Maastricht University in the Netherlands is preparing to recover a huge amount of Bitcoin after police authorities managed to solve the ransomware attack in December 2019. You will be really surprised when you hear the story.
In 2019, a ransomware attack targeted the university in question and froze all research data, email, and library resources. Hackers demanded 200,000 euros worth of Bitcoin, and fearing losing critical research data, the university decided to pay the said amount.
Bitcoin, which they gave as ransom when it was 200,000 Euros, will now be taken back with a value of 500,000 Euros.
The Dutch Public Prosecution Service managed to track down one of the crypto wallets associated with the 2020 attack in Ukraine and froze the funds in the account, which was worth only 40,000 euros at the time. Over the next two years, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service was able to secure the contents of the account, including about a fifth of the stolen BTC.
The value of the partial ransom recovered by the authorities reached €500,000, more than double what the university paid two and a half years ago, thanks to the price increase of the top cryptocurrency during the bull period of 2021.
The university said in an official statement that even though the ransom recovered has a higher monetary value, it cannot undo the damage done by the hackers. The university said in an official blog post:
“The Dutch Public Prosecutor’s Office was able to confiscate only about €500,000 worth of cryptocurrencies that could be offered to the university. That’s still less than the damage done to the university, but it’s a nice amount to use to support students in need.”
The university’s board of directors has decided to use the recovered funds to help students in financial need. Meanwhile, at the time the university’s BTCs were stolen, the value of BTC was $7,216, now it hovers around $20,000. What are you thinking? Please do not forget to share your thoughts with us in the comments.
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