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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

#341

Post by maerF0x0 »

Txmm wrote: post #324
maerF0x0 wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO the first step to fixing is to add liability. If a breach happens through a piece of software, then the vendor is liable. Same way cars get recalls. (sometimes)

Really? I don’t think this is at all similar to a car safety recall. That’s more like trying to issue a recall for a car because people can smash it’s windows and break in.

yeah of course it's an analogy. But by adding liability we'll get more recalls (patches) done. Vendors will stop playing FUD and will focus on the real cost of their security flaws. And yes some will still not do patches, just like some car vendors are considered less trustworthy.

But at least the risk of suit will loom over their heads.

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

#342

Post by wellthisisgreat »

harikb wrote: post #330
tracerbulletx wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I'm a bit tired of the victim blaming with security. It's physically impossible to build a house that can't be broken in to, and even harder for computer systems. Crime is a social problem, we can't rely on a dream world of mathematically perfect zero trust security.

We have to think of this similar to how any other human or company behavior is monitored. Hold companies responsible and have a market sell ransomware insurance. (One exception to my solution is poor government and public institutions who run awful software. Not sure what we can do) If I have a habit of burning down my house by being sloppy with safety, my rates will go up. There should be something similar Let us ta…

> That $$ amount will indirectly decide whether we go to war with Russia or pay software engineers.

Not related to the subject, but wow I wonder how alarming it is that "war with Russia" meme is having a strong comeback, as it's being casually brought up in online discussions about software.

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

#343

Post by myrandomcomment »

drcode wrote: post #338
myrandomcomment wrote: post #337

1. Make ransom illegal to pay. 2. Fine the hell out of any company that has not kept up with best practice in security. Require the board and exec staff to resign without payouts. 3. Make minimum jail time for ransomware hackers 100 years. 4. Make any hack that can be attributed to a loss of life (like shutting down a hospital) a death penalty offense. 5. State actors get economic death penalty - no US company or com…

Not the minimum jail sentences: The government will then just keep watering down the definition of "ransomware hacker" until all of us are technically eligible for 100 years of prison because of that one time we used an incognito tab to circumvent the NYT subscription nagware.

There are a ton of different types of murder charges. This can be codified to be safe.

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

#344

Post by toomanyrichies »

whiddershins wrote: post #287
grayfaced wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They'd restore from backups, which is already what they did even after paying the ransom. More importantly, would the hack have happened in first place if they knew there was no chance of being paid? Every ransom paid just funds and encourages the next hack. The social damage is deserving of a large fine (i.e. 10x the ransom).

Cleary it wasn’t that simple or they would have just done that.

Apparently they ended up having to do just that even after paying the ransom:

"The decryption software provided by the hacking group DarkSide, notes Bloomberg, was reportedly 'so slow' that Colonial Pipeline 'continued using its own backups to help restore the system.'"

Source- https://mashable.com/article/colonial-pipeline-paid-bitcoin-...

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

#346

Post by klyrs »

blast wrote: post #188

I'm surprised at how dismissive the comments are. We need many angles of defense against these criminals. Dismissing this because companies should do better security is like dismissing doctors because people should get more exercise. That's silly. We need preventative care and treatment. I'm not surprised by this announcement because the way that the pipeline-company ransomware hackers beat a hasty retreat was notice…

> I'm surprised at how dismissive the comments are.

I've gotta ask: has the US's stance on terrorism been effective? Or did they merely use it as an excuse to militarize the police and erode human rights? Because I want the government to take effective action around ransomware, but "similar priority to terrorism" just doesn't fill me with hope.

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

#347

Post by failwhaleshark »

gerdesj wrote: post #207
failwhaleshark wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

wholy -> holey? Definitely not wholy. That's partly wholly. Wholly is derived from whole (all/everything/complete) and not relating to a hole. This is an adjective derived from a noun, so hole -> holey. It could be hole + ly -> holely but it isn't. Now, we have the word pinned down. How on earth do you pronounce the bloody thing? For me (en_GB): hole-ee. The dash "-" is not a pause, I would run the word hole straight…

Holey'ier than thou? I kant splel.

Edit: I blame running out of coffee and almost falling-asleep at the keybbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbndfjhkngbc

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

#348

Post by kube-system »

antonzabirko wrote: post #336
blast wrote: post #188

I'm surprised at how dismissive the comments are. We need many angles of defense against these criminals. Dismissing this because companies should do better security is like dismissing doctors because people should get more exercise. That's silly. We need preventative care and treatment. I'm not surprised by this announcement because the way that the pipeline-company ransomware hackers beat a hasty retreat was notice…

The problem is our govt money is subsidizing private company security policies instead of more directly helping people. This money should go to healthcare, infrastructure, or even be redistributed before it's used here.

We fund the police and military with our tax dollars to prevent bad actors from doing bad things that we don’t want. Why is this different?

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

#349

Post by shshdueisn »

antonzabirko wrote: post #336
blast wrote: post #188

I'm surprised at how dismissive the comments are. We need many angles of defense against these criminals. Dismissing this because companies should do better security is like dismissing doctors because people should get more exercise. That's silly. We need preventative care and treatment. I'm not surprised by this announcement because the way that the pipeline-company ransomware hackers beat a hasty retreat was notice…

The problem is our govt money is subsidizing private company security policies instead of more directly helping people. This money should go to healthcare, infrastructure, or even be redistributed before it's used here.

Providing security and protecting property is one of the core functions of the state. Police protect businesses. The US Navy protects shipping lanes. I do not understand why this particular case could be so objectionable.

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

#350

Post by failwhaleshark »

Izkata wrote: post #247
failwhaleshark wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are we going to have enough turns to intercept all of these flying white TicTacs? No really, if we don't even have anything fast enough to keep-up with whatever the heck these are (if they're real). (Just don't equip your army with only nuke missiles because they destroy all of the good stuff and psy attacks would cross the streams.)

I think that's what they're referring to. Elerium-115 seems to be the current name* for Element-115, which is said to have antigravity properties and so is how UFOs are able to do their impossible maneuvers. *Back when I was obsessed with this in the early 2000s I'd never heard of Elerium-115, it was always Element-115. Looks like the origin of the name is actually a game in 1994, but may not have become common until…

https://www.mobygames.com/game/x-com-ufo-defense

Ominous music plays

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