Maastricht University in the Netherlands is set to recover cryptocurrency it paid in ransom in 2019 that is now worth €500,000. Pictured: Pedestrians walk past a display of cryptocurrency Bitcoin on Feb. 15, 2022, in Hong Kong. (Photo by Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)Cryptocurrency volatility worked out in a victim's favor as Maastricht University. The school paid a ransom worth €200,000 in 2019 and is set to receive recovered funds from the criminals' account now worth €500,000.Maastricht said once received, it would deposit the money in a fund for students in need.The Dutch Public Prosecution Service traced the €40,000 worth of cryptocurrency from the ransom to an account they were able to freeze in February of 2020. In the 17 months since, that cryptocurrency increased in value more than tenfold.
The university noted that even the gain of €300,000 was not enough to offset the total cost of recovering from the attack.In 2021, the opposite situation impacted Colonial Pipeline when the brunt of its ransom was recovered. U.S. authorities were able to claw back 63.7 out of the 75 bitcoin Colonial Pipeline paid in ransom mere months after the ransom was paid. But bitcoin had plummeted in value, meaning the dollar value of the bitcoin recovered was $2.3 million — only about half of the $4.4 million ransom they paid.Maastricht's ransomware attack was carried out by affiliates of the Cl0p group. The university prominently displays a hanging digital sculpture by artist Richard Vijgen it commissioned to commemorate the event.The funds are currently being held in an account owned by the Dutch Public Prosecution Service, with the Ministry of Justice instigating proceedings to get the money to the school.
An In-Depth Guide to Ransomware
Get essential knowledge and practical strategies to protect your organization from ransomware attacks.
Joe is a senior reporter at SC Weekly, focused on policy issues. He previously covered cybersecurity for Axios, The Hill and the Christian Science Monitor’s short-lived Passcode website.
SecurityWeek reports that Irish multinational eyecare technology firm Ocuco had information from over 240,000 individuals stolen following a data breach.
U.S. health data management software provider Freedman HealthCare had 52.4 GB of data with 42,204 files purportedly compromised by the World Leaks hacking operation, formerly known as Hunters International, which threatened to expose the pilfered information by Tuesday morning, The Register reports.
BleepingComputer reports that major Indian car-sharing platform Zoomcar Holdings had information from 8.4 million users compromised following a breach of its systems identified last week.