A new report that was just shared online says that Binance is unable yet to prevent ransomware attackers from converting their stolen Bitcoin into cash.
As per a comprehensive report published by Forbes, cybercriminals using crypto-ransomware, such as the already popular Ryuk version, have been using Binance to exchange the funds they stole.
A team of researchers, who required the portal to not name them, told Forbes that more than $1 million Bitcoin from numerous addresses linked to Ryuk ransomware attacks had been sent to a Binance exchange wallet throughout the last three years. The team claimed the wallet address was still active as of this month.
The group told Forbes that “out of the 63 sampled transactions worth around $5,700,000, it was found that over $1 million was sent from the hacking team wallets to the Binance exchange platform to cash out their ransom payments.”
Tracking Illegal Activities Was Not Always Black and White
According to the report they wrote, 13 other Bitcoin addresses connected to Ryuk, having a total of $1,064,865, used a similar pattern. The sums were sent from the attackers’ wallets to numerous other addresses, and ultimately to Binance, which allowed the hackers to cash out their ransom payments.
The remaining $4.7 million in Bitcoin traced by the team of researchers is now being held in a few off-exchange addresses, implying that ‘Binance is the cybercriminals’ exchange of choice.’
The exchange representatives replied to the allegations, saying it was the platform’s most important priority to make sure their customers are safe and ‘ensure the integrity of the crypto space.’
Binance also indicated a number of security functions they had in place to detect illegal activities, but said that the tracking of funds was never only ‘black and white,’ more so if we consider the wide variety of customers that operate on their platform.
