In the mostly uncontrolled realm of cryptocurrencies, hacking must not be a relatively rare occurrence, right? Hackers have been successful in stealing millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency almost every other month over the last several years. But what a shadowy hacker did just recently is something that almost never comes to our attention. Unidentified hackers obtained access and made off with bitcoins worth a total of $300,000 that belonged to several government entities in Russia. But that’s not the point at all. According to reports, the hacker did not spend the cryptocurrency that was taken but instead gave it to the war-torn country of Ukraine. In the mostly uncontrolled realm of cryptocurrencies, hacking must be a relatively rare occurrence, right? Hackers have been successful in stealing millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency almost every other month over the last several years. But what a shadowy hacker did just recently is something that almost never comes to our attention.
According to a story published by CoinDesk that cited Chainalysis, a cryptocurrency monitoring business that works with the United States government, the cryptocurrency specialists claim that the hacker has moved the stolen bitcoins to the addresses of Ukrainian volunteers.
It would seem that the unknown hacker was successful in using blockchain and bitcoin technology to their advantage against the state that was acting aggressively. The hacker acquired access to hundreds of crypto wallets, most of which most likely belonged to Russian law enforcement organizations, by using their esoteric talents and knowledge. The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU), the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), and the Federal Security Service (FSB) were said to control 986 wallets, according to a report in The New Voice Of Ukraine, a leading daily news outlet in the war-torn nation. Chainalysis analysts are said to believe that the hacker used a feature of documenting transactions in the bitcoin blockchain to identify those wallets. The hacker left letters for the owners of the wallets that were written in Russian. In the messages, the hacker claims that these wallets were used to pay for the services of other hackers who were working for Russia. It is not known whether or not these charges are accurate to any significant degree. According to reports from Western specialists, the employment of hackers by Russian intelligence agencies to carry out a variety of activities is a fact that cannot be disputed.
They point out that at least three of the purportedly Russian wallets have previously been connected to Russia by unaffiliated third parties. It is believed that two of them were engaged in the attack on the solar winds, while the third of them paid for servers that were used in Russia’s misinformation operation during the 2016 elections. It seems that the hacker got access of the wallets, which he alleges were controlled by Russian intelligence agencies, not by hacking but rather through “inside work”
“To put it simply, this individual may have penetrated the structure of hackers working for Russia, or he could have been an employee of the Russian special services who subsequently defected from the organization. Both of these possibilities are possible. The first intrusions were carried out in the days and weeks leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. At first, the hacker was intent on doing nothing more than wiping out the monies that had been taken from the accounts belonging to the Russian special services.
Nevertheless, the hacker shifted his strategy when Russia’s war with Ukraine got underway. Since the beginning of the conflict, the government of Ukraine has been using cryptocurrency as a means to raise millions of dollars for the country’s armed forces and for charitable causes. Chainalysis found that once the conflict in Ukraine started, several of the wallets that are part of this research moved cash to wallets associated with the Ukrainian government. According to the article, Chainalysis said that the anonymous hacker had essentially stopped wasting money and had begun transferring it to Ukraine in an effort to provide assistance.
Information security specialist, currently working as risk infrastructure specialist & investigator.
15 years of experience in risk and control process, security audit support, business continuity design and support, workgroup management and information security standards.