Recently, the US government has escalated its crackdown on hacker organizations. The Department of Justice announced the forfeiture of $6.1 million in funds related to the payment of ransom for the hacker attack and the arrest of the alleged hacker. The Ministry of Finance announced sanctions on the cryptocurrency exchange Chatex.
A series of new laws and actions aimed at limiting the number of cryptocurrency crimes may have originated from an attack on Colonial Pipeline, a US pipeline company that occurred earlier this year. Colonial Pipeline’s data is encrypted by cyber thieves who demand Bitcoin ransom in exchange for information.
Although the money was sent to hackers, a large part of the bitcoin funds were later recovered by the FBI. Lisa Monaco, the Deputy Minister of Justice, issued the following message at a recent meeting:
“If you target the victims here, we will target you.”
After the Colonial Pipeline encounters a ransomware attack, the US Department of Justice will raise the investigation of ransomware attacks to a priority level similar to that of terrorism investigations.
One of the recent sanctions issued by the US government comes from the Treasury Department. These sanctions are imposed on Chatex. Chatex is a digital exchange allegedly involved in processing ransomware payments. Chatex became the second exchange to be blacklisted by the US government in recent months after Russia’s SUEX OTC.
The Deputy Minister of Finance Wally Adeyamo explained in an interview:
“This means that all assets of these entities under the jurisdiction of the United States will be frozen. All Americans are not allowed to conduct any transactions with these entities.”
According to the Ministry of Finance, more than half of the transactions conducted through the Chatex exchange involve funds obtained through ransomware payments. The parties involved in the transaction are dark web markets and illegal trading platforms.
The Ministry of Finance notified all companies that have been requested by the ransomware to get in touch with the regulators and inform them of what happened. This will enable department members to take necessary actions against illegal actors and open a portal for investigating criminal exchanges.
The US State Department announced on November 4 that it will provide up to $10 million in bonuses to any informant who can provide information about the leader of the hacker organization DarkSide. In addition, the US State Department promised to pay an additional $5 million to find criminal personal information involved in the DarkSide ransomware attack.
The Ministry of Finance also issued a general message to illegal trading platforms, warning them that if they choose to participate in ransomware, they may face huge fines and penalties.