The wall street journal reports that America’s finance department will issue various sanctions to reduce and possibly eliminate digital currency ransomware hacks. No one knows the list of cryptocurrencies the government will target first. This is the first time the Biden-led administration is making a significant move against those using crypto for money laundering purposes.
Targeted Crypto Entities Are Already Known But Undisclosed
According to the report, the treasury department won’t release overtly strict measures on the virtual asset industry. Instead, the authorities already have some specific targets in mind. The authorities want to use these targeted tokens to deter other crypto ecosystems whose tokens are being used for ransomware hacks.
Most notably, cybercriminals often use bitcoin for their activities since it offers privacy and transportability. Virtual currencies became a vital discussion in terms of security following the devastating hacks on famous firms such as Kesaya, Colonial Pipeline, and JBS. Two months ago, during a justice department’s criminal section meeting, the main discussion revolved around how virtual assets enable ransomware hacks.
Part of the conclusion from that meeting was that the government needs to monitor transactions in the digital asset industry. Even though some American states are considering a ransomware payment ban proposal bill, some industry professionals opined that some firms might never recover from such attacks.
XRP Holders Sue Apple
In other news, some ripple token holders have sued iPhone makers, apple. They accused the tech firm of allowing the listing of a malicious app in its app store to access their private information without their consent. Part of the filed report states that the XRP holders seek damages’ compensation from the firm.
Apart from accusing Apple of allowing the listing of a malicious app, these XRP holders also accuse the company of being co-conspirators with the developers. They alleged that Apple must have known that the software was vicious and still allowed it to be listed in its app store. They said that if Apple was not a co-conspirator, they should have sent a notification to all app store users.
The software that caused the whole problem is known as “toast plus. Its similarities in design and features to a more famous with almost identical name caused some users to make the mistake of downloading it. Hence, losing vast amounts of cash and their privacy.
These crypto owners said they had trusted that Apple was still loyal to their store’s objective of ensuring that all apps listed in the store have passed thorough screening. Thus, it was with this belief that they downloaded the said app.
One crypto owner said she downloaded the vicious app early last year and linked it with her private keys, which contained about $420 worth of XRP. But when she tried to access her account last month, she couldn’t, and her funds were gone and the account deleted. These XRP holders want a $100 daily payment or over $11k as compensation.
