NZ Police Reports “Excellent Progress” in Cryptopia Hack Investigation

The New Zealand police force is working hard to capture the Hackers behind the attack against cryptocurrency Exchange Cryptopia, and they seem to be getting satisfactory results that could lead to the whereabouts of the perpetrators of this crime.

In a press release published on 7 February 2019, the New Zealand police reported being working with international authorities and cybersecurity experts from several countries to advance an investigation they described as complex due to the lack of proper regulations.

However, they commented that the efforts seem to be bearing their first fruits with good results in several fields:

“The Police investigation into the Cryptopia hack and theft of cryptocurrency is progressing well and advancing on several fronts …

Excellent progress is being made in the investigation, and we are working with Cryptopia management plus current and former employees who have been providing valuable assistance.”

Police investigations focus on “identifying those behind this offending and retrieving the stolen cryptocurrency.” If discovered, the material and intellectual authors of the theft could face a series of criminal and civil charges that could lead to jail time and millions of dollars in compensation.

Advancing… Slowly

Despite the good news, there is still a long way to go. The lack of regulations and the characteristics of cryptocurrency transactions make it very difficult for experts to move forward quickly.

The New Zealand police emphasized that the investigation will be long, so it is difficult to talk about estimates of the level of progress. Not only have they been secretive about dates or a timeline, but they also refrained from pointing out which were the specific advances achieved:

“This investigation is expected to take a considerable amount of time to resolve due to the complexity of the cyber environment.”

Previously, the New Zealand police revealed to the public that a team of experts in cybersecurity and digital forensics was actively working on the case. The investigation also included a careful examination of Cryptopia’s offices:

“While police are unable to go into details about specific steps being taken at this stage, we can say that our focus includes commencing both a forensic digital investigation of the company, and a physical scene examination at the building.

We are dealing with a complex situation and we are unable to put a timeframe on how long the investigation may take.”