Time.news – The US federal authorities have tracked down e recovered $ 2.3 million in cryptocurrencies, half of the ransom paid to foreign hackers, whose attack in May led to the blockade of the country’s largest oil pipeline network, operated by the Colonial Pipeline.
Confiscation of funds paid by the company a a network of Russian hackers, DarkSide, is the first to be scored by the new Justice Department task force, tasked with dealing with ransomware and digital blackmail.
The success announced by the Justice Department comes later a series of cyber attacks that left consumers in a panic and led US President Joe Biden to admonish Moscow to take “decisive action” against criminal networks. On May 31, for example, the American subsidiary of JBS, the world’s largest meat producer, was hit with severe damage.
L’hackeragggio a Colonial Pipeline, perpetrated with ransomware, occurred on May 7 and paralyzed the American pipeline network for several days, as well as causing fuel supply problems in several states.
Those launched with ransomware are attacks, which through email or simple links are able to install software capable of rapidly infecting machines on the targeted computer, blocking access to files and programs. The ransomware ‘encrypts’ the contents until the attacker gives the victim a key to free them. Almost always behind a ransom. According to the FBI, DarkSide specializes in precisely this type of operation.
Colonial Pipeline CEO Joseph Blount admitted paying a $ 4.4 million ransom. “I know it’s a highly controversial decision, but it was the right thing for the country to do,” he explained. The Colonial Pipeline network, approximately 8,851 kilometers long, carries 45% of East Cost fuel supplies.
At the press conference, the FBI deputy director, Paul Abbate, said that the transaction involved DarkSide’s “bitcoin wallet”, used by hackers to collect the ransom. In the aftermath of the federal ‘raid’, DarkSide ceased operations and explained to its affiliates that a “public” portion of its infrastructure had been “tampered with” by an unspecified law enforcement agency, according to reports from two US cybersecurity companies.
“Today we took our revenge on DarkSide“, exulted the Deputy Attorney General, Lisa Monaco, announcing the recovery of” most of the ransom “.” The United States will use all available means to make these attacks more costly and less profitable for criminal companies, “he later warned without specify how the money was recovered Analysts believe that both the FBI and the army’s cyber warfare units were involved in the operation.
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