8chan/8kun QResearch Posts (7)
#11489945 at 2020-11-06 02:34:19 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #14673: Making America Great Again Edition
Record $1 billion worth of bitcoin linked to the Silk Road seized by U.S. government
Thousands of bitcoins worth $1 billion were seized by law enforcement this week in what the Justice Department said was the largest seizure of cryptocurrency in the history of agency. The cryptocurrency is linked to sales of illicit drugs and goods on Silk Road, a dark web marketplace that shut down in 2013. "Silk Road was the most notorious online criminal marketplace of its day," says U.S. Attorney David Anderson of the Northern District of California. "The successful prosecution of Silk Road's founder in 2015 left open a billion-dollar question. Where did the money go?"
The U.S. government seized an unprecedented $1 billion worth of bitcoin linked to criminal marketplace, the Silk Road. Thousands of bitcoins were taken by law enforcement this week, in what the Justice Department said was the largest seizure of cryptocurrency in the history of the agency. "Silk Road was the most notorious online criminal marketplace of its day," U.S. Attorney David Anderson of the Northern District of California said in a civil complaint Thursday. "The successful prosecution of Silk Road's founder in 2015 left open a billion-dollar question. Where did the money go?" Silk Road allowed people to buy and sell drugs and other illegal goods, and use bitcoin to anonymously fund those transactions. The dark web marketplace was shut down by U.S. federal authorities in 2013 and its founder, Ross Ulbricht, was sentenced to life in prison two years later. Bitcoin has since taken off as a mainstream investment vehicle in recent years. It climbed above $15,000 on Thursday, hitting the highest level since January 2018. The cryptocurrency has more than doubled year to date.
This week, London-based blockchain analysis firm Elliptic said that it picked up on the massive movement of bitcoin spurred by the DOJ. The company reported 69,369 bitcoins - worth about $1 billion - had been moved out of a bitcoin wallet, which had the fourth-highest balance of any in the world. Tom Robinson, co-founder and chief scientist of Elliptic, said the movement of bitcoins "may represent Ulbricht or a Silk Road vendor moving their funds" but that it "seems unlikely that Ulbricht would be able to conduct a bitcoin transaction from prison." The U.S. agencies were able to track down those illicit funds through a unit within the IRS that specializes in tracing virtual currency transactions. The IRS agents were able to identify 54 new bitcoin transactions executed by the Silk Road, which appear to be proceeds of some of that illegal activity, the complaint said. The agency was then able to trace that money to a specific bitcoin address that appeared to have hacked the bitcoin funds from the Silk Road. While the Silk Road was in operation, thousands of drug dealers and other unlawful vendors used it distribute illegal drugs, unlawful goods and services to well over 100,000 buyers. At the time it was taken down seven years ago, Silk Road had nearly 13,000 listings for illegal drugs and "many more listings" offering illegal services such as computer hacking and murder for hire, according to the complaint. Those generated sales totaling more than 9.5 million bitcoins. The complaint also alleges that the Silk Road used a process to make it harder to track individual transactions of cryptocurrency. The forfeiture could be temporary though. The U.S. still needs to prove its case before a judge before it can control the bitcoin funds for good.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/05/1-billion-worth-of-bitcoin-linked-to-the-silk-road-seized-by-the-us.html
#10853184 at 2020-09-30 11:08:18 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #13890: Nightshift Firing on All Cylinders Edition
>>10853181
MacKinnon's point was that sexism existed, and even whiteness did not protect women from suffering it. (A response to MacKinnon by the Yale Collective on Women of Color and the Law contested some of her points, but agreed that feminism had to address the "very real oppression suffered by women, despite any access women may have to social privilege.") Call the Karen meme sexist, though, and you will stumble into the middle of a Venn diagram, where progressive activists and anti-feminists can agree with each other: When white women say they've been raped, we should doubt them, because we know white women lie. And underneath that: What do white women have to complain about, anyway?
Ageism is also a factor. As a name, Karen peaked in the U.S. in the 1960s, and is now rare for newborns, so today's Karen is likely to be well into middle age. As women shout and rant and protest in out-of-context clips designed to paint them in the most viral-friendly light possible, they are portrayed as witches, harridans, harpies: women who dare to keep existing, speaking, and asking to see the manager, after their reproductive peak.
In her essay, MacKinnon wrote that it was hard for women to organize "as women." Many of us, she wrote, are more comfortable organizing around identities we share with men, such as gay rights or civil rights. "I sense here that people feel more dignity in being part of any group that includes men than in being part of a group that includes that ultimate reduction of the notion of oppression, that instigator of lynch mobs, that ludicrous whiner, that equality coattails rider, the white woman," she added. "It seems that if your oppression is also done to a man, you are more likely to be recognized as oppressed as opposed to inferior." That is the minefield that anyone who wants to use the Karen meme to "punch up" has to traverse. You will find yourself in unsavory company alongside those who see white women as ludicrous whiners.
In 2011, writing in The Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates acknowledged the sexism that suffragists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sarah Grimké faced from fellow abolitionists, and their sense of being told again and again that women's rights were important, sure, but not urgent. Coates does not acquit these white suffragists of racial entitlement, but adds: "When the goal-abolition-was achieved, they hoped for some reciprocity. It did not come." Without excusing their lack of solidarity, he attempts to understand it. The Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the vote, came nearly 50 years after the Fifteenth, which ruled that voting rights could not be restricted "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
This uneasy history explains why the Karen debate has become so furious. It prods at several questions that are too painful for many of us to address. How far does white skin shield a woman from sexism? Do women "cry rape" with enough frequency to concern us, or is that another misogynist myth? How do Black women navigate competing demands for solidarity from their white sisters and their Black brothers? Does it still feel like punching up if you're joined by anti-feminists such as Watson, and a guy on a bike who shouts "stupid bitch" at women he doesn't like? And why is it okay to be more angry with the white women questioning the Karen meme than the white men appropriating it?
The Karen debate can, and perhaps will, go on forever, because it is equally defensible to argue that white women are oppressed for their sex, and privileged by their race. ("Half victim, half accomplice, like everyone else," in Simone de Beauvoir's phrase.) If successive generations of schoolchildren can see that, maybe adults can too. After all, the most potent echo of the Till case in literature comes from Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, published five years after the 14-year-old's murder. In the book, "white trash" Mayella Ewell testifies that her family's Black neighbor, Tom Robinson, raped her.* It is a lie. The book's hero, the lawyer Atticus Finch, exposes that lie only by also revealing Mayella's real trauma: She came on to Tom, and was beaten savagely by her father, Bob, as a result. Bob Ewell's capacity for extreme violence is further demonstrated when he attempts to kill Finch's children in revenge for being humiliated in court. Mayella Ewell is half victim, half accomplice-a victim of male violence, and an accomplice to white supremacy.
Her story, therefore, is one of both complicity and oppression. It is not simple or easy. No wonder it was so challenging then, and no wonder our feelings toward her daughters, the internet's hated Karens, are so challenging now.
#8775053 at 2020-04-13 03:24:34 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #11234: The Hard Part is [Y] Edition
>>8774963
To Kill a Mockingbird, novel by Harper Lee, published in 1960. Enormously popular, it was translated into some 40 languages and sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. In 1961 it won a Pulitzer Prize. The novel was praised for its sensitive treatment of a child's awakening to racism and prejudice in the American South.
To Kill a Mockingbird
This book cover is one of many given to Harper Lee's classic work To Kill a Mockingbird (1960). The novel won a Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and the next year was made into an Academy Award-winning film.
Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Book Group
TOP QUESTIONS
What is To Kill a Mockingbird about?
What inspired Harper Lee to write To Kill a Mockingbird?
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Summary
To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Great Depression. The protagonist is Jean Louise ("Scout") Finch, an intelligent though unconventional girl who ages from six to nine years old during the course of the novel. She is raised with her brother, Jeremy Atticus ("Jem"), by their widowed father, Atticus Finch. He is a prominent lawyer who encourages his children to be empathetic and just. He notably tells them that it is "a sin to kill a mockingbird," alluding to the fact that the birds are innocent and harmless.
When Tom Robinson, one of the town's black residents, is falsely accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman, Atticus agrees to defend him despite threats from the community. At one point he faces a mob intent on lynching his client but refuses to abandon him. Scout unwittingly diffuses the situation. Although Atticus presents a defense that gives a more plausible interpretation of the evidence-that Mayella was attacked by her father, Bob Ewell-Tom is convicted, and he is later killed while trying to escape custody. A character compares his death to "the senseless slaughter of songbirds."
The children, meanwhile, play out their own miniaturized drama of prejudice and superstition as they become interested in Arthur ("Boo") Radley, a reclusive neighbour who is a local legend. They have their own ideas about him and cannot resist the allure of trespassing on the Radley property. Their speculations thrive on the dehumanization perpetuated by their elders. Atticus, however, reprimands them and tries to encourage a more sensitive attitude. Boo makes his presence felt indirectly through a series of benevolent acts, finally intervening when Bob Ewell attacks Jem and Scout. Boo kills Ewell, but Heck Tate, the sheriff, believes it is better to say that Ewell's death occurred when he fell on his own knife, sparing the shy Boo from unwanted attention. Scout agrees, noting that to do otherwise would be "sort of like shootin' a mockingbird."
To Kill a Mockingbird is both a young girl's coming-of-age story and a darker drama about the roots and consequences of racism and prejudice, probing how good and evil can coexist within a single community or individual. Scout's moral education is twofold: to resist abusing others with unfounded negativity but also to persevere when these values are inevitably, and sometimes violently, subverted. Lee reportedly based the character of Atticus Finch on her father, Amasa Coleman Lee, a compassionate and dedicated lawyer. The plot of To Kill a Mockingbird was inspired in part by his unsuccessful youthful defense of two African American men convicted of murder. Criticism of the novel's tendency to sermonize has been matched by praise of its insight and stylistic effectiveness.
Harper Lee
Harper Lee
Harper Lee, 2001.
Terrence Antonio James-Tribune Content Agency LLC/Alamy
One character from the novel, Charles Baker ("Dill") Harris, is based on Truman Capote, Lee's childhood friend and next-door neighbour in Monroeville, Alabama. After the phenomenal success that followed the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird, some suspected that Capote was the actual author of Lee's work, a rumour put to rest when, in 2006, a 1959 letter from Capote to his aunt was found, stating that he had read and liked the draft of To Kill a Mockingbird that Lee had shown him but making no mention of any role in writing it.
The novel inspired numerous adaptations, the most notable of which was the classic 1962 film starring Gregory Peck as Atticus. His Academy Award-winning performance became an enduring part of cinema history. Other adaptations included a Broadway play that was adapted by Aaron Sorkin and debuted in 2018.
#5900011 at 2019-03-26 11:08:49 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #7548: Avenatti Out and About but Not for Long Edition
Letter to England: For Tommy Robinson
But yesterday, your noble fathers bled
Upon the fields of France, where countless dead
Had found among the vines their final rest,
To gild with fame a venerated crest
Whose princely brandishing from age to age
Outlasted armies and the tyrant's rage.
But yesterday, you bravely fought and won
A war against the socialistic Hun
Who sought to clap you in the helot's chains
And seize the free world's economic reins.
Again, but yesterday, the darkest hour
Of all the world you lifted by your power,
When many owed so much to you, so few,
Across all continents and oceans blue;
No sacrifice too great, no effort spared,
You rallied to the battle and declared,
In England's name, the inauspicious fight
Against the German Marxist and his spite.
When fire from your once-peaceful skies rained down
On London's ancient temples of renown,
Your valour triumphed over every fear
Whose darkness could not mute your English cheer.
You fought, yet weeping for your sons that died,
And rose to glory on your fathers' pride!
II
Would you, brave sons of Britain's best
Now crawl in servitude at the behest
Of Prussia's despot and her Eastbourne stooge,
And let your nation fall to subterfuge?
Would you embrace their Novus Ordo plot
To make you into something you are not,
Abandoning your martyrs' ancient faith
In globalist apostasy to bathe,
Or sanctify Mohammed's violent hordes
Who now seize power from your local lords?
Your government, a servile rubber-stamp,
Transforms your world into a migrant camp.
Already London teems with Saracens,
But will not welcome us Americans!
Full many are the masks that Satan wears:
Take Corbyn and his self-anointing airs,
Nicola Sturgeon and Theresa May,
Who nourish Brussels while your towns decay.
These bear no love for you and never will,
But count as meaningless the nation's will.
For Britain's debt you have these frauds to thank:
What is their "Europe" but a German bank?
Whose fattened bureaucrats, a pampered club,
Appropriate your wealth, your selves to snub!
Corrupt, they steal and loot without surcease:
What Hitler lost through war they grab through peace!
Would you allow their constant plundering
To go unspoken with their blundering?
Surrender speech to their repressive state
To share with the Chinese a eunuch's fate?
Would you let England topple on the brink,
Whilst petty deskmen dictate what you think?
Or let robotic censors gag your cries,
Whilst leftists freely spew their shop-worn lies?
For, liberty is but an empty creed,
Until the day Tom Robinson is freed!
III
Fair England, land of hills and columbine,
Most gracious isle of rills and eglantine,
Return to thy devout, ancestral ways,
The regal virtues of thy former days!
Come forth in all thy splendor, pow'r, and might,
Proclaim thy fealty to truth and right!
Arise, O England, take thy rightful place,
Let not the heathen thy good self debase!
The sun is rising on thy fields of green,
And glory waits for thee in stars unseen.
The sword of Arthur has ennobled thee:
Thou wast not made for chains and slavery.
The clang of battle on the winds of time
And shouts of knights that echo in my rhyme,
Resound this day in every village square
And rise to heaven like an antique prayer,
That there will always and forever be
An England where the mind and heart are free
To celebrate her once and future King
Whom prophets prophesied and poets sing,
That Mary's Dowry not be spent in vain
But magnify the Holy Virgin's reign,
When Christ shall every bond of hate unbind
And England hold a torch for all mankind.
May 25, 2018
#5496566 at 2019-03-04 05:55:21 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #7028: It's about to go DOWN Edition
What You Should Know About the New Michael Jackson Documentary
Joe Vogel
Hollywood & Entertainment
https://www.forbes.com/sites/joevogel/2019/01/29/what-you-should-know-about-the-new-michael-jackson-documentary/#3e8f9d1c640f
Disclaimer: this article is not intended as a review of Leaving Neverland, which I have not seen, but rather of the context behind the allegations in the documentary.
When Michael Jackson died in 2009, Wade Robson-the former choreographer whose allegations of abuse are at the center of a controversial new documentary, Leaving Neverland-wrote in tribute to his friend:
Michael Jackson changed the world and, more personally, my life forever. He is the reason I dance, the reason I make music, and one of the main reasons I believe in the pure goodness of humankind. He has been a close friend of mine for 20 years. His music, his movement, his personal words of inspiration and encouragement and his unconditional love will live inside of me forever. I will miss him immeasurably, but I know that he is now at peace and enchanting the heavens with a melody and a moonwalk.
Robson was twenty-seven years old at the time. Four years earlier, he testified at Jackson's 2005 trial (as an adult) that nothing sexual ever happened between them. Prior to the trial Robson hadn't seen Jackson for years and was under no obligation to be a witness for the defense. He faced a withering cross-examination, understanding the penalty of perjury for lying under oath. But Robson adamantly, confidently, and credibly asserted that nothing sexual ever happened.
What changed between then and now? A few things:
In 2011, Robson approached John Branca, co-executor of the Michael Jackson Estate, about directing the new Michael Jackson/Cirque du Soleil production, ONE. Robson admitted he wanted the job "badly," but the Estate ultimately chose someone else for the position.
In 2012, Robson had a nervous breakdown, triggered, he said, by an obsessive quest for success. His career, in his own words, began to "crumble."
That same year, with Robson's career, finances, and marriage in peril, he began shopping a book that claimed he was sexually abused by Michael Jackson. No publisher picked it up.
In 2013, Robson filed a $1.5 billion dollar civil lawsuit/creditor's claim, along with James Safechuck, who also spent time with Jackson in the late '80s. Safechuck claimed he only realized he may have been abused when Robson filed his lawsuit. That lawsuit was dismissed by a probate court in 2017.
In 2019, the Sundance Film Festival premiered a documentary based entirely on Robson and Safechuck's allegations. While the documentary is obviously emotionally disturbing given the content, it presents no new evidence or witnesses. The film's director, Dan Reed, acknowledged not wanting to interview other key figures because it might complicate or compromise the story he wanted to tell.
It is tempting for the media to tie Jackson into a larger cultural narrative about sexual misconduct. R. Kelly was rightfully taken down by a documentary, and many other high-profile figures have been exposed in recent years, so surely, the logic goes, Michael Jackson must be guilty as well. Yet that is a dangerous leap-particularly with America's history of unjustly targeting and convicting black men-that fair-minded people would be wise to consider more carefully before condemning the artist. It is no accident that one of Jackson's favorite books (and movies) was To Kill a Mockingbird, a story about a black man-Tom Robinson-destroyed by false allegations.
The media's largely uncritical, de-contextualized takes out of Sundance seem to have forgotten: no allegations have been more publicly scrutinized than those against Michael Jackson. They elicited a two-year feeding frenzy in the mid-90s and then again in the mid-2000s, when Jackson faced an exhaustive criminal trial. His homes were ransacked in two unannounced raids by law enforcement. Nothing incriminating was found. Jackson was acquitted of all charges in 2005 by a conservative Santa Maria jury. The FBI, likewise, conducted a thorough investigation. Its 300-page file on the pop star, released under the Freedom of Information Act, found no evidence of wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, dozens of individuals who spent time with Jackson as kids continue to assert nothing sexual ever happened. This includes hundreds of sick and terminally ill children such as Bela Farkas (for whom Jackson paid for a life-saving liver transplant) and Ryan White (whom Jackson befriended and supported in his final years battling AIDS); it includes lesser-known figures like Brett Barnes and Frank Cascio; it includes celebrities like Macaulay Culkin, Sean Lennon, Emmanuel Lewis, Alfonso Ribeiro, and Corey Feldman; it includes Jackson's nieces and nephews; and it includes his own three children.
#4731870 at 2019-01-13 02:04:40 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #6038: On Broadway Edition
DONT SHOOT THE MESSENGER. I WAS FORCED TO DO THIS.
Throughout the book, a number of characters (Jem, Tom Robinson, Dill, Boo Radley, Mr. Raymond) can be identified as mockingbirds-innocents who have been injured or destroyed through contact with evil.
#4731549 at 2019-01-13 01:38:44 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #6038: On Broadway Edition
>>4731454
'All rise' after Tom Robinson is convicted for Atticus after verdict
8kun Midnight Riders Posts (1)
#6670 at 2020-11-04 19:32:48 (UTC+1)
QR Midnight Riders #27: Philadelphia freedom Shine the Light Edition
Nearly $1 billion worth of bitcoin linked to Silk Road black market is on the move, analysis shows
Nearly $1 billion worth of bitcoin with potential ties to the Silk Road online black market is on the move, according to London-based blockchain analysis firm Elliptic.
Silk Road was closed down by U.S. federal authorities in 2013, while its creator, Ross Ulbricht, was sentenced to life in prison two years later. The site, hidden away as part of the dark web, allowed people to sell drugs and other illegal goods.
Elliptic, a firm that tracks the movement of dirty money in the cryptocurrency sphere, said Wednesday that it picked up on a transaction of funds believed to have originated from the site. The company said that 69,369 bitcoins - worth about $950 million today, according to CoinDesk - had been moved out of a wallet that had the fourth-highest balance of any globally.
It added that an encrypted file circulating among hackers allegedly contained the passcode required to withdraw bitcoins from that wallet. "The movement of these bitcoins today ... may represent Ulbricht or a Silk Road vendor moving their funds," Tom Robinson, co-founder and chief scientist of Elliptic, said in a blog post. "However it seems unlikely that Ulbricht would be able to conduct a bitcoin transaction from prison." "Alternatively, the encrypted wallet file may have been real, and the password has now been cracked - allowing the bitcoins to be moved."
Though the Federal Bureau of Investigation seized 174,000 bitcoins from Ulbricht, Robinson said a further 440,000 bitcoins were earned from Silk Road commissions. "There has always been the suspicion that proceeds of the Silk Road may remain in circulation," he said. The FBI was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
Bitcoin has been on a tear in 2020, climbing 91% year-to-date as major companies like PayPal and Facebook have shown an increased interest in cryptocurrencies. But it's also been the target of scrutiny from regulators and bankers due to its use in criminal activities like money laundering.
Elliptic and a competitor called Chainalysis have tried to bring some legitimacy to the cryptocurrency industry by selling analytics tools that allow virtual currency exchanges and banks to block potentially dubious transactions.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/04/1-billion-of-bitcoin-linked-to-silk-road-is-on-the-move-elliptic.html
8chan/8kun QRB Posts (2)
#81457 at 2021-08-11 15:20:27 (UTC+1)
QRB General #503: Late Night Pillow Fight Edition
>>81294 pb Hackers steal $600m in major cryptocurrency heist
Hackers Start Returning $600 Million Stolen In Record-Breaking DeFi Hack
The hacker now appears to be asking for donations for his (or her) decision to return their ill-gotten gains...Just as crypto-bulls were celebrating the recent market rally, news of a record-setting $600MM hack of the cross-chain protocol Poly Network spoiled the party by reviving security concerns that have dogged the crypto universe, in one way or another, since the collapse of Mt. Gox back in 2014. Across the world, hodlers were left to look on helplessly as the hacker transferred the funds to a handful of addresses, which immediately became the focus of intense scrutiny as the world speculated about the identity of the hackers.
Well, as it turns out, the whole thing was for show, because the hackers have already started returning the stolen coins after contacting the Poly Network early Wednesday morning to say they were ready to return the money...In response, Poly Network's Twitter account provided three separate wallet addresses for the hacker to return the stolen coins to the network. "We are preparing a multisig address controlled by known Poly addresses," Poly Network noted in a response message also embedded in an ethereum transaction, as the screenshot shows.
So far, nearly $4.8MM of the $600MM in stolen funds had been successfully returned. So far, we have received a total value of $4,772,297.675 assets returned by the hacker.
ETH address: $2,654,946.051
BSC address: $1,107,870.815
Polygon address: $1,009,480.809 pic.twitter.com/bPFAQk4mvS- Poly Network (@PolyNetwork2) August 11, 2021
Hope you will transfer assets to addresses below:
ETH: 0x71Fb9dB587F6d47Ac8192Cd76110E05B8fd2142f
BSC: 0xEEBb0c4a5017bEd8079B88F35528eF2c722b31fc
Polygon: 0xA4b291Ed1220310d3120f515B5B7AccaecD66F17 pic.twitter.com/mKlBQU4a1B
Details are still sketchy, but cross-chain developer O3 Labs suggested the hacker might be a "white hat" looking to draw attention to security flaws. This wouldn't be the first time a hacker returned stolen coins.
According to data obtained by crypto journalist Colin Wu, the hacker has also returned $2.65MM in stolen Shiba Inu and Fei that were also stolen during the hack. The hack initially targeted Ethereum, Binance Chain, and the Polygon network.
Crypto security experts celebrated the hacker's decision, with Dr. Tom Robinson, co-founder and chief scientist at Elliptic, telling Zero Hedge that "this demonstrates that even if you can steal crypto assets, laundering them and cashing out is extremely difficult, due to the transparency of the blockchain and the use of blockchain analytics. In this case, the hacker concluded that the safest option was just to return the stolen funds. "
Still, the growing popularity of DeFi (decentralized finance) networks and tokens is making the sector an attractive target for hackers. One research firm estimated nearly $300MM has already been stolen in other hacks.
For now, it looks like the hackers will return the entirety of the stolen funds. Next time, they might not be so lucky.
https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/hackers-start-returning-600-million-stolen-record-breaking-defi-hack
#54451 at 2021-05-18 14:56:09 (UTC+1)
QRB General #199: SCOTUS Delivers 9-0 Gun Rights Victory! Edition
Hackers behind Colonial Pipeline attack received $90 million in bitcoin before shutting down
DarkSide, the hacker group behind the recent Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack, received a total of $90 million in bitcoin ransom payments before shutting down last week, according to fresh research.
Colonial Pipeline was hit with a devastating cyberattack earlier this month that forced the company to shut down approximately 5,500 miles of pipeline, crippling gas delivery systems in southeastern states. The FBI blamed the attack on DarkSide, a cybercriminal gang believed to be based in Eastern Europe, and Colonial reportedly paid a $5 million ransom to the group.
DarkSide operates what's known as a "ransomware as a service" business model, meaning the hackers develop and market ransomware tools and sell them to other criminals who then carry out attacks. Ransomware is a type of malicious software that's designed to block access to a computer system. Hackers demand a ransom payment - typically cryptocurrency - in return for restoring access.
On Friday, London-based blockchain analytics firm Elliptic said it had identified the bitcoin wallet used by DarkSide to collect ransom payments from its victims. That same day, security researchers Intel 471 said DarkSide had closed down after losing access to its servers and as its cryptocurrency wallets were emptied. DarkSide also blamed "pressure from the U.S.," according to a note obtained by Intel 471. In a new blog post Tuesday, Elliptic said DarkSide and its affiliates bagged at least $90 million in bitcoin ransom payments, originating from 47 distinct cryptocurrency wallets. The average payment from organizations was likely $1.9 million, Elliptic said. "To our knowledge, this analysis includes all payments made to DarkSide, however further transactions may yet be uncovered, and the figures here should be considered a lower bound," said Tom Robinson Elliptic's co-founder and chief scientist.
Elliptic said that DarkSide's bitcoin wallet contained $5.3 million worth of the digital currency before its funds were drained last week. There was some speculation that this bitcoin had been seized by the U.S. government. There was some speculation that this bitcoin had been seized by the U.S. government.
Of the $90 million total haul, $15.5 million went to DarkSide's developer while $74.7 million went to its affiliates, according to Elliptic. The majority of the funds are being sent to crypto exchanges, where they can be converted into fiat money, Elliptic said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/18/colonial-pipeline-hackers-darkside-received-90-million-in-bitcoin.html