Bitcoin slides 8% after U.S. seizes most of Colonial Pipeline ransom - CNBC
officials managed to recover most of the ransom paid to hackers that targeted Colonial Pipeline.
Court documents said investigators were able to access the password for one of the hackers' bitcoin wallets.In April, 2021 was looking to be a banner year for digital assets, with bitcoin having topped $60,000 for the first time ever.law enforcement officials said they had seized $2.3 million in bitcoin paid to DarkSide, the cybercriminal gang behind a crippling cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline.
According to a court document, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was able to access the "private key," or password, for one of the hackers' bitcoin wallets.Bitcoin has often been the currency of choice for hackers demanding ransom payments to decrypt data locked by malware known as "ransomware.".
DarkSide, which reportedly received $90 million in bitcoin ransom payments before shutting down, operated a so-called "ransomware as a service" business model, where hackers develop and market ransomware tools and sell them to affiliates who then carry out attacks.