The U.S. Justice Department announced the successful seizure of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency Colonial Pipeline paid to a group of cyber criminals who hacked into the company via a ransomware attack last month, ABC News reports.

The announcement was made Monday, stating that the funds were recovered after a group of hackers known as 'DarkSide' carried out a cyberattack that led the pipeline to briefly shut down its operations.

During a Monday news conference, deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco explained what officials were recently able to do in response to the attack, saying, "Earlier today, the Department of Justice has found and recaptured the majority of the ransom Colonial paid to the DarkSide network in the wake of last month's ransomware attack. Ransomware attacks are always unacceptable -- but when they target critical infrastructure, we will spare no effort in our response." 

"Today, we turned the tables on DarkSide," Monaco continued. "By going after the entire ecosystem that fuels ransomware and digital extortion attacks, including criminal proceeds in the form of digital currency, we will continue to use all of our tools, and all of our resources to increase the cost and the consequences of ransomware attacks and other cyber-enabled attacks."

At the time of the Colonial Pipeline hack, President Joe Biden said the DarkSide hackers were based in Russia but were not part of the Russian government.