Ransomware and Bitcoin

[JohnBitCo]

I just came across an atricle where the US treasury department purpose to sanction crypto and the reason they give is that bitcoin is used for ransomware so if we stop the usuage of bitcoin, there will be no Ransomware  attacks. How ridiculous it this ?

Instead of going after the hackers, they are going after the crypto. Will the hackers stop ransonware attacks if there is no crypto ?

US Treasury Dept sanctions crypto OTC broker Suex for alleged role in facilitating transactions for ransomware attacks

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[NeuroticFish]

US Treasury Dept sanctions crypto OTC broker Suex for alleged role in facilitating transactions for ransomware attacks

Interesting; in 20th there was a news U.S. to Target Crypto Ransomware Payments With Sanctions, which was discussed one day later here on bitcointalk.
One day later, on the 21th, there's already this news you posted. So they were already targeting Suex. So they were cooking it for a while already...

How ridiculous it this ?

Sadly, it's in line with how government agencies work. They restrict the businesses and individuals' rights, while the actual wrongdoers will find their ways to go around these barriers and continue as usual.

[jackg]

US Treasury Dept sanctions crypto OTC broker Suex for alleged role in facilitating transactions for ransomware attacks

I'd have thought that if they could trace the exchange that allowed such a trade then they'd be able to actually track the people who actually did it (in this case the alleged ransomware attacks). If they haven't managed to do that then it could look like an inside job - and the article seems to suggest they helped accept the funds from the victims which would probably deserve sanctioning.

How ridiculous it this ?

Sadly, it's in line with how government agencies work. They restrict the businesses and individuals' rights, while the actual wrongdoers will find their ways to go around these barriers and continue as usual.

Well yeah, criminals will always find a way to do what they want to do - the more restrictions there are the harder it is to do the crime and then catch the people doing it as well... Seems a hard thing to try to balance.

[bL4nkcode]

Will the hackers stop ransonware attacks if there is no crypto ?

Hackers exist before crypto got introduced and mainstream. Instead of making way/solutions on how they can protect their data from ransomware/attacks they just go to one who is not responsible for the attack.

As if the attack will stop if they prohibits crypto.

[Dave1]

I just came across an atricle where the US treasury department purpose to sanction crypto and the reason they give is that bitcoin is used for ransomware so if we stop the usuage of bitcoin, there will be no Ransomware  attacks. How ridiculous it this ?

Instead of going after the hackers, they are going after the crypto. Will the hackers stop ransonware attacks if there is no crypto ?

US Treasury Dept sanctions crypto OTC broker Suex for alleged role in facilitating transactions for ransomware attacks

They are not to sanction crypto, it is one of the Russian Exchange SUEX, who are being used by crypto scammers, including all illegal activities (darkweb, ransomware etc). There is one problem though, it is based on Russia, so not sure if US treasury can shut it down.

As far as criminals in online world, even before the existence of crypto, there have been a lot. Do you guys still remember this? Nigerian Price Scam.

[Kong Hey Pakboy]

Good luck with issuing that because no way in hell that cryptocurrencies are the reason for all of their problems with ransomware, they're the US government so I don't think it's not that hard for them to catch or protect themselves from these cyber criminals, aren't they good at meddling with the affairs of other countries? This is a piece of cake to them but their putting the burden on the people.

[Jawhead999]

OP your link are broken, you can change with this one https://www.uktimenews.com/us-treasury-department-sanctions-crypto-broker-otc-suex-for-alleged-role-in-facilitating-transactions-for-ransomware-attacks/ and you're wrong, the sanction is for Suex OTC not the Bitcoin or crypto usage.

The United States Treasury Department has announced that it will impose sanctions on Czech and Russian company Suex OTC for allegedly allowing hackers to gain access to cryptocurrency sent as payment for ransomware attacks.

The question is why US departement going to far? Suex OTC is on Czech and Russian, not US... so they should faced a law on their own countries if these countries has a rule of Money Laundering. Chainalysis categorized Ransomware, Scams, High risk exchanges, Darknet market and Mixers are high risk sources, I agree with all category except mixers. Though mixers could be used for Money laundering but not all coins mixed is illegal, it should be grey area.

[hatshepsut93]

They are not to sanction crypto, it is one of the Russian Exchange SUEX, who are being used by crypto scammers, including all illegal activities (darkweb, ransomware etc). There is one problem though, it is based on Russia, so not sure if US treasury can shut it down.

As far as criminals in online world, even before the existence of crypto, there have been a lot. Do you guys still remember this? Nigerian Price Scam.

Nice to see that at least someone here reads the whole title, lol.

OP, did you even read the article that you linked? No one is banning crypto is a whole, that's not even on the table. Think twice before creating threads that spread panic and misinformation.

[SFR10]

the more restrictions there are the harder it is to do the crime and then catch the people doing it as well...

You have a point but until they could tackle the origin, all they'll be doing is catching their shadows; in other words, they're always one step behind ^{[regardless of the imposed sanctions]}!

There is one problem though, it is based on Russia, so not sure if US treasury can shut it down.

Exactly, I wonder why Chainalysis used that word in their blog post?!

The question is why US departement going to far? Suex OTC is on Czech and Russian, not US...

From their own words:

• "exchanges like Suex are critical to attackers' ability to extract profits from ransomware attackers," seemingly targeting cryptocurrency. He added that the sanctions were an attempt to “disrupt the illicit infrastructure using these attacks."

What I think might be the main reason:

• Suex is also found to have received over $50 million worth of Bitcoin sent from addresses hosted at illicit cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e from 2018 through 2021, well after BTC-e was shut down by U.S. authorities for its own money laundering activity on behalf of cybercriminals.

Chainalysis categorized Ransomware, Scams, High risk exchanges, Darknet market and Mixers are high risk sources, I agree with all category except mixers. Though mixers could be used for Money laundering but not all coins mixed is illegal, it should be grey area.

https://i.ibb.co/0Gbhgvv/Screenshot-9.jpg

Unfortunately, they're not the only ones with that type of attitude towards mixers ^{[e.g. AMLBot, Antinalysis and etc...]}.

[Ucy]

I just came across an atricle where the US treasury department purpose to sanction crypto and the reason they give is that bitcoin is used for ransomware so if we stop the usuage of bitcoin, there will be no Ransomware  attacks. How ridiculous it this ?

Instead of going after the hackers, they are going after the crypto. Will the hackers stop ransonware attacks if there is no crypto ?

US Treasury Dept sanctions crypto OTC broker Suex for alleged role in facilitating transactions for ransomware attacks

I think the sanction is targeted at exchanges that accept or facilitate transactions from ransomware attackers and other dangerous crypto criminals.
Ofcourse, such criminals use digital fiats too, even with kyc and other things that are used to check them.    The transparency of True Crypto makes detecting and tracking such people/things easy. Exchanges and crypto communities need to cooperate with security agencies as long as the good crypto ideals and rights of innocent users are not violated.

[The Cryptovator]

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency have always been highlighting if the case happens any ransomware via Bitcoin. But an everyday lot of crime happening in the world with fiat money. But it hasn't been highlighting at all. Most probably we are crypto users and that's why this kind of news pops up in front of us. But I am pretty sure a group of people doesn't like Bitcoin and they target Bitcoin to dump. I don't believe ransomware will stop even we stop using Bitcoin. Criminals will choose something else to do it. Blaming Bitcoin for ransomware is just nonsense. It wouldn't hurt Bitcoin.

[CryptocurencyKing]

I just came across an atricle where the US treasury department purpose to sanction crypto and the reason they give is that bitcoin is used for ransomware so if we stop the usuage of bitcoin, there will be no Ransomware  attacks. How ridiculous it this ?

Instead of going after the hackers, they are going after the crypto. Will the hackers stop ransonware attacks if there is no crypto ?

US Treasury Dept sanctions crypto OTC broker Suex for alleged role in facilitating transactions for ransomware attacks

There is no limit to the amount of trash that come pouring out of the mouths of these government figures and organisations when it's on an innovation that is not government oriented such as cryptos. I'm not surprised at all at them (the US treasury) for this.

Instead of seeing a way to tackle the criminals, they question the crime committed. It's more like, sanctioning fiat for it to have have used in ransomeware should that have been the case. It just doesn't make sense.

The next you would hear is that, crimes like kidnapping, scamming, fraud and lots of others originated with cryptos or became more pronounced.  These guys are just about the FUD and its left for the crypto community to know better.

[Botnake]

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency have always been highlighting if the case happens any ransomware via Bitcoin. But an everyday lot of crime happening in the world with fiat money. But it hasn't been highlighting at all. Most probably we are crypto users and that's why this kind of news pops up in front of us. But I am pretty sure a group of people doesn't like Bitcoin and they target Bitcoin to dump. I don't believe ransomware will stop even we stop using Bitcoin. Criminals will choose something else to do it. Blaming Bitcoin for ransomware is just nonsense. It wouldn't hurt Bitcoin.

I think there was a misinterpretation made by OP. It was not bitcoin who will be given sanction by the US Treasury Department but its for the Czech and Russian Suex OTC for alledgely allowing hackers to gain access to crypto sent as payment for ransomware attacks. Bitcoin is not really their target. Its really disappointing in my case if they will blame bitcoin when in the fact, bitcoin has nothing to do with it.

[dothebeats]

They cannot sanction crypto; no one can be sued by them no matter what they do. It is the platform which the hackers are using to dump and exchange whatever they got from their victims. Idk how the US will impose those sanctions, or how strong their case will be against the said exchange.

Also, isn't this the way how governments deal with such cases? Instead of going after those who broke the law, they go after those who did nothing to break the law just so they can pat themselves on the back and tell themselves that they did a great job.

[passwordnow]

No, they can't stop the hackers to keep going with ransomware. Even if they ban bitcoin and et. al, these hackers will still attack those vulnerable people and then no one will stop them from asking crypto from their victims. They should track down these hackers.
What a brilliant idea, giving sanction to crypto and banning bitcoin, who are they against with? nobody can stop the usage of these and they should stop the hackers instead.

[Kittygalore]

No, they can't stop the hackers to keep going with ransomware. Even if they ban bitcoin and et. al, these hackers will still attack those vulnerable people and then no one will stop them from asking crypto from their victims. They should track down these hackers.
What a brilliant idea, giving sanction to crypto and banning bitcoin, who are they against with? nobody can stop the usage of these and they should stop the hackers instead.

Their attack on crypto to allegedly protect the cyber infrastructure from ransomware will only protect them from local attacks/threats but not from international attacks, remember that Russia is secretly funding cyber criminals to attack USA albeit their denying it, they're protecting them still.

[pinggoki]

To be honest it's much easier tracking these attackers down and apprehending them than banning cryptocurrencies in general. Just another way for the government to mask its ulterior motives of protecting fiat's standing in the economy. Although just like the other moves they did in the past, this will also be in vain. The amount of people who know what bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are capable of is nothing to laugh about, the government should be aware of that.

No, they can't stop the hackers to keep going with ransomware. Even if they ban bitcoin and et. al, these hackers will still attack those vulnerable people and then no one will stop them from asking crypto from their victims. They should track down these hackers.
What a brilliant idea, giving sanction to crypto and banning bitcoin, who are they against with? nobody can stop the usage of these and they should stop the hackers instead.

True. What they are trying to do is barking at the wrong tree basically. Thinking that it's bitcoin that's causing the ransomware and hacking attacks when it's can never be closer to the truth. Feasibility researches should be made before proposing bills like this because it's just stupid to think to hear that the people we entrusted our taxes with think like this.

[passwordnow]

No, they can't stop the hackers to keep going with ransomware. Even if they ban bitcoin and et. al, these hackers will still attack those vulnerable people and then no one will stop them from asking crypto from their victims. They should track down these hackers.
What a brilliant idea, giving sanction to crypto and banning bitcoin, who are they against with? nobody can stop the usage of these and they should stop the hackers instead.

Their attack on crypto to allegedly protect the cyber infrastructure from ransomware will only protect them from local attacks/threats but not from international attacks, remember that Russia is secretly funding cyber criminals to attack USA albeit their denying it, they're protecting them still.

I don't know about that Russia that you've mentioned but you'll never know when an attack will happen and when it is originating. It's not the only country that has that infrastructure towards cyber security. And about saying that they're funding cyber criminals, where have you read that, will you please link the source? thanks.

No, they can't stop the hackers to keep going with ransomware. Even if they ban bitcoin and et. al, these hackers will still attack those vulnerable people and then no one will stop them from asking crypto from their victims. They should track down these hackers.
What a brilliant idea, giving sanction to crypto and banning bitcoin, who are they against with? nobody can stop the usage of these and they should stop the hackers instead.

True. What they are trying to do is barking at the wrong tree basically. Thinking that it's bitcoin that's causing the ransomware and hacking attacks when it's can never be closer to the truth. Feasibility researches should be made before proposing bills like this because it's just stupid to think to hear that the people we entrusted our taxes with think like this.

They should have focused on the actual problem and that's to chase those hackers and not pointing their fingers to bitcoin.

[Nunoluck]

There are many way to do money laundering. Even if those hackers use worthless new coin but they agree with the value of it then it is works. Law enforcement should focus on the hackers. I think even if bitcoin is not exist those hackers will still have desire to hack to get money. The problem is the human not bitcoin. I am pretty surprised that some people has that way of thinking.

[Quidat]

I just came across an atricle where the US treasury department purpose to sanction crypto and the reason they give is that bitcoin is used for ransomware so if we stop the usuage of bitcoin, there will be no Ransomware  attacks. How ridiculous it this ?

Instead of going after the hackers, they are going after the crypto. Will the hackers stop ransonware attacks if there is no crypto ?

US Treasury Dept sanctions crypto OTC broker Suex for alleged role in facilitating transactions for ransomware attacks

How could they stop if they do really plan out to do so? Bitcoin network couldnt be stopped as long there would be a demand.Cyberattacks or ransomeware had been here before bitcoin had exist.
It did really just able to even more rampant when crypto did exist which its undeniable which it is totally its cons due to anonymity which hacks do really make use of that advantage.
They are just good on verbal things on stopping it but no one could really do in the first place thats why we should rather mind instead about security and being having common sense
to avoid possible hacks or ransomwares.