware? Make it riskier and less lucrative for cyber criminals. Nearly all intruders prefer to collect a ransom in cryptocurrency. But it’s a double-edged sword since even crypto leaves a money trail. Recovering ransomware payouts could lead to a sharp decline in exploits.
Ransomware is still today’s top attack type, according to IBM Security’s latest research published in the tenth annual X-Force Threat Intelligence Index. It nets millions of dollars for nefarious actors and disrupts businesses, supply chains and entire industries.
Still, not all hope is lost. Using a multi-pronged approach, it’s possible to recover ransomware payments. In the long run, this could make a big difference in cyber crime reduction.
Recovering Ransomware Payments
Some still believe that cryptocurrency ransom payments can’t be recovered. This is far from the truth. For example, the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack resulted in the company paying a $4.4 million ransom in Bitcoin in early May 2021. But by early June 2021, the FBI recovered more than $2 million of the ransom paid.
In this case, a federal judge in the Northern District of California granted a warrant, and the feds seized proceeds from the crypto wallet that held the ransom. The warrant authorized the seizure of 63.7 bitcoin, or $2.3 million, per the exchange rate at the time of seizure.
The bureau obtained the private key for the wallet address, which enabled the FBI to confiscate the bitcoin from the wallet. Official ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
