Bitcoin Is Actually Traceable, Pipeline Investigation Shows

Bitcoin is not as hard to track as cybercriminals think, The New York Times is reporting.

The newspaper pointed to the Justice Department announcement that it had traced 63.7 of the 75 Bitcoins — about $2.3 million of the $4.3 million — that Colonial Pipeline had paid out as a result of the recent ransomware attack

It was the first seizure of a paid ransom by the Justice Department’s new Ransomware and Digital Extortion Task Force, tasked to go after the so-called “ransomware as a service” industry that has extracted hundreds of millions of dollars from targets like schools, hospitals, local governments, and businesses over the past several years.

The Times reported that officials have declined to provide additional details on exactly how they recouped the Bitcoin.

But the newspaper noted federal investigators were able to track the ransom through at least 23 different electronic accounts belonging to the criminal cybergroup known as DarkSide.

Read more at NEWSMAX. 

{Matzav.com}