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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA Ukrainian Steals $25,000 In Bitcoin From Russian Dark Web Drug Market And Gives It To A Kyiv ...
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 Russias largest online drug markets, dubbed Solaris, and diverted crypto due to dealers and the sites 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 sites 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 wasnt 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 Russias largest online drug markets, dubbed Solaris, and diverted crypto due to dealers and the sites 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 sites 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 wasnt 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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A Ukrainian Steals $25,000 In Bitcoin From Russian Dark Web Drug Market And Gives It To A Kyiv ... (Original Post)
sl8
Dec 2022
OP
You have to love white hat hackers. Especially if they are helping people out...
mitch96
Dec 2022
#1
Wild West. I think I'd be more afraid of sudden defenestration than of governments.
Hekate
Dec 2022
#5
mitch96
(13,930 posts)1. You have to love white hat hackers. Especially if they are helping people out...
Also this blows the idea that bitcoin is un hackable and safe.. Oh well..
m
SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)2. Excellent! 👏👏👏👏
iluvtennis
(19,883 posts)3. Nice 😊 n/t
viva la
(3,350 posts)4. Hang on...
Isn't he confessing to a crime?
It sure seems easy to steal in crypto.
Hekate
(90,875 posts)5. Wild West. I think I'd be more afraid of sudden defenestration than of governments.
momta
(4,079 posts)9. Yeah, not sure the laws have quite caught up.
And besides, I'd like to be a fly on the wall when the Russian drug dealers complain to the FBI.
getagrip_already
(14,906 posts)6. .Agreed.... combining Russian, drugs, and money...
Doesn't paint a picture of people who laugh off this type of thing.
But it's really not a lot of money. So who knows.
MLAA
(17,342 posts)7. Publicizing his name and company name doesn't sound like a good idea after stealing from
Russian drug dealers. Though I applaud the result.
COL Mustard
(5,937 posts)8. Good! I'm only concerned about
All the personal information in the article. Looks like just about everything except the home address.