> The 2017 transfers notwithstanding, the majority of the stolen funds remained in Wallet 1CGA4s from August 2016 until January 31, 2022. On January 31, 2022, law enforcement gained access to Wallet 1CGA4s by decrypting a file saved to LICHTENSTEIN’s cloud storage account, which had been obtained pursuant to a search warrant. The file contained a list of 2,000 virtual currency addresses, along with corresponding private keys.
> ...The connection among the VCE 1 accounts was further confirmed upon reviewing a spreadsheet saved to LICHTENSTEIN’s cloud storage account. The spreadsheet included the log-in information for accounts at various virtual currency exchanges and a notation regarding the status of the accounts
> ...Lichtenstein Email 2 was held at a U.S.-based provider that offered email as well as cloud storage services, among other products. In 2021, agents obtained a copy of the contents of the cloud storage account pursuant to a search warrant. Upon reviewing the contents of the account, agents confirmed that the account was used by LICHTENSTEIN. However, a significant portion of the files were encrypted
There's selection bias going on because only dumb criminals get caught, so you only hear about the dumb opsec practices of those criminals. Conversely, you'll never hear about the opsec practices of that professional crew with perfect opsec that hacked an exchange/difi contract and disappeared into thin air.
Or, the TLA involved have some sort of crack or acceleration procedure; the TLA say "the criminals were dumb" because the people involved can't combat that without admitting guilt, and who'd believe them. The real reason is the TLA used illegal access and tools that we wouldn't be happy they're using against the civilian population? Oh, and the people using the tools are guilty by association so they're inhibited from whistleblowing.