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WASHINGTON The Justice Department has recovered the majority of a multi-million dollar ransom paid to hackers after a cyberattack that forced the operator of the country’s largest fuel pipeline to shut down operations last month, said Monday officials.
“The extortionists will never see this money,” said Stephanie Hinds, the acting US attorney for the Northern District of California, where the warrant for seizure was filed.
The operation to recover the cryptocurrency of the Russian-based hacker group is the first undertaken by a specialized ransomware task force created by the Justice Department of the Biden administration and reflects what US officials see it as an increasingly aggressive approach to dealing with a ransomware threat which in the past month has targeted critical industries across the globe.
“As we tackle an entire ecosystem that powers ransomware and digital currency, we will continue to use all of our tools and resources to increase the costs and consequences of ransomware and other cyber attacks,” said the deputy. Attorney General Lisa. Monaco said Monday at a press conference announcing the operation.
Georgia-based Colonial Pipeline, which supplies roughly half of the fuel consumed on the East Coast, temporarily shut down operations on May 7 after a gang of criminal hackers known as DarkSide broke into its computer system.
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