There is going to be a trivia question associated with the following blog post, let’s see how many can guess this.
I also have another one, but I know what that one is. Here’s the article I wrote about this interesting bleeping computer article.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) seized cryptocurrency and digital assets worth $1,091,453 at the time of confiscation, on January 9, 2024, from the BlackSuit ransomware gang.
This is only the beginning of the article which brings up some more great news which i always like to share.
The article continues:
The authorities tracked the crypto as the cybercriminals moved it repeatedly across virtual currency exchange accounts, depositing and withdrawing it to obfuscate the trace. Eventually, the amount was frozen when it reached a cooperating exchange.
The action was made possible thanks to evidence collected by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia on or about June 21, 2024.
It also says:
Last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) highlighted that the Royal and BlackSuit were responsible for 450 successful attacks in the United States, including organizations in healthcare, education, government, energy, and public safety sectors.
We’ve covered these various names as they came out, and we’ve always said that it could be a variant, because they never go away.
This may put a damper in their plans, but as we always do, they’ll have a stash that is not known by the seizure, and they’ll just rebuild, and rebrand as something else.
“Combined, the groups have received more than $370 million in ransom payments, based on present-day valuations of cryptocurrency,” stated HSI in a press release late last week, highlighting the scale of financial damage these cybercriminals have caused.
Thepoint is, they don’t care how much financial damange they cause, they want the money for themselves or to send it to countries who want to do things that we may or may not support.
The seizure of crime proceeds is crucial in the fight against ransomware, especially when operators and affiliates aren’t apprehended during law enforcement crackdowns, and remain free to use those funds to rebuild their infrastructure and recruit new affiliates.
While I’d agree with this paragraph, countries need to start arresting, convicting, and sending harsh sentences for these crimes. The fact that most of this is done in countries which include but not limited to Russia, China and the Koreas makes me think that this will never get done.
US govt seizes $1 million in crypto from BlackSuit ransomware gang is the article.
It has more than we quoted and discussed here. Its not much of a read, just your typical read, let’s see if we can find some more great news!
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To be honest as my brother who is heavily into crypto says it can be easilly tracked so if you are a chriminal you really don’t want to use it.
Sadly some machines etc are being banned because of so called alegal activities here in nz so I am uncertain.
In places where corruption runs certainly some feel its better than cash.
I am not convinced though.
I mean sure cash is mostly digital but even so you can have cash still.
And governments like in china control cash a lot.
Then again I’d still trust the government over crypto.
Simple fact though, when world war 3 happens the chances are that when cash comes back, normal currency will be first and everyone’s crypto will be lost.