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Irish health service hit by cyber attack

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Irish health service hit by cyber attack

#41

Post by ChainOfFools »

grlass wrote: post #28
ChainOfFools wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that's malware, not new. the ransom part, at the scale possible with cryptocurrency, is new. those who sound "silly" are the ones elaborately pretending that this formerly obscure class of electronic extortion didn't suddenly explode into an epidemic with the concomitant rise of cryptocurrency.

true, though arguably it's a good thing. In the sense that it moves more of the costs of malware to the organisations that are meant to be securing the data. Previously, these costs were more borne by customers/clients/etc, and thus not taken as seriously - abstract costs and externalities. Putting a clear number of the cost of poor cybersecurity should push more organisations to actually do something about it.

no. mugging is not "good" because it incentivizes people to take karate classes.

what an inhumane and cynical take.

Re: Irish health service hit by cyber attack

#42

Post by tgv »

Quarrelsome wrote: post #20
kasperni wrote: post #2

Ransomware: Another great "feature" of difficult to trace digital currencies.

apparently the traceability of digital currencies is proving effective in tracking down criminals that might otherwise operate in just cash.

So, did they get the people that r'wared the US pipeline then?

Re: Irish health service hit by cyber attack

#45

Post by WJW »

dariosalvi78 wrote: post #33

wouldn't disrupting healthcare services be an act or terrorism or even war?

1. It can only be an act of war if it was done by a nation state. Even though the US likes to declare war on abstract concepts like "drugs" and "crime", that is not how it works in international law.

2. Terrorism has similarly precise definitions, usually along the lines of "the act has to be in pursuit of political aims". Just because its a big and important target does not make it political, ransomware is an economic crime.

Re: Irish health service hit by cyber attack

#47

Post by dalbasal »

argvargc wrote: post #30
dTal wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your argument reduces to: "progress" is always good, even if it's bad. I think we're perfectly allowed to discuss whether we think a particular kind of change is a good or bad thing.

I'm not making an argument "for progress" at all. I actually 100% agree that we are allowed to, and should, discuss the ramifications of any kind of change. My point is only that the original comment didn't attempt make any argument, other than the reduced one I outlined.

That's not really a reduction... more of a random association to a generality you feel strongly about.

You "reduced" difficult to trace digital currencies to "any kind of positive development in personal sovereignty."

No need to keep defending a mistake. Just reread your own comment and the OP's. Respond to the comment itself, not other discussions you've had on the topic. If you think the argument implies something you disagree with, make the connection. Don't just assert that the argument reduces to this. Besides being mistake prone, it's unfriendly and unproductive.

I've made plenty of comments myself that I don't/shouldn't stand behind, in short retrospect. I suspect this is one of yours. Minor foul. Happens. Shake hands and make good.

Re: Irish health service hit by cyber attack

#48

Post by grlass »

ChainOfFools wrote: post #41
grlass wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

true, though arguably it's a good thing. In the sense that it moves more of the costs of malware to the organisations that are meant to be securing the data. Previously, these costs were more borne by customers/clients/etc, and thus not taken as seriously - abstract costs and externalities. Putting a clear number of the cost of poor cybersecurity should push more organisations to actually do something about it.

no. mugging is not "good" because it incentivizes people to take karate classes. what an inhumane and cynical take.

Theft was happening anyway via malware, it's just fewer of the costs were being borne directly. And as data collection increases, those indirect costs are getting higher.

Now the organisation has more at to lose at first pass, rather than just data subjects.

Re: Irish health service hit by cyber attack

#49

Post by tuwtuwtuwtuw »

adriancooney wrote: post #46

There's a trend of paying these ransomware attacks which are sometimes in the order of millions. Imagine if those millions were _proactively_ invested into the computer security of these systems?

I tried to imagine, but my mind told me that a couple of millions would not prevent these issues. Did I imagine it wrong?

You would likely end up with better security. Would it be good enough to prevent breaches? Doubt it.

Re: Irish health service hit by cyber attack

#50

Post by evgen »

WJW wrote: post #45
dariosalvi78 wrote: post #33

wouldn't disrupting healthcare services be an act or terrorism or even war?

1. It can only be an act of war if it was done by a nation state. Even though the US likes to declare war on abstract concepts like "drugs" and "crime", that is not how it works in international law. 2. Terrorism has similarly precise definitions, usually along the lines of "the act has to be in pursuit of political aims". Just because its a big and important target does not make it political, ransomware is an econom…

If the attackers are acting under the protection or tacit approval of a foreign government then you can bet that somewhere, someone is prepping a policy paper for kenetic responses. Given the recent pipeline issue and its national security implications I am not going to be surprised at all if some hackers in Russia end up dead from 'accidents' that are so obviously not accidents that no one is fooled.
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