New enquiry into the ransomware gang whoattacked the Colonial Pipelineshows just how much money they were able to extort during a short - be crime spree : about $ 90 million in approximately seven months .
DarkSide , whichrecently announcedit was closing down its operations and going underground ( at least for now ) , was operating for less than a yr but managed to fall a small-scale luck through cyberattacks take via its “ affiliate program , ” say researchers with Elliptic , a blockchain analysis house that speciate in cut through criminals .
As aRansomware - as - a - Serviceoperator , DarkSide loaned its malware out to “ affiliate ” hacker , who then conducted attacks on targets and negotiated ransoms . This job model , design to share profits between malware “ owners and partners , ” successfully targeted dozens of victims , a bulk of which “ were based in the United States,”write FireEye analysts . In each case , affiliates pick up a Leo the Lion ’s contribution of successfully fork up ransom payments , while DarkSide operators have a smaller cutting .
Photo: Dan Kitwood (Getty Images)
Elliptic recently analyzed thewalletused by DarkSide in the Colonial extortion . It had only been operational since March 4 , yet had received 57 payments from 21 separate wallets — institute in a aggregate of $ 17.5 million . Of those , at least one was from Colonial itself , which allegedly paid the hackers some $ 5 million in Bitcoin in exchange fora less - than - optimal decryptor key fruit .
In fact , DarkSide and its partners mesh a electronic connection of 47 different wallets , each used to collect ransoms from multiple victims , Elliptic reportedTuesday . After the money change hands , it was frequently funneled through crypto exchanges where it could be translate into fiat . In other cases , it was transmit through Hydra , a pop European darknet market that offers “ immediate payment - out servicing , ” egg-shaped researchers indite . All told , affiliate gained some $ 74.7 million from the attacks , while DarkSide — as the developer — earned about $ 15.5 million .
“ According toDarkTracer , 99 organisations have been infected with the DarkSide malware – suggesting that approximately 47 % of victims paid a ransom money , and that the average requital was $ 1.9 million , ” compose Tom Robinson , Elliptic ’s Colorado - founder .
The gang abruptlyannounced early retirement plan last workweek , claiming that a law enforcement agency had take over some amount of its cryptocurrency , while also disabling prominent parts of its infrastructure . DarkSide further claim it would be shuttering its “ affiliate ” program and go underground for the time being .
“ There has been speculation that the bitcoins were seized by the US government — if that is the case they did n’t actually seize most of Colonial Pipeline ’s ransom payment , ” said Elliptic ’s Robinson , noting that “ the absolute majority of that was moved out of the wallet on the ninth [ of ] May . ”
Researchers with Intel471 , the security firm that initially spotted DarkSide ’s alleged “ retirement plans , ” said that it ’s unacceptable to say whether the gang actually get a seizure of its assets , or whether it was just trying to scam its partner out of a cutting of their loot .
“ When law enforcement executes these ‘ takedown ’ actions , there is unremarkably a press loss or a note send on the website indicate that work was completed by police , ” allege an Intel471 analyst . “ We presently have no evidence that shows the notecase was hack , nor anything that indicates law enforcement was involved in the site squelcher or wallet action . ”
They added : “ These ransomware operators are criminals , so it ’s laborious to assume they will bond to what they say . We think DarkSide ’s proclamation is meant to show that the operators are get to be less noisy about their activities to avoid the spotlight . ”
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