The system runs from Texas to New Jersey and spans 5,500 miles, transporting around 45% of fuel consumed on the East Coast.
Ransomware is a type of computer malware that hijacks the victim’s data, locks them up and demands a ransom payment to restore them.
As no government can control, stop or regulate bitcoin transactions, hackers opt to use the cryptocurrency instead of the highly-regulated traditional banking system.
Bitcoin’s public blockchain is susceptible to forensic analysis, and the attackers’ addresses used to receive the ransom payment can be watched and analyzed by nearly anyone.
Some tools that try to improve the hackers’ future spending privacy do exist, such as CoinJoin and mixing services.