‘Robin Hood’ hacker steals rich Russian crypto funds, gives to poor Ukraine
The crypto experts said the hacker had transferred the stolen bitcoins to the addresses of Ukrainian volunteers.
The mystery user appears to have been able to put blockchain and bitcoin technologies to work against the aggressor state. Using his arcane skills, the hacker gained access to hundreds of crypto wallets, likely belonging to Russian law enforcement agencies.
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Chain Analysis analysts believe that the hacker used a function to document transactions in the bitcoin blockchain to identify 986 wallets controlled by the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU), the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), and the Federal Security Service (FSB). .
The analysts did not reveal what that feature was.
At the same time, the hacker left messages in Russian to the owners of the wallets, stating that these wallets were used to pay for the services of hackers working for Russia.
It is not known to what extent these claims are true. Western analysts consider it indisputable that Russian intelligence services use hackers to carry out a variety of operations.
Chain analysis experts could only partially confirm the hacker’s claims.
They note that at least three of the allegedly Russian wallets are already linked to Russia by third parties. Two of them were allegedly involved in the Solar Winds attack, and the third paid for servers used in Russia’s disinformation campaign in the 2016 election.
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Chainsaw analysts suggest that the hacker gained control of the wallets, which he claims were controlled by Russian intelligence services, not through hacking but through “inside work.
“Simply put, this person could have infiltrated the structure of hackers working for Russia, or he could have been an employee of the Russian special services who later became a defector.
The first hacks were carried out a few weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
The hacker was initially determined to only destroy the stolen funds in the wallets of the Russian special services. Chainalysis suggests that the mysterious attacker destroyed approximately $300,000 worth of bitcoins by using the OP_RETURN function of the bitcoin blockchain (this function allows you to invalidate previously executed transactions).
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But when Russia’s war with Ukraine began, the hacker changed tactics.
Since the early days of the war, the Ukrainian government has used cryptocurrency to raise tens of millions of dollars for military and charitable purposes.
According to Chainalysis, some of the wallets involved in this investigation transferred funds to Ukrainian government wallets after the war began.
Basically, the mysterious hacker stopped burning money and started sending it to help Ukraine, Chainalysis said.
“The fact that the OP_RETURN sender was both willing and able to burn through hundreds of thousands of dollars of bitcoin to spread their message makes it more likely, in our opinion, that their information is accurate,” Chainalysis analysts concluded.
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Read the original article at The New Voice of Ukraine
