A Bitcoin is seen in a picture taken at La Maison du Bitcoin in Paris. (Reuters)
Those behind the massive WannaCry ransomware attack earlier this year are making moves to protect their windfall.
On Wednesday evening, the hackers emptied three bitcoin addresses known to be associated with the WannaCry ransomware, according to Elliptic, a company that identifies illicit bitcoin activity.
According to Elliptic's data, the hackers amassed more than $144,000 worth of bitcoin in the three accounts. But on Wednesday evening, they quickly emptied them.
A Twitter bot set up by Quartz to monitor the WannaCry-affiliated bitcoin wallets showed that the owners of the accounts started withdrawing the money around 11:10 p.m. ET last night in increments of around $20,000 to $30.000. After 15 minutes and seven withdrawals, the accounts were empty.
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