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Bitcoin, despite its growing mainstream popularity, is a favorite tool of cybercriminals, with a variant of ransomware known as Ryuk believed to have stolen $ 61 million since it was created in 2018, according to the FBI.
Ransomware hackers, who encrypt their victims’ files before requesting bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies to unlock them, have begun targeting more and more hospitals and healthcare workers during the coronavirus pandemic, Interpol reported in April, with the criminals who take advantage of an influx of remote workers.
Now, researchers who say they are concerned about this trend have gathered information that could be harmful to Binance, one of the largest bitcoin exchanges in the world, suggesting that the exchange fails to stop Ryuk’s hackers from turning stolen bitcoin into. money.
Binance, now the largest bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange in the world by volume, was created by … [+]
© 2018 Bloomberg Finance LP
The researchers found that bitcoin worth over $ 1 million from multiple addresses linked to Ryuk ransomware attacks has made it into a wallet on the Binance exchange over the past three years, with the wallet still active as of this month.
“Of the 63 transactions sampled worth approximately $ 5,700,000, it was found that over $ 1 million was sent from the hacker team’s wallets to the Binance exchange platform to collect their ransom payments,” the researchers wrote. , who asked to remain anonymous, in a document seen by this reporter and shared with Binance.
“Thirteen other bitcoin addresses associated with Ryuk, containing a total of $ 1,064,865, followed a similar pattern. All were sent from the hacker’s wallets to several other addresses and, ultimately, to Binance, allowing them to collect their payments. ransom “.
The remaining $ 4.7 million worth of bitcoins tracked down by the researchers is currently still held in various over-the-counter addresses, suggesting that Binance is a favorite exchange for cybercriminals.
When asked about the report’s findings, Binance’s security team said that “fighting money laundering, ransomware and other malicious activities is a never-ending effort for Binance.”
“Our top priority is to ensure the security of our customers and the integrity of the broader crypto space,” Binance said, pointing to a number of “security features” and “engineering techniques” that it uses to identify illegal activities, including the “detection algorithms to report potentially malicious activity.”
“Unfortunately, when it comes to tracking illicit on-chain activity, attribution isn’t always black and white,” Binance added, explaining “the recipient may be completely unaware of the fraudulent source of the transaction” and the exchange “has a ‘wide variety of customers operating on its platform “.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, often known simply as CZ, has already done so She said the exchange relies on a combination of internal “blockchain analytics” and social media reporting to prevent hackers and cybercriminals from using its services.
Cracking down the illegal use of bitcoin exchanges is “a really hard balance,” a widely respected blockchain expert said via Telegram, preferring to speak anonymously.
“If you crack down on policies and procedures to try and slow down these bad actors, it negatively affects all innocent users. [There’s] no easy answer. “
Binance’s analysis of fund flows found that Singapore-based cryptocurrency and bitcoin exchange Huobi received approximately 400 bitcoins indirectly from a combination of ransomware campaigns with the now defunct BX Thailand exchange it receives. also about 140 bitcoins from the Ryuk ransomware.
Meanwhile, Binance this month helped Ukrainian authorities eliminate a group of criminals involved in a $ 42 million global ransomware and money laundering operation.
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