Bloomberg: Hackers only received $50,000 in ransom because Bitcoin is too difficult to use

Last week, an unprecedented cyber attack swept the world, but there are still a large number of victims who have not paid the ransom to the hackers.

The ransomware infected users' computers last Friday, and within 72 hours, users must pay $300 worth of Bitcoin or double the ransom. Hackers chose this cryptocurrency because it is more difficult to track than traditional payment methods. If users still refuse to pay the ransom after 7 days, their computers will be permanently locked - which is a headache for users who don't have the habit of backing up their data.

Elliptic Enterprises Ltd., a company that tracks bitcoin transactions for illegal applications, said the hackers had received only $50,000 in ransom payments as of Monday. The company calculated all the ransom payments received by the hackers by tracking their bitcoin addresses and said the amount was likely to increase.

Michela Menting, research director of digital security at ABI Research, said:

This number is indeed relatively small, most likely because some organizations have already initiated data backup and recovery procedures.

In addition, for users who do not have data backed up in other systems, paying the ransom is not as simple as shopping on Amazon, and it is not as simple as entering credit or debit card information. Although the hackers have provided help links for users who have never used Bitcoin, this cryptocurrency is still unfamiliar to most people.
James Smith, Elliptic CEO and co-founder, said:

If you directly ask someone to pay a certain amount of Bitcoin, most people will be at a loss as to where to start.

There are several steps to make a Bitcoin payment. First, individuals or businesses must register and complete a review on several online exchanges before they can obtain Bitcoin. Only after this series of reviews can they top up on the exchange. For countries that do not have exchanges (such as the UK), users must convert local currencies into other legal currencies.
Once the funds have been successfully deposited into the exchange, the Bitcoin can be sent to the address provided by the blackmailer. Smith said:

(Bitcoin address) looks like a long string of gibberish.

Once the payment is successful, the hacker may be able to unlock the attacked computer.
Alex Sunnarborg, an analyst at bitcoin research firm CoinDesk, said:

Large amounts of Bitcoin are often difficult to trace back to in the first place.

He added that it takes several days to create an account with a bitcoin broker or exchange, link a bank card, and then receive bitcoin.

James Chappell, chief technology officer and co-founder of British security company Digital Shadows, said that one thing worth noting about this attack is that the ransom demanded by the hackers from each user was not large, but the number of people attacked was large.

Although it is difficult to track Bitcoin transactions compared to traditional bank payments, it will still be key for law enforcement agencies to locate criminals. Elliptic said that it is unlikely to know the identity of the attacker just by looking at the Bitcoin address, but once the Bitcoin is transferred, it can be tracked, which can help them find the criminals.

Kevin Beardsley, Head of Business Development at Elliptic, said:

It is possible to locate the 'black hand' behind a suspicious address or transaction.