The FBI’s surprise announcement Monday that it had seized some of the ransom that Colonial Pipeline paid to criminal hackers came as a double shock.
On one hand, it was major news that the U.S. government had flexed its cybersecurity muscles on behalf of the owner and operator of the country’s largest fuel pipeline, taking over a bitcoin account and marking the first public recovery of funds ever from a known ransomware gang.
On the other hand, it raised a question: Why hadn’t the U.S. done this before?
Source: The FBI’s seizing one bitcoin wallet won’t stop ransomware — but it’s a start
