The FBI Will Launch A Ransomware-Focused Unit To Monitor Cryptocurrencies
Both the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department are making moves in the crypto space. Recent high-profile victories offered the necessary incentive for both organizations to take action. Reuters reports that the Justice Department hired “a seasoned computer crimes prosecutor” as their new crypto zar. For their part, the “FBI is launching a unit for blockchain analysis and virtual asset seizure.” Both moves are a clear indication of the U.S.’s newfound attitude towards cryptocurrencies. The Justice Department’s New Crypto Czar The U.S. Justice Department’s National Cryptocurrency....
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Over the course of 2015, many individuals and companies have been affected by ransomware. While this may have nothing to do with Bitcoin at first glance, there have been a few cases where the ransomware could only be removed by paying a certain fee in Bitcoin. But those days may be over now, as a decryption toolkit for various types of ransomware has been made publicly available, free of charge. CryptoLocker and CoinVault Ransomware. Two types of ransomware making headlines all across the world in recent months are called CryptoLocker and CoinVault. Both types of ransomware operate, in the....
Why is ransomware the new rage? Denis Sinegubko, the founder of Unmask Parasites and senior malware researcher at Sucuri, a network security firm, notes in a Sucuri blog that the answer to this question has to do with the way ransomware demands are paid. Unlike false anti-viruses that were mostly harmless and made people pay to remove non-existing threats, ransomware is a more serious challenge since it disables the computer unless a ransom is paid. Ransomware schemes were not available five to eight years ago. Ransomware could not accept PayPal or credit cards since those transactions are....
In a ransomware attack, it is assumed that the hackers prefer the ransom being paid in bitcoin due to the anonymous nature of its transactions. It might not be true as the hackers are probably interested in bitcoin for entirely different reasons. Bitcoin and Ransomware, these words appear more frequently in a single sentence these days than we wish for. Ransomware attacks have become a common occurrence these days. We had earlier reported the use of Advertising network by cyber criminals to propagate ransomware to the computers belonging to the readers of some of the leading news websites.....
Kaspersky Lab has added a further 711 decryption keys to its database. Kaspersky Lab has released a new tool to help free computer files 'held hostage' by bitcoin ransomware. CoinVault, which has infected around 700 computers in the Netherlands, is a strain of malware that demands a rising amount of bitcoin to unlock files it has encrypted. Thanks to Kaspersky's ransomware decrypter, certain victims can now access their files free of charge. The tool was created after Dutch authorities shared a database of CoinVault's information (including IVs, keys and bitcoin wallets) with the firm as....
A surge in ransomware in 2021 has also resulted in a surge in Monero usage as the method of payment as more criminal groups want only XMR. A new report by blockchain analytics firm CipherTrace highlights the growing role that privacy-focused cryptocurrencies such as Monero are playing in the rising tide of ransomware.“Current Trends in Ransomware” delves into trends observed during 2021 but was only released this week. The firm revealed there was almost a 500% increase in “double extortion” ransomware attacks from 2020 to 2021. These are cyber attacks in which malicious actors steal a....