Vigilante hacker burns about $300k worth of BTC linked to Russian intelligence

[sokani]

A vigilante hacker burned roughly $300,000 worth of Bitcoin found in almost a thousand addresses allegedly linked to Russian intelligence agencies through the OP_RETURN function in 2022, according to Chainalysis research. The anonymous vigilante reportedly found 986 unique Bitcoin addresses between March 2022 and April 2022 that they claimed were used by Russian security agencies. They leaked the addresses using the text storage capabilities of the OP_RETURN function which is used to mark BTC transactions as invalid and burnt the majority of BTC contained within the addresses.

The vigilante also sent some of the BTC to an address used to collect donations for Ukraine with the message:

“Help Ukraine with money from the GRU Khakir.”

They used three other messages to mark the addresses:

“GRU to SVR. Used for hacking!”
“GRU to GRU. Used for hacking!”
“GRU to FSB. Used for hacking!”

GRU is the Russian Foreign Military Intelligence Agency; the SVR is the Foreign Intelligence Service; and the FSB is the Federal Security Service — all three are intelligence agencies.

Source
This is definitely not the first time for government agencies to be targeted by hackers, The recent is from a vigilante hacker, who hacked and burned the Bitcoin of the wallet addresses belonging to Russian intelligence agencies and sent some as donations to Ukraine during this trying times.

[1714201213]

1714201213

[1714201213]

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[Cuenta Alternativa]

Let me see if I understand, so the hacker somehow got hold of the private keys and was able to burn the bitcoin? If not, I don't understand how someone can burn other people's bitcoin without having the keys.

[Jet Cash]

It was probably on an exchange. It sounds like another bit of FUD to discredit Bitcoin. The clues are that it was a Russian wallet ( the bad guys), and a partial payment sent to Ukraine ( tghe good guys), why wasn't all of the coins sent to Ukraine?

[paid2]

why wasn't all of the coins sent to Ukraine?

We could imagine that the hacker wanted to burn BTCs for the good of BTC's rate himself ? "Every lost coin is a gift made to all bitcoiners..." Not sure lol.. It doesn't make sense to send only a tiny portion to Ukraine following the hacker's logic.

I am also very sceptical. Why would high-ranking government agencies store some of their funds on a CEX?

I would be surprised if the FSB, GRU and SVR kept their bitcoins in a hotwallet or on a CEX.
Or maybe they stored seedphrases or private keys online or in an insecure way? I would be very surprised, we are not talking about 14 year olds hiding in their bedrooms but about some of the most competent government agencies in the world...

In any case I agree with Jet Cash, I have the feeling that all this is a bit of propaganda and an attempt to discredit Bitcoin one more time.

[BIT-BENDER]

It was probably on an exchange. It sounds like another bit of FUD to discredit Bitcoin. The clues are that it was a Russian wallet ( the bad guys), and a partial payment sent to Ukraine ( tghe good guys), why wasn't all of the coins sent to Ukraine?

If this information is true my honest opinion is Hacking is a terrible thing that should be frowned at no matter what the intentions of then hackers is.

It’s unbelievable firstly that the addresses was founds and what is even more unbelievable is that the addresses was linked to Russian intelligence, this sounds like a typical CIA/secret agent type of box office movie.

And if this information stands and recognize as true, then after all os said and done and probably the war becomes a thing of the past this would be use against bitcoin that it can be used as a tool of warfare attacks. That’s totally not something I would be euphoric about.

[avikz]

I am not sure how Bitcoin can be burned! Can anyone tell us? What is OP_RETURN function? If someone knowledgeable can enlighten us, that will be great! It could be a huge security threat for the people like us as well.

Also, I don't think any government security agency will keep their Bitcoin on any exchanges. I did not see any mention of such things in the post itself. Russia could very well go to hell but I believe this is a matter to worry about because I haven't heard about burning Bitcoin ever. Also didn't know anything about OP_RETURN function. A google search also didn't yield anything much useful.

[o_e_l_e_o]

I am not sure how Bitcoin can be burned! Can anyone tell us? What is OP_RETURN function? If someone knowledgeable can enlighten us, that will be great! It could be a huge security threat for the people like us as well.

OP_RETURN is a type of command used by the bitcoin software which marks a UTXO as invalid. Such outputs do not have a private key, and there is no script which could unlock them. Therefore, any coins sent to an OP_RETURN output are burned and can never be spent. There is no security threat.

On searching the blockchain, I found 915 transactions which include OP_RETURN outputs with the string "Иcпoльзoвaны для xaкингa!", which is Russian for "Used for hacking!" as the article points out.

Some of the transactions have no coins being burnt, and instead include the empty OP_RETURN output with the above string and dust outputs to hundreds of other addresses. The person in question would presumably do this to draw attention to their transactions. For example: https://mempool.space/tx/2deb61815c8aff5fe89c39bd8ab632b1110f70be3b9fba52b1f77d68e3bbc622

And then some of the transactions do indeed burn not-insignificant amounts of bitcoin to OP_RETURN outputs, again with the above string. For example: https://mempool.space/tx/a7cfa39733d905eb68c421d4552720cc5198f7be4b163715447b698627d102b1

[Lucius]

The title of the article is :

Vigilante hacker burns hundreds of BTC held in wallets used by Russian intelligence

Although the value of those burned coins is estimated at only $300 000, and that does not fit into the story considering that at that time 1 BTC was worth an average of about $40 000. Does that mean he destroyed a little more than 7 BTC?

I don't see the logic in destroying something that can be useful to someone else, especially in the context that it is claimed that he sent part of the BTC as a donation to Ukraine.

[NotATether]

Let me see if I understand, so the hacker somehow got hold of the private keys and was able to burn the bitcoin? If not, I don't understand how someone can burn other people's bitcoin without having the keys.

No he had to have obtained control of the private keys, as no intelligence service in their right mind is going to leave hundreds of thousands of $$$ on some no-name exchange with dubious KYC practices - of course they will want all that to be stored by themselves. The hacker must have been someone with a grudge against Russia, but not necessarily Ukrainian.

[PrivacyG]

I don't see the logic in destroying something that can be useful to someone else, especially in the context that it is claimed that he sent part of the BTC as a donation to Ukraine.

Right.  I read this thread multiple times and still do not get it.  Why not send all the money to Ukraine then.  Why burn it.  Something seems off.  If they have a grudge against Russia it gets more weird.  Russia would be happy to know part of the money did not land in the pockets of Ukraine.

[buwaytress]

Hacker, great. Not sure why the label of vigilante -- it would presume they're trying to take the law into their own hands. In which case, by default, all hackers who do this believe themselves to be some form of enforcer, no?

Definitely confusing as to why only a portion was sent to a spendable address. Lawful... neutral? Seems more chaotic neutral

[o_e_l_e_o]

Does that mean he destroyed a little more than 7 BTC?

A quick search on my end puts the number of bitcoin sent to OP_RETURN outputs which include the string I mentioned above at 7.85885185 BTC.

I can also find 217 transactions which include the string "Пoмoщь Укpaинy c дeньгaми oт ГPУ xaкиpoв" (which is "Helping Ukraine with money from GRU hackers", again as the article points out) in an OP_RETURN output, which also send bitcoin to the following address, which is known to belong to belong to the Ukrainian government: 357a3So9CbsNfBBgFYACGvxxS6tMaDoa1P. The total of these transactions is 1.23766867 BTC.

[SamReomo]

This news proves that even those who run intelligence agencies aren't well equipped with tech knowledge to save their assets from the hands of the hackers. The hacker might have found a way to get the private keys from those Russian intelligence agencies. Such events can take place with high level agencies then normal users who aren't well aware about technology can easily get hacked.

It is a concern because many people start their journey into crypto world without getting proper knowledge about security. Such users can be penetrated by the hackers and the innocent users will lose their savings that they have invested into crypto. It should be wise to teach them about the security measures so that they can protect themselves from such hacking attacks.

The good thing about that hacker is the genericity towards Ukrainian people, but the worst thing is that he burnt those Bitcoins. If he was truly a good hacker then he should have transferred the whole amount to Ukrainian government rather than burning those coins.

[Zanab247]

I guess, the people that Carry out this operation maybe the enemy of the Russian government because Ukraine and Russia are not in good term to each other based on the conflicts on ground, which Ukraine person cannot have access to Russia wallet to withdraw $300k  that worth of BTC. If the Russian government can carry out their investigations, you will know that the people that done this criminal crime are among the intelligence agencies, but just trying to use that little amount of money they transferred into the Ukraine to add more fire to the issues that is causing war between the two countries.

[Lucius]

Right.  I read this thread multiple times and still do not get it.  Why not send all the money to Ukraine then.  Why burn it.  Something seems off.  If they have a grudge against Russia it gets more weird.  Russia would be happy to know part of the money did not land in the pockets of Ukraine.

Maybe the hacker was unaware at the time of the hacking that there was a BTC address for donations or the hacking happened before the attack on Ukraine regardless of the fact that March 2022 is mentioned. The part of the article called "Pure intentions" may explain to some extent why the hacker burned those coins, but according to what @o_e_l_e_o found, less than 10 BTC was hacked, not hundreds of BTC as the author states at the end of the article.

“Our hypothesis is that the OP_RETURN sender did this to make the discovery of the transactions, and the accusations associated with them, more likely.”

[pawanjain]

I think this was more of a personal grudge against the Russian Intelligence. First the hacker steals their coins, then he burns it and thirdly he sends some to Ukrainian charity.
So the hacker wanted to show the Russian Intelligence that their money was being sent to their opponent which would make them mad.
I don't think there would be any other reason than a personal grudge against them.