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

The push to ban ransom payments is gaining momentum

socket.dev

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 173 posts

Re: The push to ban ransom payments is gaining momentum

#31

Post by kazinator »

modernpacifist wrote: post #21
kazinator wrote: post #9

> Ransomware is a profit-driven enterprise. If it is made unprofitable, most attacks will quickly stop. This is conjecture presented as fact. Here is an alternative conjecture: what if ransomware is mainly a sociopathically-driven enterprise, with a side interest in profit? Or what if a good chunk of it is? How many ransomware perpetrators have we captured, and subjected to psychological study, to be able to confiden…

It seems reasonable to suggest that the number of profit-driven ransomware endeavors and the number of for-fun ransomware endeavors can both be non-zero and contain some overlap and some non-overlap. Therefore it seems that to make it unprofitable would at least eliminate the former reason which under all by the worst case scenario where those numbers are perfectly equal and overlapping would result in fewer ransomwa…

Not only might X (= banning payments) not eliminate ransomware, it could make the problem worse!

Those ransomware perpetrators who are motivated by profit could multiply their activities, if the yield is reduced: have more heists going on.

Re: The push to ban ransom payments is gaining momentum

#35

Post by losteric »

dexwiz wrote: post #3

Does banning ransom payments really work? It just seems to create a service industry to pay on ransomed’s behalf.

Bans have helped fight other protection rackets.

Businesses are less willing to comply with the mob when the government is swinging a bigger stick. And payments/criminal rewards get pressured down when it’s blatantly illegal

Re: The push to ban ransom payments is gaining momentum

#37

Post by kazinator »

gertop wrote: post #24
kazinator wrote: post #9

> Ransomware is a profit-driven enterprise. If it is made unprofitable, most attacks will quickly stop. This is conjecture presented as fact. Here is an alternative conjecture: what if ransomware is mainly a sociopathically-driven enterprise, with a side interest in profit? Or what if a good chunk of it is? How many ransomware perpetrators have we captured, and subjected to psychological study, to be able to confiden…

There is likely an element of sociopathy involved as it requires a particular lack of empathy towards secondary victims. But the same can be said for most career criminals, and most crimes do indeed stop when you remove the profit motivation. Your own conjecture that ransomware authors are somehow a special breed is the one that needs backing.

> special breed

Vandals are real.

Re: The push to ban ransom payments is gaining momentum

#38

Post by dclowd9901 »

halfcat wrote: post #29
zer00eyz wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bing Bing Bing!!! We have a winner! Legalized them, the FBI has to pay them for you, you have to give them 3x the cost of the payment. 1x to payment. 1x to finding people who committed the crime 1x to pay off everyone impacted. Increasing the cost of not being secure is the only way the problem will be addressed.

How far do we take that? Adding layers and layers of security isn’t free, and it’s often at the expense of productivity, and if taken far enough, the profitability and viability of a business. What’s the right percentage of the economy to sacrifice to (maybe) stop one kind of crime?

An unreasonably vulnerable business shouldn’t be considered a viable business.

Re: The push to ban ransom payments is gaining momentum

#40

Post by dclowd9901 »

kazinator wrote: post #9

> Ransomware is a profit-driven enterprise. If it is made unprofitable, most attacks will quickly stop. This is conjecture presented as fact. Here is an alternative conjecture: what if ransomware is mainly a sociopathically-driven enterprise, with a side interest in profit? Or what if a good chunk of it is? How many ransomware perpetrators have we captured, and subjected to psychological study, to be able to confiden…

Interesting that you associate the sociopathy as the reason someone might do this for fun. I see it as the reason they would do it for money.
Post reply on HN