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A Ukrainian Steals $25,000 In Bitcoin From Russian Dark Web Drug Market And Gives It To A Kyiv ... [View all]
https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2022/12/22/russian-dark-web-drug-market-hacked-by-ukrainian-bitcoin-donated-to-kyiv-charity/A Ukrainian Steals $25,000 In Bitcoin From Russian Dark Web Drug Market And Gives It To A Kyiv Charity
Thomas Brewster
Forbes Staff
Associate editor at Forbes, covering cybercrime, privacy, security and surveillance.
Dec 22, 2022,12:31pm EST
This Christmas, Ukrainian cyber intelligence expert Alex Holden is giving back to his homeland. The Mequon, Wisconsin resident is playing dark web Robin Hood: His team at Hold Security has hacked into one of Russia’s largest online drug markets, dubbed Solaris, and diverted crypto due to dealers and the site’s owners to a charity, Enjoying Life, which provides humanitarian aid across Ukraine.
Holden, who left Kyiv as a teenager in the 1980s amidst fallout of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, declined to reveal how he did it, but said he was able to take control of much of the internet infrastructure powering Solaris, a number of administrator accounts running the illicit bazaar, website source code and a database of its users, as well as drop off locations for drug deliveries. For a brief time, his team also had control over Solaris’ “master wallet.” This wallet was used by buyers and dealers to deposit and withdraw funds, acting as the site’s cryptocurrency exchange.
Holden showed Forbes multiple screenshots of access to Solaris admin accounts and the master wallet, and a Ukrainian cybersecurity expert confirmed the screenshots did indeed appear to show access to backend Solaris accounts.
With money quickly going in and out of the wallet, it rarely contained more than 3 bitcoin, worth $50,000, Holden said. That meant there wasn’t a huge amount for him to siphon off, though he did manage to grab 1.6 bitcoin, worth $25,000, and sent it to Enjoying Life. Hold Security is also making a separate donation of $8,000.
[...]
Thomas Brewster
Forbes Staff
Associate editor at Forbes, covering cybercrime, privacy, security and surveillance.
Dec 22, 2022,12:31pm EST
This Christmas, Ukrainian cyber intelligence expert Alex Holden is giving back to his homeland. The Mequon, Wisconsin resident is playing dark web Robin Hood: His team at Hold Security has hacked into one of Russia’s largest online drug markets, dubbed Solaris, and diverted crypto due to dealers and the site’s owners to a charity, Enjoying Life, which provides humanitarian aid across Ukraine.
Holden, who left Kyiv as a teenager in the 1980s amidst fallout of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, declined to reveal how he did it, but said he was able to take control of much of the internet infrastructure powering Solaris, a number of administrator accounts running the illicit bazaar, website source code and a database of its users, as well as drop off locations for drug deliveries. For a brief time, his team also had control over Solaris’ “master wallet.” This wallet was used by buyers and dealers to deposit and withdraw funds, acting as the site’s cryptocurrency exchange.
Holden showed Forbes multiple screenshots of access to Solaris admin accounts and the master wallet, and a Ukrainian cybersecurity expert confirmed the screenshots did indeed appear to show access to backend Solaris accounts.
With money quickly going in and out of the wallet, it rarely contained more than 3 bitcoin, worth $50,000, Holden said. That meant there wasn’t a huge amount for him to siphon off, though he did manage to grab 1.6 bitcoin, worth $25,000, and sent it to Enjoying Life. Hold Security is also making a separate donation of $8,000.
[...]
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