Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 591 posts

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

#91

Post by okareaman »

rejectedandsad wrote: post #30

They absolutely should. We are in the midst of a cyberwar against criminal gangs sheltered by a kleptocracy that already attempted political sabotage against this country. All options must be on the table including physical retaliation - the threat isn’t going away.

I think a lot of people don't realize this, because I never see it mentioned, but when the Soviet Union dissolved we (U.S.) convinced the Ukrainians to give up their loose nuclear weapons with the promise that we would protect them going forward. I may be time to ratchet up on that promise and help the Ukrainians drive the Russians back across their border. Crimea will stay gone because it belonged to Russia to begin with (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_transfer_of_Crimea) There are a lot of things we could do with Ukraine to punish Russia.

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

#92

Post by myohmy »

bityard wrote: post #12
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #4

Curious if this will result in extraterritorial enforcement. For example, it's clear Moscow is either unwilling or unable to prosecute cyber criminals within its border.

I read that as "extraterrestrial enforcement" which sounded way more exciting.

I mean its armageddon either way

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

#93

Post by paxys »

stonepresto wrote: post #47
chickenpotpie wrote: post #40

I really hope this copies the principal of not negotiating with terrorists. Everytime we pay out ransomware it just encourages more ransomware.

The downward trend in bug bounty payouts and frustration from researchers might also sweeten that deal for more experienced persons.

Companies which fall victim to such attacks aren't normally the kind which have bug bounties or engage with security researchers.

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

#94

Post by Karunamon »

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.

>the majority of uses of Bitcoin are criminal Citation badly needed.

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

#95

Post by chitowneats »

jessaustin wrote: post #59
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.

...when they're throwing people in prison for it. I thought I smelled authoritarianism! Here we see the ultimate purpose of this entire desultory exercise. Having problems online? No backups? Don't fix your pathetic shit; just be the excuse for the USA military-enforcement-imprisonment-industrial complex to oppress everyone on earth. Good grief.

https://drewdevault.com/2021/04/26/Cryptocurrency-is-a-disas...

Nations make laws against bad things. People who violate those laws go to jail. A ban on cryptocurrency (or rather, exchanging it for dollars) will be a hell of a lot easier than banning popular intoxicants.

We're done putting up with this particularly pernicious iteration of tulip mania. Time to pull the plug before it does any more damage.

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

#96

Post by selsta »

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.

Do you have a source for your claim that the majority of Bitcoin uses are criminal? Research by blockchain analysis companies show that only a small percentage of Bitcoin usage is illicit [1][2][3].

[1] https://www.elliptic.co/resources/typologies-concise-guide-c...

[2] https://ciphertrace.com/2020-year-end-cryptocurrency-crime-a...

[3] https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/2021-crypto-crime-repor...

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

#97

Post by myohmy »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #19
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #2

Whelp, that's the end of cryptocurrency... probably should sell your HODLings now. If we're going to Patriot Act the crud out of ransomware, Bitcoin is gonna be illegal.

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

Try taking $10,001 in cash into the US and tell me that again

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

#98

Post by handrous »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #75
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's one possible reading. Another is that the US will start working on their own Great Firewall, such that your packets need to be cleared by a metaphorical digital TSA to enter the country.

All that takes is the adversary bringing one person within the firewall (that is, within the country).

1) All security has weaknesses or work-arounds. That doesn't mean that all security is worthless. Forcing adversaries to take more risks and expend more effort is kind of the whole point, and that's exactly what you're talking about.

2) Are you arguing that the actual Great Firewall, a real thing we see actually working on a massive scale, does not make it much harder for foreigners to cyber-attack China?

3) See my other post on this thread—there's work toward re-designing the Internet to make evading state- or bloc-level origin control, including communicating with existing compromised nodes inside a state, remotely, way harder than it is now. I'm talking at the node-to-node routing and backbone level. It's interesting/terrifying stuff.

4) Couple 3 with some other minor and fairly obvious tweaks to how Internet access works, and even getting a foreign device with its own infinite-range radio into the target state would be reduced to step one of several to gain access to a target state's network, and that access would likely not last long if you start doing anything weird with it.

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

#99

Post by smhost »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #75
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's one possible reading. Another is that the US will start working on their own Great Firewall, such that your packets need to be cleared by a metaphorical digital TSA to enter the country.

All that takes is the adversary bringing one person within the firewall (that is, within the country).

it's just a metaphor. in reality, they're just going to use the old Patriot Act mass surveillance infrastructure, which sits inside ISPs and processes every packet.

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

#100

Post by failwhaleshark »

Buttons840 wrote: post #65

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.

They'll just hire a million little Dutch boys with SCUBA to put their fingers where less wholy materials up to ship-building codes belongs. Problem solved!
Post reply on HN