U.S. law enforcement recovered $2.3 million in bitcoin paid in the Colonial Pipeline ransom.
"Today we turned the tables on DarkSide," Lisa Monaco, Department of Justice deputy attorney general, said.
Agents were able to identify a virtual currency wallet that the DarkSide hackers used to collect payment from Colonial Pipeline. The FBI declined to say precisely how it accessed the bitcoin wallet, citing the need to protect tradecraft.
Foreign-based cybercriminals like DarkSide typically use American infrastructure at some point in the course of a crime, and when they do, it gives the FBI a legal window to recover the funds.
It is still unclear who DarkSide's affiliates were in the Colonial Pipeline attack.
Florida gas prices rose after the Colonial Pipeline outage, which led to a mass demand for gasoline.
The Colonial Pipeline carries gasoline and diesel from refineries in Texas, supplying states with fuel across the southeastern US and up the eastern seaboard to the New York harbor. Florida is well supplied with gasoline, however pump prices remain vulnerable to future price swings.
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