The Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) is the largest body globally conducting investigations concerning malicious activities. In the middle of February, the Department of Justice made it clear that the FBI is ready to form a department that will deal with criminal issues related to crypto.
Virtual Exploitation Unit is the division’s name that will stand in the middle of any cases concerning digital currencies. They have created a blockchain analysis algorithm that can track illicit activities. In addition, their tech department continues to deploy new crypto tools that will take care of cyber threats across the world.
DOJ on Crypto Surveillance
Earlier in February, the DOJ caught certain couples involved in money laundering. The couples have been under investigation since 2016 when a popular hack happened on the Bitfinex exchange platform. As a result, the company lost almost $3.6 billion, one of the largest seizures that disrupted the economy. The cybercrime experts found out that the suspected couples had been involved in the incident, and the new crypto tool had the evidence. As a result, they were charged for anti-money laundering activity.
The security department also made some changes to the board officers. Lisa Monaco, a deputy attorney General of Munich Cyber Security, sworn in Young Choi as a senior leader for the Justice Department National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team. The new board started operating on 17th February.
In addition, the attorney General, Monaco, announced the need for more department that deals with international virtual currency to be established in different parts of the world. Furthermore, different nations and organizations must collaborate to facilitate investigations.
Immediately after forming NCET, the department seizure a total of $2 million from various digital assets. These assets were used as ransom in a Unites State Colonial pipeline cyber-attack. The crime affected a large portion of computer equipment in various organizations. As a result, the company suffered, and they had to purchase new infrastructure. When such thugs get charged heavily, then crime shall reduce by a certain percentage.
Increase in Collaboration
All the teams, NCET, FBI, Munich Security, and DOJ, will ensure they offer quality service to the citizens. Monaco proceeded, “Ransomware and digital extortion, like many other crimes fueled by cryptocurrency, only work if the bad guys get paid. This means we have to bust their business model. The currency might be virtual, but the message to companies is concrete. If you report to us, we can follow the money and not only help you but hopefully prevent the next victim,”
$11 billion lose
At the end of 2021, almost $11 billion had been lost in the hands of crypto cyber-attacks. The analysis done by Chainalysis Inc proved a rapid increase in those cases, compared to 2020 when the world experienced only$3 a billion loss. Currently, the crypto FBI department has over 100 different cases under tight investigation over criminal matters. The investigations will dwell mostly on those suspected of ransomware that had a huge negative impact on people.
The ransomware is where a blackhat hacker will hold your computer and advise you to pay a certain amount of money before they unlock it. Of course, it’s always difficult for an individual to resist paying because they might delete all your content. However, on most occasions, those hackers demand payment to be done through cryptocurrency, mainly bitcoin.
There is less human interaction between the transaction. Only the sender and receiver are involved. The absence of intermediaries now makes it better for those hackers to ask for anything. They know exactly that it is difficult to trace them.
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