Security News > 2023 > June > Ransomware Hackers and Scammers Utilizing Cloud Mining to Launder Cryptocurrency

Ransomware actors and cryptocurrency scammers have joined nation-state actors in abusing cloud mining services to launder digital assets, new findings reveal.

Earlier this March, Google Mandiant disclosed North Korea-based APT43's use of the hash rental and cloud mining services to obscure the forensic trail and wash the stolen cryptocurrency "Clean."

Cloud mining services allow users to rent a computer system and use that computer's hash power to mine cryptocurrencies without having to manage the mining hardware themselves.

As many as 372 exchange deposit addresses have been found to receive at least $1 million worth of cryptocurrency from mining pools and any amount from ransomware addresses since January 2018.

"Overall, the data suggests that mining pools may play a key role in many ransomware actors' money laundering strategy," Chainalysis said.

Mining pools have also earned a place in the playbooks of scam operators like the BitClub Network, who have been found commingling their illicit Bitcoin proceeds with assets received from a Russia-based Bitcoin mining operation and BTC-e, a crypto exchange that was set up to facilitate the laundering of money stolen in the infamous Mt. Gox hack.

News URL

https://thehackernews.com/2023/06/ransomware-hackers-and-scammers.html