How did government recover bitcoin ransom?

The Department of Justice announced Monday that it had recovered a majority of the ransom paid by Colonial Pipeline to hackers who shut down its operations last month and caused massive fuel shortages and price hikes.

How much does it cost to recover from a ransomware attack?

According to Sophos, the average bill for recovering from a ransomware attack, including downtime, people hours, device costs, network costs, lost opportunities, ransom paid, etc. was $1.85 million in 2021. The cost of recovery comes from a wide range of factors, including: Downtime.

How did Colonial Pipeline recover bitcoin?

On 13 May, the general public learned that Colonial Pipeline paid approximately 75 Bitcoins, or around US$5M, in ransom. On 7 June, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that it recovered nearly $2.3M of the stolen funds using money flow analysis and other investigative techniques.

Who paid the ransom for the Colonial Pipeline?

the FBI
With the assistance of the FBI, Colonial Pipeline paid the requested ransom (75 bitcoin or $4.4 million) within several hours after the attack. The hackers then sent Colonial Pipeline a software application to restore their network, but it operated very slowly.

How did the FBI get bitcoin private key?

Court documents indicated that investigators traced bitcoin transaction records to a digital wallet, which they subsequently seized under court order. Officials were then able to access that wallet with something called a “private key,” or password. It remains unclear how exactly the FBI retrieved the key.

Did Colonial Pipeline pay $5 million in ransom to hackers?

Colonial Pipeline paid nearly $5 million ransom to the hackers, one source familiar with the situation confirmed to CNBC. It was not immediately clear when the transaction took place. The FBI has previously warned victims of ransomware attacks that paying a ransom could encourage further malicious activity.

What happened to the ransomware attack on the Delta pipeline?

The US justice department has recovered the majority of a multimillion-dollar ransom payment to hackers after a cyber-attack that caused the operator of the nation’s largest fuel pipeline to halt its operations last month, officials said on Monday.

What did the Justice Department do with the massive pipeline ransom payment?

The Justice Department has recovered the majority of a multimillion-dollar ransom payment to hackers after a cyberattack that caused the operator of the nation’s largest fuel pipeline to halt its operations last month

Why did colcolonial pay ransom of 75 bitcoin?

Colonial officials have said they took their pipeline system offline before the attack could spread to its operating system, and decided soon after to pay ransom of 75 bitcoin — then valued at roughly $4.4 million — in hopes of bringing itself back online as soon as it could.