Cryptocurrency used by a European university to pay off hackers was found on the account of a Ukrainian

A university in the Netherlands has doubled its budget thanks to a hacker attack on its website. Instead of the € 200,000 invested, the university received € 500,000 back.

Three years ago, Maastricht University paid a € 200,000 ransom to a hacker in bitcoin. It was necessary to regain access to valuable university data that had been compromised by hackers: «The criminals encrypted hundreds of Windows servers and backup systems, preventing 25,000 students and staff from accessing research data, the library and mail,» De Volkskrant reported.

As part of the investigation into the cyberattack, the Dutch police tracked down a wallet that belonged to a «drop» from Ukraine (the user was used to withdraw funds). However, at the time, the account contained € 40,000 worth of cryptocurrency. The authorities were able to return the funds only after 2 years, when the value of BTC increased from € 40,000 to € 500,000, which doubled the money that the university had paid as a ransom earlier.

«This money will not go to the general fund, but to a fund to help students with financial difficulties,» said Michiel Borgers, a spokesman for Maastricht University. The investigation is still ongoing, and the police hope to find all those involved in the attack.

It is interesting to know whether the university plans to teach students how to invest in cryptocurrencies after the incident, because their own experience has shown that funds invested in bitcoin are profitable. Thus, the American University of Cincinnati recently announced the launch of two study programs on cryptocurrencies, bitcoin, and new financial technologies. And the University of Arizona will issue non-fungible tokens and conduct virtual classes in the meta-universe.