Ransomware is one of the most frustrating new trends that people are being forced to deal with because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up locking you out of your system and making it difficult for you to get any of your precious data back without paying a ransom. These ransomware attacks are being conducted by several different cybercriminal gangs, and it turns out that a lot of these gangs are located in one country in particular.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that a new study by Chainalysis revealed that around 74% of the funds that were collected through ransomware headed to Russian based cybercrime networks. The fact that these funds are often collected in the form of cryptocurrencies has actually helped with the investigation process since all of these transactions can be easily tracked using the blockchain, and the digital wallets that the money went to were located through these means.
There are a lot of things that indicate that most of the gangs behind these attacks are of Russian origin. For one thing, the forums that these gangs operate on are usually Russian, and what’s more is that their hacks often contain special code that prevents them from attacking people that are located in Russia themselves.
It has long been rumored that the Russian state is aware of the activities of these cybercriminals and gives them a free hand so long as they don’t attack anyone that lives in Russia or in the Commonwealth of Independent States which many former Soviet countries currently belong to. This evidence definitely suggests that that might very well be what is actually occurring, but it should also be noted that just because the funds are going to Russians doesn’t mean that they are the only ones involved.
The Russian accounts could simply belong to the people that own the ransomware with the people they rent it out to being the actual culprits. However, this evidence does suggest that Russian gangs are playing a huge role in ransomware these days.
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With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that a new study by Chainalysis revealed that around 74% of the funds that were collected through ransomware headed to Russian based cybercrime networks. The fact that these funds are often collected in the form of cryptocurrencies has actually helped with the investigation process since all of these transactions can be easily tracked using the blockchain, and the digital wallets that the money went to were located through these means.
There are a lot of things that indicate that most of the gangs behind these attacks are of Russian origin. For one thing, the forums that these gangs operate on are usually Russian, and what’s more is that their hacks often contain special code that prevents them from attacking people that are located in Russia themselves.
It has long been rumored that the Russian state is aware of the activities of these cybercriminals and gives them a free hand so long as they don’t attack anyone that lives in Russia or in the Commonwealth of Independent States which many former Soviet countries currently belong to. This evidence definitely suggests that that might very well be what is actually occurring, but it should also be noted that just because the funds are going to Russians doesn’t mean that they are the only ones involved.
The Russian accounts could simply belong to the people that own the ransomware with the people they rent it out to being the actual culprits. However, this evidence does suggest that Russian gangs are playing a huge role in ransomware these days.