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DOJ seizes $2.3M in cryptocurrency paid to the ransomware extortionists Darkside

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Re: DOJ seizes $2.3M in cryptocurrency paid to the ransomware extortionists Darkside

#221

Post by probably_wrong »

galaxyLogic wrote: post #216

Can someone explain simply why it is supposed to be so hard to track ransomware bitcoin payments, if all bitcoin transactions are in a shared public ledger? If the victim pays someone we know which account it goes to, right? Then we know that account is criminal. If bitcoins move from that account to other accounts we know that accounts that receive them are essentially "hiding stolen goods". So they are criminal acc…

Leaving aside services like bitcoin mixers designed to obfuscate the process, I think the usefulness of bitcoin for ransomware is that it allows you to move a big sum of money quickly without verifying your identity and without going through bank checks.

I think you are correct about getting dollars out being the risky part, but this way the criminals will at least have a head start in their race against the FBI.

Re: DOJ seizes $2.3M in cryptocurrency paid to the ransomware extortionists Darkside

#222

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

colechristensen wrote: post #84
shiado wrote: post #24

This story makes absolutely no sense at all. The errors present by these hackers are so comical it's simply unbelievable. I'm supposed to believe some elite Russian hacking group keeps their crypto wallets running on a US host where the FBI just logs right in and snatches the private key? I'm starting to entertain the conspiracies that the future of commodities price manipulation is fake ransomware attacks. There nee…

People overestimate criminals. The ones that get caught, especially. What would you do if you were a foreign intelligence service? Participate in attacks yourself? No! You would drop hints and supply tools sideways to sloppy groups of idiots enabling them to be destructive, maybe acquiring some funds, and keeping your hands as clean as possible. Then when it comes out that "elite russian hackers" were incompetent idi…

People also underestimate the amount of people trying to commit crimes like this.

If there are millions of people trying to ransomware businesses and hundreds of important businesses with really bad security, depending on how talented the best hackers are - the odds could be quite high you get hacked by a not-so-talented hacker.

Re: DOJ seizes $2.3M in cryptocurrency paid to the ransomware extortionists Darkside

#223

Post by Animats »

tiahura wrote: post #81
shiado wrote: post #24

This story makes absolutely no sense at all. The errors present by these hackers are so comical it's simply unbelievable. I'm supposed to believe some elite Russian hacking group keeps their crypto wallets running on a US host where the FBI just logs right in and snatches the private key? I'm starting to entertain the conspiracies that the future of commodities price manipulation is fake ransomware attacks. There nee…

“I'm supposed to believe some elite Russian hacking group keeps …” Why not. Remember Elite Russian GRU hackers identified because they all registered their cars with the DMV at the same address? https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2020/10/22/rus... Smart people do dumb things.

The Mossad did something dumb like that once. Neckties are not widely worn in Israel, so the photo office that made fake passports had some neckties on hand when taking pictures. But only three different neckties. After a while, some other countries caught on.

Re: DOJ seizes $2.3M in cryptocurrency paid to the ransomware extortionists Darkside

#224

Post by sofixa »

kenny11 wrote: post #129
sneak wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are assigning too much “us vs them” to the ransomware marketplace. With ransomware criminals, “us” is the attacker, and “them” is everyone with a computer who might pay. Political boundaries don’t factor in to it at all. It is by nature an anonymous attack, hence the term “ransom”. It is strange to me that almost all high-profile ransomware attacks that have been publicized in the US are claimed by the FB…

That might be easier to believe if these ransomware strains didn't do things like automatically disable themselves on computers with Russian language support installed.

Russian and a bunch of other CIS countries. It could very well originate from Moldova or Kazakhstan.

Re: DOJ seizes $2.3M in cryptocurrency paid to the ransomware extortionists Darkside

#225

Post by dragonwriter »

shiado wrote: post #24

This story makes absolutely no sense at all. The errors present by these hackers are so comical it's simply unbelievable. I'm supposed to believe some elite Russian hacking group keeps their crypto wallets running on a US host where the FBI just logs right in and snatches the private key? I'm starting to entertain the conspiracies that the future of commodities price manipulation is fake ransomware attacks. There nee…

> The errors present by these hackers are so comical it's simply unbelievable.

True crime stories abound with comical errors (as do plenty of true not-crime stories). As it turns out, real people fuck up in comical ways all the time.

> I'm supposed to believe some elite Russian hacking group keeps their crypto wallets running on a US host where the FBI just logs right in and snatches the private key?

No, you aren't supposed to believe either (a) that DarkSide are an elite group, or (b) any particular narrative about how the FBI got the private key. AFAICT, no one is selling the first claim, and the only people selling narratives about how the FBI got the private key are doing conspiracy-theory-level creative interpretation of documents.

Re: DOJ seizes $2.3M in cryptocurrency paid to the ransomware extortionists Darkside

#226

Post by arcticbull »

cdaven wrote: post #219
kick_in_the_doo wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Randomware attacks on energy (oil and potentially electric grid) and hospitals. And that's only what we've seen so far.

"Randomware" sounds much more fun. Like Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, but for software. :-)

You may know it as "undefined behavior" ;)

Re: DOJ seizes $2.3M in cryptocurrency paid to the ransomware extortionists Darkside

#227

Post by Animats »

This is just an early part of an investigation. Since DOJ got this far, they have leads on who did it.

Russian hackers have been captured in Israel, Spain, Belarius... Sometimes, after the FBI identifies them, they just watch and wait.

Re: DOJ seizes $2.3M in cryptocurrency paid to the ransomware extortionists Darkside

#228

Post by [deleted] »

ulzeraj wrote: post #14
walrus01 wrote: post #8

The most interesting and unknown question is how the DOJ/FBI came to be in possession of the private key.

A private key is not needed if the funds are on an exchange. Apparently there is a warrant to seize property on Northern California so I guess it might be Coinbase. And yeah... if the crackers sent the funds to an exchange they were comically dumb.

[deleted]

Re: DOJ seizes $2.3M in cryptocurrency paid to the ransomware extortionists Darkside

#229

Post by yaitsyaboi »

lacker wrote: post #220
galaxyLogic wrote: post #216

Can someone explain simply why it is supposed to be so hard to track ransomware bitcoin payments, if all bitcoin transactions are in a shared public ledger? If the victim pays someone we know which account it goes to, right? Then we know that account is criminal. If bitcoins move from that account to other accounts we know that accounts that receive them are essentially "hiding stolen goods". So they are criminal acc…

The FBI doesn't have access to every Bitcoin exchange. There are exchanges in other countries that let you trade anonymously, either into fiat or other cryptocurrencies.

Do those other exchanges have some other type of anonymity mechanism? I guess I could see Monero on Bitcoin as a service, but if it isn't something like that it seems just as pseudoanonymous as regular BTC

Re: DOJ seizes $2.3M in cryptocurrency paid to the ransomware extortionists Darkside

#230

Post by PeterisP »

jlgaddis wrote: post #176
acdha wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gangs are multiple people, they have higher expenses (can’t go to a normal bank, have to pay off local police, etc.), and the long-term prospects are risky so they need to get rich and find safe places to store the money after laundering it. Plus every so often you get on the wrong side of someone nasty and end up involved in something much riskier or dead. Even if you’re completely amoral, getting a hefty paycheck,…

Yes, but... if you're in Russia, my understanding is that you really don't have too much to worry about, so long as you only go after targets outside of Russia.

And as long as you're happy with never going outside Russia yourself - I seem to recall a situation some years ago where one culprit was offered a good tech job in the west, and was arrested when arriving at the airport for some scam they did many years ago.
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