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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

#261

Post by jonnycomputer »

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 recall seeing on HN lots of descriptions of just how hard it is to maintain strict opsec, or anonymity. Obscurity sometimes is the best security, but these clowns made themselves a big a$$ target for the FBI. Its one thing to be one among hundreds of small-time ransomware attacks, and another to be the one behind shifting the price of oil of the entire southeast US, and to be the subject of thousands of memes about Americans stockpiling gasoline in the backs of their SUVs.

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

#262

Post by jonnycomputer »

t0mbstone wrote: post #156
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 reason why this story doesn't make sense is because it's most likely a lie. Think about it for a second. If they wanted to discourage copycat criminals, the easiest way to do it would be to claim they seized the crypto, right? But what proof do we have that the feds actually seized anything? Is the bitcoin transaction publicly listed anywhere where we can audit what happened? And even if you see the coins were mo…

Ugh... because the pipeline is going to ask for that money back?

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

#263

Post by flatiron »

donkarma wrote: post #256
fkfowl3 wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They just mention they had access to the private key of the account so that makes sense how they got access. If FBI has broken SHA256, then Bitcoin is a done deal. I hope they share how they got access to the private key.

It'd be a big blow but not the end of the Bitcoin

what do you mean? if they broke sha256 in any meaningful way then people can skip (or significantly game) the whole mining thing...

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

#264

Post by jonnycomputer »

sneak wrote: post #35
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…

It always struck me as improbable that all these high profile (and notoriously hard/impossible to attribute) attacks on “critical infrastructure” or whatever are always instantly and authoritatively pinned (by US authorities) on groups operating in the US’s geopolitical enemies. “Russian hackers” once again, eh?

Well, "Russian hackers" doesn't mean, Russian military. If I was a Russian hacker, and didn't want to piss off my own government, I may well consider that my best targets would be my country's political enemies. From what I hear, it might even eventually get you a sweet job with gov.

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

#265

Post by quirino »

donkarma wrote: post #256
fkfowl3 wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They just mention they had access to the private key of the account so that makes sense how they got access. If FBI has broken SHA256, then Bitcoin is a done deal. I hope they share how they got access to the private key.

It'd be a big blow but not the end of the Bitcoin

It surely depends on which aspect of SHA they would have broken, but the whole point of Bitcoin is the hash being completely unpredictable and requiring brute force. That's the Work in Proof of Work.

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

#266

Post by posix_me_less »

himinlomax wrote: post #239
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…

Computer security is hard. That's why ransomware attacks exist. It's just as hard for ransomware attackers as for their victims. If they were good at computer security, they'd be working a legitimate job. I find your incredulity strange, it's like hearing about the Valentine's day massacre and being shocked that mobsters could be at the receiving end of a Thompson for once.

> If they were good at computer security, they'd be working a legitimate job.

Um, what? Did you do a survey of all people who are good at computer security?

Furthermore, maybe the attackers _are_ working a legitimate job. Do we know attacker's life details?

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

#267

Post by wyager »

quirino wrote: post #265
donkarma wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It'd be a big blow but not the end of the Bitcoin

It surely depends on which aspect of SHA they would have broken, but the whole point of Bitcoin is the hash being completely unpredictable and requiring brute force. That's the Work in Proof of Work.

Bitcoin has contingencies in place to swap out any of its crypto algorithms.

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

#268

Post by [deleted] »

mrkramer wrote: post #249
avhwl wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the private key was hashed, and they only had the hash, then they could not crack it. Hashing is not the same as encryption.

Second reply: I saw that you work in applied cryptography and blockchain technology @ Cryptography Services (NCC Group) so you might be familiar with somewhat Grey Hat russian forum InsidePro; back in the day I saw people there requesting Bitcoin private key recovery for their lost private keys or if they encrypted and/or hashed wallet private keys and couldn't recover plaintext anymore and I can say that amateur cra…

[deleted]

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

#269

Post by bart_spoon »

kristianp wrote: post #183
tacostakohashi wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> what proof do we have that the feds actually seized anything? I'm sure the feds will sell the bitcoin in the fullness of time, like this: https://www.usmarshals.gov/assets/2020/febbitcoinauction/

Won't they hand them back to the pipeline owner who paid the ransom?

I don’t know, I can thing of reasons not to. They want to discourage companies both from lax security standards and from paying ransoms when they get attacked. Not paying them back would provide economic incentive that even if the DOJ is working to combat hacking, they won’t be saving you from your own incompetence.

Not saying that’s what they will do, just that I think it would make sense to me.

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

#270

Post by Millenialboomer »

majormajor wrote: post #52
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…

> I think you are assigning too much “us vs them” to the ransomware marketplace. Attacking things in a foreign jurisdiction is massively appealing from a "what will get me thrown in jail by my own government if things go wrong" perspective. You don't need any political loyalty for that calculation.

The problem is that state-level actors are considerably more sophisticated in their activities than what was seen here. There was a story on HN a while back that can best be summed up as "Defending against this is impossible: Mossad is gonna Mossad and there is nothing you can do about it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26591669
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