The wallet used by the DarkSide ransomware group to receive bitcoin ransom payments has been identified, according to data analysis firm Elliptic, citing intelligence collection and analysis of blockchain transactions.
- The wallet received the 75 BTC payment reportedly made by Colonial Pipeline on May 8, following the cyberattack that led to widespread fuel shortages in the U.S., Elliptic said in its report.
- The wallet has been active since early March and has received 57 payments from 21 different wallets, including some matching ransoms known to have been paid to the group in other cases of blackmail, the firm said.
- Since becoming active, the wallet has received bitcoin transactions totaling $17.5 million, Elliptic said.
- Elliptic also said it has been able to gain intel on how DarkSide laundered prior attacks, potentially allowing authorities to locate the people behind them.
- Earlier Friday, KrebsOnSecurity and others reported that the DarkSide group has decided to shut itself down after its own servers were seized and someone drained crypto from an account belonging to the group.