Ransomware, malicious software that encrypts computers and keeps them locked until a ransom is paid, is the worlds fastest-growing cyber threat, according to Coinfirm. Recent attacks on critical national infrastructure, like the Colonial Pipeline incursion that crippled oil and gas deliveries for a week along the U.S. East Coast, have set off alarms. Ransom payments are almost always made in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.
But while many were shaken by Mays Colonial Pipeline attack the Biden administration issued new pipeline regulations in its aftermath relatively few are aware of that dramas final act: Using blockchain analysis, the FBI was was able to follow the ransom payments fund flow and recover about 85% of the Bitcoin paid to ransomware group DarkSide.
An underused means
Unmasking criminals?
A boost from machine learning?
Necessary but not sufficient?
But will malefactors move to privacy coins?
Is banning crypto a solution?
A cat and mouse game
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