DOJ Recovers over Half of $4.4M Bitcoin Ransom Paid by Colonial Pipeline to Hackers

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U.S. investigators have recovered $2.3 million worth of cryptocurrency paid as a ransom to the cybercrime group responsible for the attack that shut down Colonial Pipeline last month, the Justice Department announced Monday.

During a press conference Monday, FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate confirmed that the U.S. had seized funds from a bitcoin wallet belonging to Darkside.

Investigators seized 63.7 Bitcoins out of the original payment of about 75 Bitcoin, per the Justice Department press release.

"Since last year, we've been pursuing an investigation into DarkSide, a Russia-based cybercrime group," he added.

What they're saying: "Ransomware attacks are always unacceptable, but when they target critical infrastructure, we will spare no effort in our response," said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.

"Today, we turned the tables on DarkSide," she added.

"[T]he Department of Justice has found and recaptured the majority of the ransom Colonial paid to the Dark Side Network in the wake of last month’s ransomware attack," said Monaco.

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