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U.S. to give ransomware hacks similar priority as terrorism, official says

reuters.com

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Re: U.S. to give ransomware hacks similar priority as terrorism, official says

#61

Post by handrous »

WrtCdEvrydy wrote: post #42
chitowneats wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You won't be seeing 30%+ gains when they're throwing people in prison for it. Most drug users are never prosecuted. But the threat of prosecution does very little to affect the quality of their purchase, relative to what it would do to BTC market as a whole.

Yeah, illegal things definitely don't end being sold above market price.

I think this dynamic will play out very differently with something the value of which is mostly determined by current and future-expected transaction velocity & volume (to the extent that it's not sheer speculation). Now, the cost for services involving Bitcoin, like converting it into dollars, would probably shoot way up.

Outlawing Bitcoin (or cryptocurrency generally) would cause a huge demand reduction. Some coins might adjust supply to compensate, but total crypto "market cap" would surely plummet.

Re: U.S. to give ransomware hacks similar priority as terrorism, official says

#62

Post by viraptor »

chongli wrote: post #25

What about the other side of this? Instead of seeking backdoors and using them to spy on Americans, the NSA should be stepping up their game and securing vital infrastructure and domestic businesses against these attacks.

They do that already. They're not going to come to your company and configure things for you, but they'll report vulnerabilities (https://www.cnet.com/news/major-windows-10-security-flaw-rep...), give guidance on policies (https://us-cert.cisa.gov/ncas/current-activity/2021/02/26/ns...), create security frameworks (https://web.archive.org/web/20201022103915/https://www.nsa.g...) and many other things.

Re: U.S. to give ransomware hacks similar priority as terrorism, official says

#63

Post by elliekelly »

y04nn wrote: post #51

For me "Terrorism is, in the broadest sense, the use of intentional violence to achieve political aims", there is no political aims here, their goal is to extort as much money as they can from their victims. This is a criminal activity and any small or big companies that pay for it are feeding the monster and should be persecuted. But the US has been ignoring it for years and now it comes right back to them.

They haven’t said ransomeware is terrorism, only that they’re going to prioritize it like terrorism. As in, it will follow a similar centralized reporting process. I don’t think the goal is to start sending hackers to Guantanamo or categorize ransomware as WDMs. Not yet, at least.

Re: U.S. to give ransomware hacks similar priority as terrorism, official says

#64

Post by jessaustin »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #31
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If we're going to Patriot Act the crud out of ransomware, Bitcoin is gonna be illegal Terrorist financing is illegal. Cash is not.

The majority of the uses of cash are legal. The majority of uses of Bitcoin are criminal. And bear in mind, Bitcoin hasn't just been a boon to ransomware, it's been a strategy to evade financial sanctions by countries like Iran: https://www.reuters.com/technology/iran-uses-crypto-mining-l... So there's a lot of reasons the US government just may find themselves happier without it.

There's a difference between a proposition one can pull out of an orifice and a proposition one can defend in court.

Re: U.S. to give ransomware hacks similar priority as terrorism, official says

#65

Post by Buttons840 »

Before the yacht was launched, before it was first put in the water, there was a big problem with rats entering through the large holes in the bottom of the hull. To remedy the situation, the yacht builders began feeding a large number of cats around the base of the yacht while they finished the furnishings and painted the gold trims. The rat problem was solved and the happy day of launch is near.

Re: U.S. to give ransomware hacks similar priority as terrorism, official says

#66

Post by paxys »

So we are going to launch a trillion dollar war on ransomware which inevitably leads to more ransomware before patting ourselves on the back and saying "mission accomplished"? Are we also going to make ordinary citizens take off their shoes and get probed before using their computer?

Re: U.S. to give ransomware hacks similar priority as terrorism, official says

#67

Post by bostonsre »

y04nn wrote: post #51

For me "Terrorism is, in the broadest sense, the use of intentional violence to achieve political aims", there is no political aims here, their goal is to extort as much money as they can from their victims. This is a criminal activity and any small or big companies that pay for it are feeding the monster and should be persecuted. But the US has been ignoring it for years and now it comes right back to them.

The willful ignorance and non-action by states that provide a safe haven for launching these attacks seems to be potentially political to me. If the attackers are state backed, then its definitely political. If the attackers are not state backed, it seems plausible that the state has made a decision to allow the attacks to take place because sowing chaos and discord in the united states is an aim of their government.

Re: U.S. to give ransomware hacks similar priority as terrorism, official says

#68

Post by paxys »

axlee wrote: post #45
chongli wrote: post #25

What about the other side of this? Instead of seeking backdoors and using them to spy on Americans, the NSA should be stepping up their game and securing vital infrastructure and domestic businesses against these attacks.

I'd rather not see taxpayers have to foot the bill for the profit of megacorps neglecting proper cybersecurity while sitting on mountains of tax-evaded offshore cash, thank you. The industry should be magnitudes larger than it is currently, and we shouldn't encourage corporate recklessness by socializing the costs.

In a lot of cases along with the "megacorps" there is also critical national infrastructure going down.

Re: U.S. to give ransomware hacks similar priority as terrorism, official says

#70

Post by kingTug »

WrtCdEvrydy wrote: post #27
cammikebrown wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s funny you say that, there actually was a huge LSD bust in 2000 that did make it harder to find for awhile. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Leonard_Pickard

Right, but in 2021, I'm sure you can find LSD at an inflated price due to government action.

LSD was and still is one of the cheapest black market drugs you’ll find. There is no shortage. Imo it’s easier to get and test for safety than ever before.
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