Sodinokibi Ransomware Replaces Bitcoin With Monero

Monero Hard To Track

On April 11, 2020, BleepingComputer released a report stating that now it would be hard for the law enforcement to track the ransomware payments sent to the hackers because the Sodinokibi switched to Monero. The report further stated that in February 2020, a webinar was organized, in which the Europol strategy analyst Jerek Jakubcek explained that the anoncoins could influence the investigation.

While further explaining it, Jakubcek said that during the investigation they were unable to trace the IP addresses because of which they could not reach to the fund. The reason behind that was the combination of TOR and privacy coins the hacker used. His team did go very far in the investigation because of Bitcoin blockchain, as every action of the hacker was visible on it. But when the investigation switched to Monero blockchain the team only found a dead end.

Hackers Posted About Sodinokibi Switch

The report by BleemingComputer further stated that the crypto-community found about this change on Sodinokibi ransomware through a post which was published by the hackers on a hacker and malware forum. The hackers have made a proper announcement and stated that they would be now shifted to Monero. The hackers even mentioned in their post that they wanted to hide from the law enforcement, therefore, decided to shift Monero as it is harder to get tracked on it.

After switching to Monero the payment website of Sodinokibi has increased the price of Bitcoin by 10 percent to push the people away.

According to Emisoft Brett Callow, an analyst working at cybersecurity firm has recently stated that ransomware payment in anoncoin is not very common.

Currently, for many people ransomware development is the biggest threat. A few months ago, a WK-based firm was hacked using Sodinokibi ransomware and later the firm had to pay around $2.3 million Bitcoin.

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