The Biden administration is working with several US companies to find a way to track cryptocurrencies used to pay ransoms to hackers who have compromised several systems of important institutions such as the Colonial Pipeline, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
In an open letter to several leaders of the country, Deputy National Security Advisor Ann Neuberger said that “the US authorities are working with international partners to find a way to track down criminals who have been paid payments in crypto assets.”
The latest victim of a cyberattack of this magnitude was Colonial Pipeline, the largest fuel supplier on the US West Coast, which was forced to pay more than 3.5 billion euros in exchange for cleaning software. invaded your computer system. In a conversation with the WSJ, the company admitted that “this is not the most honorable thing to do, but it cannot leave the US without gasoline.”
This measure follows the decree of new regulations introduced by the Ministry of Finance that require transactions with a value of more than $ 10,000 in Bitcoin to be subject to strict verification, where it is mandatory to register with blockchain technology the identity of the person who makes the payment and who receives it. …
For the ransomware and cryptoasset experts contacted by Business Insider, these new White House rules are useless as criminals can choose other altcoins while dodging the use of bitcoins.
