Hacker Group Maze and Crypto Ransoms

Crypto crimes continue to rise as more and more people are using cryptocurrencies for illegal activities. Recently, the hacker group called Maze compromised five U.S. law firms and demanded two 100 Bitcoin ransoms from each firm. The first one to restore access to the data and the second one to delete their copy instead of selling this information.

Based on the information provided by cybersecurity firm Emsisoft, Maze already published part of the data stolen from the law firms. Interestingly, hackers were able to gain access to the data of the two law firms within 24 hours.

As mentioned-above hackers already released a part of the data. Hacker group first names the hacked companies on its website, and if a company fails to pay the ransom, and after that starts to publish the information.

They will keep publishing the data until they receive the ransom. The group removes the name of the company from its website when they receive the amount of money they demanded from the company.

Ransomware groups started to steal data instead of just encrypting the data at the end of 2019.

Crypto ransoms and their influence on crypto adoption

Unfortunately, such cases influence the public’s perception of cryptocurrencies. Some people may think that crypto money is associated with illegal activities.

However, people should remember that cryptocurrencies offer a number of advantages in comparison with fiat currencies. There are certain problems when it comes to crypto adoption, and one of the biggest is crypto-related crimes.

Ransomware attacks are frequent. In October 2019, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation released a report.  According to this report, ransomware is the top cybersecurity threat.

Crypto companies should cooperate with law enforcement agencies to tackle the ransomware attacks. It will be hard to eradicate this issue completely. Nevertheless, it is possible to minimize the damage caused by such attacks.