The U.S. government offers a $10 million reward for information on the Colonial Pipeline hacker group's activities.

May brought an end to 45 percent of the East Coast's fuel supply after an attack by ransomware. The Colonial Pipeline event sparked panic purchasing and raised concerns about the dangers presented by simple hacks to national systems.

There is currently a $10 million prize for anyone who can identify or locate the leaders of a gang known as DarkSide, which was involved in this attack.

Additionally, the U.S. The government is providing rewards up to $5 million for information that leads to "anyone conspiring to join in or seeking to engage in a DarkSide variant ransomware attack," in addition to the $10 million bounties. It's unclear what this signifies. It is possible that a "DarkSide variant ransomware attack" has nothing to do with the group's hacking tools. The software may have changed slightly.

As though the State Department is intentionally leaving room for interpretation, this is a confusing statement.

The offer is the latest example of the United States' monetary incentives to combat significant cybercrime. The Rewards for Justice (RfJ) program, founded in 1984 to combat international terrorism, offers these prizes. The U.S. appears to believe that cybercriminals now deserve the same amount of attention, since the State Department began paying $10 million rewards through RfJ in July for information on anyone who engages in "malicious cyber actions against U.S. critical infrastructure."

(For those who are curious, the State Department maintains a Tor-based tip line at he5dybnt7sr6cm32xt77pazmtm65flqy6irivtflruqfc5ep7eiodiad.onion.) This URL needs the usage of a Tor browser and will not work with other browsers, such as Chrome or Firefox.)

The State Department's current bounty is confusing because hacking groups are inherently flexible. While these groups can be disbanded and reformed as quickly as someone changes their login, they tend to use similar tactics and programs to track a shared history.

Halted all DarkSide operations following the Colonial Pipeline tragedy. The group apologized for the "social ramifications" of what they had done and looked surprised by the enormity of the attack. On the other hand, U.S. cybersecurity specialists believe that gang members may have just relaunched an organization called BlackMatter, which resurfaced on the scene a few weeks after DarkSide disappeared from the radar, carrying comparable weapons and techniques. The state department's bounty is likely to apply to them as well.