‘Robin Hood' Hackers Donate Stolen Money
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A hacking group going by the name of Darkside has attempted to donate around $20,000 in stolen Bitcoin to charity the first known instance for cyber criminals. Despite having extorted millions of dollars from corporate victims, Darkside claim that they want to "make the world a better place".
In a message posted on the Dark Web, Darkside posted receipts for $10,000 in Bitcoin donations to two charities but Children International, says it won’t keep the money.
The recipients of Darkside's generosity are Children International, which supports children, families and communities in South East Asia, Central America, Mexico and the US. Also,The Water Project, which works to improve access to clean water in sub-Saharan Africa. Children International say they wont keep the money.
In the blog post on 13 October, the hackers claim they only target large profitable companies with their ransomware attacks and analysis of the crypto-currency market confirms they are actively extorting funds from victims. There is also evidence they may have links to high-profile attacks on companies including Travelex, driven into bankruptcy a crippling ransomware attack in January 2020.
The way the hackers paid the charities is also a possible cause for concern. Darkside used a US-based service called The Giving Block, which is used by 67 different non-profits from around the world including Save the Children, Rainforest Foundation. The Giving Block describes itself "the only non-profit specific solution for accepting crypto-currency donations".
The Giving Block told the BBC it was not aware these donations were made by cyber-criminals, claiming that were still working to determine if these funds were actually stolen. The company did not clarify if this means returning the stolen money to the criminals, or attempting to reimburse Darkside's victims.
It remains unclear whether that would mean returning the money to the hackers, or whether The Giving Block will give that money back to one of the victims of the Darkside hacker's ransomware attack.
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