Tracking and Recovering Ransom from Pipeline Hacking
63.7 of 75 Bitcoins Recovered
President Biden Expected to Raise Public Debate on Cryptocurrency Use for Ransom Payments
On the 7th (local time), at a press conference held at the Department of Justice building in Washington DC, USA, Lisa Monaco, Deputy Attorney General, announced that a significant portion of the Bitcoin paid to the hackers by Colonial Pipeline, the largest pipeline company in the US that suffered a cyberattack last month, has been recovered. [Image source=Yonhap News]
[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has succeeded in recovering virtual currency Bitcoin that was handed over to hackers. U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to discuss countermeasures against virtual currencies used for cyber hacking ransoms at the Group of Seven (G7) summit, signaling that the U.S. response to virtual currencies used in illegal transactions is intensifying.
On the 7th (local time), the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it had recovered 63.7 Bitcoins out of the 75 Bitcoins paid as ransom by the pipeline company Colonial Pipeline to the hacking group DarkSide. This accounts for 85% of the ransom paid to DarkSide. The FBI recovered these Bitcoins at around 1:40 p.m. on the same day, exactly one month after Colonial paid the ransom.
The Bitcoins recovered by the FBI are worth $2.3 million (approximately 2.5 billion KRW). At the time of the initial payment, the value was about $4.4 million (approximately 5 billion KRW), but the amount of ransom recovered shrank as the price of Bitcoin plunged afterward.
Lisa Monaco, Deputy Attorney General, said at a press conference, "Today we recovered most of the ransom and retaliated against DarkSide," adding, "We will use all means and resources to increase the cost of ransomware attacks and other cyberattacks."
Attention is also focused on the background of how Bitcoins, known to be difficult to trace, were recovered. Colonial had cooperated with the FBI even before transferring Bitcoins to the hackers. According to court records, FBI agents tracked Bitcoin transactions sent via blockchain explorers and succeeded in identifying the address of the virtual currency wallet where the ransom was ultimately stored.
The FBI secured the ‘private key’ that allows access to this virtual currency wallet and succeeded in recovering the funds. It was reported that the hacker’s virtual currency wallet contained not only Colonial’s ransom but also virtual currencies worth about $2 million. All of these virtual currencies were seized as well.
On the same day, Paul Abate, Deputy Director of the FBI, stated, "We will use all available resources to prevent ransomware attacks. We will also continue efforts to improve our ability to track and recover paid ransoms." The Washington Post (WP) described this achievement as a notable milestone amid ongoing cyberattack incidents.
President Biden is seeking international cooperation against hacking attacks demanding ransom payments using virtual currencies. Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor at the White House, previewed at a briefing that "the role of virtual currencies in cyberattacks will be a priority topic at the G7 and NATO summits."
Meanwhile, after the news of the FBI’s ransom recovery was reported, the price of Bitcoin plunged sharply, falling 7% compared to 24 hours earlier to $33,500.
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