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.