DarkSide pipeline disruptors

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DeDee said:
Well, the reason the gas lines started flowing again was because Colonial Pipeline paid a multi million dollar (almost 5m) ransom in cryptocurrency. After saying they wouldn't pay a ransom, they did.

Ain't that a kick in the seat

Hackers Got $5 Million: Colonial Pipeline Reportedly Paid A Ransom In Cryptocurrency, Contrary To Claims

"The pipeline company reportedly paid the $5 million in cryptocurrency soon after the cyberattack, but the tool the hackers gave the company to restore its computer network took too long to work."

"... the company was working with FireEye, a cybersecurity company, to recover its systems rather than pay the ransom, and the FBI does not recommend paying ransomware hackers...”

"In July 2020, U.S. travel company CWT paid hackers $4.5 million to try and recover corporate files and bring their computer systems back online. "
Click to expand...

is cryptocurrency impossible to trace? seems to me that the transaction would be traceable but what do I know?
 
Negotiating with terrorists, so to speak - not a good move imo. They’ll just do it again, jmo.

Also, in the above video, there are other ramsomware attacks going on. One involves collecting information about police officers, and threatening to release it if they aren’t paid.
 
I found conflicting data on cryptocurrency being traceable. Anonymity is important to those who transact in money laundering which is what the DarkSide is doing. The company Monero is one company that allows the safest anonymity due to the transactions being so very difficult to trace.

What is Cryptocurrency and How Does It Work?

It is impossible to trace transactions back to their senders or recipients because the blockchain only has a record of each user’s public key. Without knowing the private key to a user’s account, you cannot identify exactly who is behind a specific transaction.

Is money laundering possible with cryptocurrency?

Tracing the origin of cryptocurrencies is possible because of blockchain technology. However, obfuscating the path of origin makes it complicated to trace, but not impossible. Nevertheless, it is time-consuming (it requires loads of electricity and copious amounts of time)

Monero price today, XMR live marketcap, chart, and info | CoinMarketCap

What Makes Monero Unique?
There are several things that make Monero unique. One of the project’s biggest aims is achieving the greatest level of decentralization possible, meaning that a user doesn’t need to trust anyone else on the network.

Privacy is achieved through a few distinctive features. Whereas each Bitcoin in circulation has its own serial number, meaning that cryptocurrency usage can be monitored, XMR is completely fungible. By default, details about senders, recipients and the amount of crypto being transferred are obscured — and Monero advocates says this offers an upper hand over rival privacy coins such as Zcash, which are “selectively transparent.”

Obfuscation is achieved through the use of ring signatures. Here, past transaction outputs are picked from the blockchain and act as decoys, meaning that outside observers can’t tell who signed it. If Ian was sending 200 XMR to Susan, this amount could also be split into random chunks to add a further level of difficulty.

To ensure that transactions cannot be linked to one another, stealth addresses are created for every single transaction that are only used once.

All of these distinctive features have led to XMR being increasingly used for illicit transactions instead of Bitcoin — especially on darknet markets. Governments around the world, especially the U.S., have also offered hundreds of thousands of dollars to anyone who can crack Monero’s code.
 
It is formally believed that the rogue DarkSide Operation is located inside of Russia but is not the Russians. So who are they?

It is believed, according to their own statements, that DarkSide does not wish harm and promises not to attack hospitals and other essentials. They are apolitical and only want money without creating trouble. They've posted receipts online where they've donated large sums to charities.

https://twitter.com/darktracer_int/status/1391735232991092738
DarkTracer : DarkWeb Criminal Intelligence
May 10
DarkSide ransomware gang, which shut down the largest oil pipeline in the U.S., posted a notice that their only goal was money.

Edward Snowden gets permanent residency in Russia - lawyer - CNN
"And of course I would like to return to the United States. That is the ultimate goal.
Click to expand...

Edward Snowden resides in Russia. I am not claiming he is responsible for DarkSide's data breaches but he is most unhappy with the USA keeping him exiled in Russia.
I never quite understood how he managed to escape China in order to enter Russia without some inside assistance even though I've heard him explain the treacherous journey.

Snowden Ordered by Judge to Surrender Book Profits to U.S.
In SEPT 2020, a judge ordered all profits from Snowden's book would be relinquished to the USA. That's $4.2 million!

So, how is Snowden earning a living these days?
 
DeDee said:
It is formally believed that the rogue DarkSide Operation is located inside of Russia but is not the Russians. So who are they?

It is believed, according to their own statements, that DarkSide does not wish harm and promises not to attack hospitals and other essentials. They are apolitical and only want money without creating trouble. They've posted receipts online where they've donated large sums to charities.

https://twitter.com/darktracer_int/status/1391735232991092738
DarkTracer : DarkWeb Criminal Intelligence
May 10
DarkSide ransomware gang, which shut down the largest oil pipeline in the U.S., posted a notice that their only goal was money.

Edward Snowden gets permanent residency in Russia - lawyer - CNN


Edward Snowden resides in Russia. I am not claiming he is responsible for DarkSide's data breaches but he is most unhappy with the USA keeping him exiled in Russia.
I never quite understood how he managed to escape China in order to enter Russia without some inside assistance even though I've heard him explain the treacherous journey.

Snowden Ordered by Judge to Surrender Book Profits to U.S.
In SEPT 2020, a judge ordered all profits from Snowden's book would be relinquished to the USA. That's $4.2 million!

So, how is Snowden earning a living these days?
Click to expand...

I seriously doubt its Edward Snowden.

I do think part of the problem is pipeline companies pinching pennies by not spending what's necessary to keep their systems secure.

Something similar happened a few years ago when credit reporting companies were hacked and millions of consumers personal information stolen.

JMO, the owners of the Colonial pipeline should be fined by the US government for not keeping their security updated.

As for paying the ransom, no they shouldn't have done that, but $5 million is decimal dust to these compnies.
 
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It has caused a disruption in the Southeast. Essential home health care cut visits to medical patients due to lack of fuel. Fights at gas stations, hoarding, return to remote school to save bus gas, grocery delivery cancelled due to no gas, traffic jams with intersections blocked due to fuel lines, no trips to the park for kids, after school activities cancelled, etc.

Colonial had to pay the big ransom but the public has the daily headache on how to deal with this ongoing crisis. On top of Covid.

Lack of gas certainly affects essential public services so that statement about not causing harm is false in my opinion.

I am guessing there will be no employee raises or bonuses as a result. Employees can set goals and meet their goals or even exceed them - but it the company does not make their profit set for the year - the employee loses.

They will cut back in other ways to offset having the pay the ransom. Defer needed maintenance on the pipeline, cancel capital projects, etc. Those contractors who had been awarded those projects will scramble to find work to replace the cancelled job.

It drove the price up per gallon for the people who can’t afford it much less find an open gas station.
JMO
 
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MimosaMornings said:
It has caused a disruption in the Southeast. Essential home health care cut services to medical patients due to lack of fuel. Fights at gas stations, hoarding, return to remote school to save bus gas, grocery delivery cancelled due to no gas, traffic jams with intersections blocked due to fuel lines, no trips to the park for kids, after school activities cancelled, etc.

Colonial had to pay the big ransom but the public has the daily headache on how to deal with this ongoing crisis. On top of Covid.

Lack of gas certainly affects essential public services so that statement about not causing harm is false. It drove the price up per gallon for the people who can’t afford it much less find an open gas station.
JMO
Click to expand...

Hopefully, things are back to normal there. The price spike should be temporary. If not, it needs to be investigated. Energy and pipeline companies are operating at record high profit levels.
 
Betty P said:
Hopefully, things are back to normal there. The price spike should be temporary. If not, it needs to be investigated. Energy and pipeline companies are operating at record high profit levels.
Click to expand...
No, it will not be back to normal for another two weeks or so.

The gas price will stay up due to the increasing demand for gas and the supply/distribution will struggle for a while.

It went up and will stay up after Memorial Day because now people will be traveling for summer, vacations, etc.

That Texas freeze did a lot of damage to the infrastructure at not only petroleum but chemical plants. Some are just now back up to full operation.
 
MimosaMornings said:
No, it will not be back to normal for another two weeks or so.

The gas price will stay up due to the increasing demand for gas and the supply/distribution will struggle for a while.

It went up and will stay up after Memorial Day because now people will be traveling for summer, vacations, etc.

That Texas freeze did a lot of damage to the infrastructure at not only petroleum but chemical plants. Some are just now back up to full operation.
Click to expand...

Well I hope its resolved soon!

CNN is interviewing executives from Symantec and IBM who are reiterating the same point - these companies need to protect the cyber infrastructure for all these pipelines as well as other parts of our energy, communications, digital records, power transmission and distribution systems.

There are a lot of US digital experts out there who would like to do this work. During COVID, many have been laid off and are now being forced to work in gig jobs like driving for Uber, working fast food, etc. It's dumb that US businesses keep making these mistakes.
 
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RSBM:
DeDee said:
They are apolitical and only want money without creating trouble. They've posted receipts online where they've donated large sums to charities.
Click to expand...
Imo, many (most?) charities have political roots or undertones. Unless the donations are to Children’s Hospital or other such orgs supported by most everyone, the donations could be the best clue to locating this person/gang. Didn’t see any of the online receipts at the links. Who/what organizations have received funds?
 
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Betty P said:
Well I hope its resolved soon!

CNN is interviewing executives from Symantec and IBM who are reiterating the same point - these companies need to protect the cyber infrastructure for all these pipelines as well as other parts of our energy, communications, digital records, power transmission and distribution systems.

There are a lot of US digital experts out there who would like to do this work. During COVID, many have been laid off and are now being forced to work in gig jobs like driving for Uber, working fast food, etc. It's dumb that US businesses keep making these mistakes.
Click to expand...

Many many many years ago after 9/11 I had thought the next attack would be cyber attacks on financial institutions. e.g. you check into your Bank of America or Fidelity brokerage to find you are wiped out (without a scam that sometimes happens with older folks iykwim).

I had never envisioned that the CONTINUED attacks on political and infrastructure would happen to not only destabilize the economy (looking at it now, makes sense as to recent "attacks") , but to create division amongst people... which of course causes more destabilization long term. MOO
 
JudgeJoe said:
RSBM:

Imo, many (most?) charities have political roots or undertones. Unless the donations are to Children’s Hospital or other such orgs supported by most everyone, the donations could be the best clue to locating this person/gang. Didn’t see any of the online receipts at the links. Who/what organizations have received funds?
Click to expand...

Screen captures of those receipts can be found here.
Mysterious 'Robin Hood' hackers donating stolen money

Darkside hackers claim to have extorted millions of dollars from companies, but say they now want to "make the world a better place".

In a post on the dark web, the gang posted receipts for $10,000 in Bitcoin donations to two charities.

One of them, Children International, says it will not be keeping the money.

The move is being seen as a strange and troubling development, both morally and legally.
 
Betty P said:
I seriously doubt its Edward Snowden.

I do think part of the problem is pipeline companies pinching pennies by not spending what's necessary to keep their systems secure.

Something similar happened a few years ago when credit reporting companies were hacked and millions of consumers personal information stolen.

JMO, the owners of the Colonial pipeline should be fined by the US government for not keeping their security updated.

As for paying the ransom, no they shouldn't have done that, but $5 million is decimal dust to these compnies.
Click to expand...

Seriously, I do not think Snowden is involved either but I am thrilled the remark garnered your attention. :)

Taxpayers will pay the cost of the ransom by purchasing fuel at higher prices at the pumps.


A subgroup of DarkSide held the MPD in DC hostage for a ransom or else they'd release personal data about the confidential informants and employees. I read somewhere that Bakuk is a subgroup of DarkSide.

APR 27, 2021 (with informative video)
DC Police department hit by ransomware attack - CNNPolitics
In its claims, the Babuk group suggested it had obtained information on Metropolitan Police informants and threatened to weaponize that information if the department did not respond within three days. The group also vowed additional attacks targeting the FBI.
 
aThousandYearsWide said:
I am very surprised there isn't more of a discussion on this. I live in NC and all the gas stations are lined up out to the street and some are out of gas completely. One of the gas stations I went to ran out after I waited in a 40 minute line and I was on E (the person in front of me in line was the last to get gas). My sister went to four different gas station lines before she was able to get gas with each line being a minimum of a 35 minute wait.
Click to expand...
I'm near Matthews and passed four gas stations that were out before getting to Costco. Wasn't seeking gas but figured I should since they had it. Currently not driving much until this ends.
 
DeDee said:
Screen captures of those receipts can be found here.
Mysterious 'Robin Hood' hackers donating stolen money

Darkside hackers claim to have extorted millions of dollars from companies, but say they now want to "make the world a better place".

In a post on the dark web, the gang posted receipts for $10,000 in Bitcoin donations to two charities.

One of them, Children International, says it will not be keeping the money.

The move is being seen as a strange and troubling development, both morally and legally.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that link.

So Darkside donated 10K each to Children International & The Water Project. Out of 5 million. As my dad always said, “don’t open your shirt, your heart will fall out”.

Worth noting, donations were not made directly but through The Giving Block. From the link:

“The Giving Block describes itself online as "the only non-profit specific solution for accepting crypto-currency donations”…
…set up in 2018… offers millionaires the ability to donate cryptocurrencies directly to non-profits… not aware donations were made by cyber-criminals… still working to determine if funds were actually stolen… company did not clarify if.. returning stolen money to criminals, or… victims… The fact they used crypto will make it easier, not harder, to catch them.”

Well I hope they get right on catching them & returning all funds to victims. Which should include every person who paid extra at the pump these last few days. Moo
 
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JudgeJoe said:
So Darkside donated 10K each to Children International & The Water Project. Out of 5 million. As my dad always said, “don’t open your shirt, your heart will fall out”.
Click to expand...

That's a great quote. I'm remembering it. Thanks. Your dad sounds like a smart guy.
 
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