Page 65 - Veritas - 02.03.22

Financial System Code) and bidders account numbers.

Cyber forensic role in Bitcoin Scam Investigation: Four laptops have been

recovered from hacker Srikrishna Ramesh. The analysis of hard disks

from a laptop has discovered data of a hack carried out at an

e-procurement cell of the state government where Rs 11.5 was stolen by

a hacker gang.

According to the Cyber forensics report, one hard disk “fragment 01”

recovered from a MacBook belonging to Sriki contains hacking data for

alleged hacking of the e-proc.gov.in of the e-governance cell of the State

Government.

The Cyber forensics team analyzed data held in a cloud server by the

hacker and found that Sriki had as much as 76.13 lakh public addresses

for Bitcoins and as many as 26 e-wallets. Sources said these could have

been acquired by hacking or through data trading on the dark web as

part of hacker groups to steal cryptocurrency.

Challenges facing the crypto-landscape in India

Indeed as the government is drafting a bill on cryptocurrency, around

five million people are formally using it. But you cannot regulate people

holding the cryptocurrency, as the system works on blockchain

technology which provides privacy to its users. The government can

regulate the trading exchanges or platforms.

In India, Bitcoins are not a legal tender and are not accepted for payment.

There are however websites where you can redeem the cryptocurrencies

for vouchers from Amazon, Flipkart or other leading brands. It is only an

investment that the people are holding.

The government’s move to introduce GST (Goods and Services Tax) for

crypto trading through the bill would impact the investor and not help

curb hacking, experts say.

India is coming up with a new vulnerability disclosure policy. If you are a

security researcher or a hacker, you can report the vulnerabilities to the

Computer Emergency Response Team.

REFERENCES:

• Frankenfield, J. (2022, January 17). Bitcoin Mining. Investopedia. Retrieved

from https:www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bitcoin-mining.asp

• Nandakumar, P. (2021, November 20). The incredible saga of “Sriki”, the

hacker at centre of Karnataka bitcoin scam. The Week. Retrieved from

https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2021/11/19/the-incredible-saga-of-

sriki-the-hacker-at-centre-of-karnataka-bitcoin-scam.html