Alex Iftimie was a guest on The Cyberwire's Caveat podcast, discussing the U.S. Department of Justice seizing nearly $500,000 in ransomware payments made to a North Korean hacking group that targeted U.S. medical providers.
"This case, like other ransomware recoveries – and there have been a number of them this year alone – continues to highlight that the Department of Justice really does have the ability to follow the money on the blockchain," Alex said. "Anonymity is not foolproof, even when you're talking about these virtual currencies. And the court documents in this case show how the FBI, step by step, was able to follow the money from the victims through to the accounts where they were held and, in this case, able to. The investigators were able to use legal process to track down who owned these accounts and ultimately to seize the funds and get that money back into the hands of victims, as opposed to the crooks who are trying to steal these funds for their own purposes."
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