Post
Topic
Board Bitcoin Discussion
Re: FBI says it recovered $2 million in Bitcoin Ransomware payment... How?
by
Sithara007
on 08/06/2021, 03:55:09 UTC
Talking about this with friends.  FBI doesn’t give any details, of course, but says they traced it to a Wallet and seized it.  How do you think they got it back?

Our theories are:

-Traced it to an exchange, Forced it to be turned over
-Hacked the hackers
-Cracked the encryption


https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/06/07/cryptocurrency-ransom-paid-colonial-pipeline-hack-mostly-recovered/7589909002/

The first option seems to be the most possible one out of the three. It is virtually impossible to crack the encryption. If they are indeed capable of cracking the encryption, then the value of Bitcoin will become close to zero. And the second option is also very unlikely. Because I don't expect the hackers to be some noobs, who would use compromised emails or simple passwords. It looks to me that the hackers were in a hurry to cash out, and they sent a part of their stash to an exchange where it was seized and handed over to the FBI.