Mysterious Hackers Donating Stolen Money

A hacking group is donating stolen money to charity in what is seen as a mysterious first for cyber-crime that’s puzzling experts. smooth wombat writes: Darkside hackers claim to have extorted millions of dollars from companies, but say they now want to “make the world a better place.” In a post on the dark web, the gang posted receipts for $10,000 in Bitcoin donations to two charities. One of them, Children International, says it will not be keeping the money. The move is being seen as a strange and troubling development, both morally and legally. In the blog post on 13 October, the hackers claim they only target large profitable companies with their ransomware attacks. The attacks hold organisations’ IT systems hostage until a ransom is paid. They wrote: “We think that it’s fair that some of the money the companies have paid will go to charity. No matter how bad you think our work is, we are pleased to know that we helped changed someone’s life. Today we sended (sic) the first donations.” The cyber-criminals posted the donation along with tax receipts they received in exchange for the 0.88 Bitcoin they had sent to two charities, The Water Project and Children International.