On Monday, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis released a new report that said about 74 percent, or over $400 million, in ransomware ransoms last year went to wallet addresses deemed high-risk, likely located in Russia. The report analyzed ransomware hacks in 2021 and found their connection to Russia based on three key characteristics.
Traces of Russian cybercriminal organization Evil Corp have been discovered, suggesting that they are behind hacks. The group is also said to have ties to the Russian government.
The ransomware is only programmed against victims from countries that were not part of the former Soviet Union.
The ransomware strains, documents and announcements were distributed in Russian.
Internet traffic data also confirms that the vast majority of ransomware is laundered through Russia. Another 13 percent of the ransoms sent to services from ransomware addresses went to users likely living in Russia. This is more than in other regions. Such ransomware strains usually infect a user's computer through a program vulnerability or when downloading unknown files. The perpetrators then encrypt the victim's files and demand payment, usually in the form of Bitcoin ( BTC ) or Monero ( XMR ) to a wallet address, to make the files accessible again.
There was one such famous case last year, in which criminals from the Darkside hacking organization were able to use a leaked password to infect the Colonial Pipeline's computer systems. Pipeline operators were forced to pay over $4 million in crypto ransom . However, 2.3 million US dollars could be recovered . The operators then regained access, but the perpetrators had previously caused a brief fuel crisis.
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