VERY IMPORTANT

Proofpoint researchers have been following an previously undocumented threat in which actors are stealing bitcoins via the Tor proxy onion[.]top. Operators of this proxy are surreptitiously diverting Bitcoin payments from ransomware victims to their own wallets by modifying in transit the source of web pages used for payment, replacing the ransomware author-controlled Bitcoin addresses with their own. As a result, the proxy operators are not only preventing ransomware victims from decrypting their files by paying a ransom but are also in effect stealing from the threat actors distributing ransomware. This appears to be the first scheme of this type affecting both ransomware victims and operators.