| name | analyzing-ransomware-payment-wallets |
| description | Traces ransomware cryptocurrency payment flows using blockchain analysis tools such as Chainalysis Reactor, WalletExplorer, and blockchain.com APIs. Identifies wallet clusters, tracks fund movement through mixers and exchanges, and supports law enforcement attribution. Activates for requests involving ransomware payment tracing, bitcoin wallet analysis, cryptocurrency forensics, or blockchain intelligence gathering.
|
| domain | cybersecurity |
| subdomain | ransomware-defense |
| tags | ["ransomware","blockchain","cryptocurrency","forensics","threat-intelligence","bitcoin"] |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| author | mahipal |
| license | Apache-2.0 |
| nist_csf | ["PR.DS-11","RS.MA-01","RC.RP-01","PR.IR-01"] |
Analyzing Ransomware Payment Wallets
When to Use
- An organization has been hit by ransomware and the ransom note contains a Bitcoin or cryptocurrency wallet address that needs investigation
- Law enforcement or incident responders need to trace where ransom payments flowed after the victim paid
- Threat intelligence analysts are attributing ransomware campaigns by clustering payment infrastructure across incidents
- Investigators need to determine if a ransomware group is reusing wallet infrastructure across multiple victims
- Compliance or legal teams need evidence of fund flows for prosecution, sanctions enforcement, or insurance claims
Do not use this skill for live payment interception or to interact directly with ransomware operators. All analysis should be passive and read-only against public blockchain data.
Prerequisites
- Python 3.8+ with
requests, json, and hashlib libraries
- Access to blockchain explorer APIs (blockchain.com, WalletExplorer.com, Blockstream.info)
- Familiarity with Bitcoin transaction model (UTXOs, inputs, outputs, change addresses)
- Understanding of common obfuscation techniques (mixers, tumblers, peel chains, cross-chain swaps)
- Optional: Chainalysis Reactor license for enterprise-grade cluster analysis
- Optional: OXT.me for advanced transaction graph visualization
Workflow
Step 1: Extract Wallet Address from Ransom Note
Parse the ransom note to identify the payment address(es):
Common address formats:
Bitcoin (P2PKH): 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa (starts with 1)
Bitcoin (P2SH): 3J98t1WpEZ73CNmQviecrnyiWrnqRhWNLy (starts with 3)
Bitcoin (Bech32): bc1qar0srrr7xfkvy5l643lydnw9re59gtzzwf5mdq (starts with bc1)
Monero: 4... (95 characters, much harder to trace)
Ethereum: 0x... (40 hex chars)
Step 2: Query Blockchain Explorer for Transaction History
Retrieve all transactions associated with the wallet:
import requests
def get_wallet_transactions(address):
"""Query blockchain.com API for address transactions."""
url = f"https://blockchain.info/rawaddr/{address}"
resp = requests.get(url, timeout=30)
resp.raise_for_status()
data = resp.json()
{
: address,
: data.get(, ),
: data.get(, ),
: data.get(, ),
: data.get(, ),
: data.get(, []),
}
