Money trail backs leaked chats from extortion crew that walks into US law firms

Cryptocurrency transactions lend credibility to parts of a purported leak from Russian extortion crew Silent Ransom Group (SRG), according to blockchain researchers. Chainalysis said some wallet addresses in the material match its existing intelligence, although it could not authenticate the entire collection. It posted: "While we cannot speak to the totality of claims documented in the leak, we can confirm that certain leaked SRG addresses sit downstream of millions of dollars in ransomware payments that SRG has extorted from victims." Despite its name, SRG is known for stealing data and demanding payment rather than deploying ransomware. Its methods include callback phishing and physical intrusions. The FBI warned in May that people posing as IT support staff were entering law offices and copying files onto USB drives. Chainalysis said the transaction histories of two SRG wallet addresses detailed hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of funds sent from the wallet of a known SRG member. …