Sandeep Patil, a joint commissioner of police of the city of Bengaluru in India, announced today that the Karnataka police has seized Bitcoin worth 9 crore INR ($1.23 million) from an arrested hacker.
According to a report by India Today, the hacker named Srikrishna alias Shreeki was arrested on 18 November for allegations of breaking into government websites. During the investigation, police discovered that Shreeki had hacked 3 Bitcoin exchanges and 10 poker sites to steal more than 30 Bitcoin.
The hacker used malware to target government websites, he also hacked online gaming portals and other websites to win money and crypto assets online. According to a report by ANI, Srikrishna has apparently confessed to hacking the e-procurement website of the Karnataka government in 2019.
The crypto hacks around the world are on the rise, several attacks were reported in recent months. A significant rise in hacking activities is mainly due to a jump in cryptocurrency prices. The cryptocurrency market cap jumped above $1 trillion earlier this month as the value of the world’s largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin now stands at around $38,000.
Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Hacks
India has encountered several hacks in the past related to Bitcoin and other crypto-assets. Microsoft released a report earlier in 2020 and mentioned that Indian users have a relatively higher chance of facing a crypto attack.
“India recorded a cryptocurrency mining encounter rate that was 4.6 times higher and drive-by download attack volume that was three times higher than the regional and global average. India registered the seventh-highest malware encounter rate across the region, at 5.89 percent in the past year. This was 1.1 times higher than the regional average. The report also found that India recorded the third-highest ransomware encounter rate across the region, which was two times higher than the regional average,” the report from Microsoft stated.
In the recent case, Bengaluru police are investigating the matter to check if there are other hackers associated with such incidents.
