I pondered about what category this belonged in, feel free to move....How did federal agents recover bitcoin and access a crypto wallet tied to the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack?
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-did-federal-agents-recover-bitcoin-and-access-a-crypto-wallet-tied-to-the-colonial-pipeline-cyberattack-11623182259June 8, 2021
...U.S. federal authorities are fairly tight-lipped on the method of recovering some $2.3 million in bitcoin paid to cyber-hackers of Colonial Pipeline Cos., last month. It is a rare, but not unprecedented, win for agents who are part of a newly formed Ransomware and Digital Extortion Task Force.
But the big question for crypto market participants may be how the government tactically tracked down the bitcoin BTCUSD, 6.24% allegedly obtained by the Eastern European hacking group known as DarkSide and how the federal agents obtained access to a password-protected wallet.
The U.S. Justice Department on Monday said a news conference that it seized about 64 bitcoin paid by Colonial to hackers, valued at roughly $2.3 million, from a virtual wallet....
...An unidentified special agent with the FBI’s cybercrimes squad, in an affidavit with the California’s Northerrn District, requesting a warrant to seize the digital assets, says that the agency used public blockchain explorers to track payments made to the hackers....
