A federal ban on paying ransomeware would reduce the incentive to commit these attacks.
Would this result in not paying or them hiring consultants who pay on their behalf and just invoice them for "resolution services"?
Massachusetts Steamship Authority hit by ransomware attack; ferries delayed
41–50 of 267 posts
Re: Massachusetts Steamship Authority hit by ransomware attack; ferries delayed
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
It would cause companies to pay secretly and illegally instead, something which cryptocurrencies enable. Ban cryptocurrencies. They are the cause of the ransomware epidemic.
> Ban cryptocurrencies. This is meant sincerely, not glibly: How? How can cryptocurrencies be banned in any meaningful sense? We can "ban" them in a legal sense ("Use of cryptocurrencies are illegal after 1 Jan 2022"), great. But how can they be practically banned so long as computers themselves are not invaded by governments to observe every detail of their operation and private overlay networks are still technicall…
> This is meant sincerely, not glibly: How? How can cryptocurrencies be banned in any meaningful sense?
The main avenue would be by getting rid of the sanctioned on/off ramps for crypto (that is, crypto exchanges), leaving only the illegal on/off ramps which I'm sure exist.
This obviously wouldn't stop everybody, but it would certainly be a deterrent for all but the most motivated and well-connected of buyers. At that point, exchanging a large amount of crypto would be similar to laundering a large sum of dirty money; possible, but not trivial and certainly not an "easy out" for a major corporation experiencing a ransomware attack.
Re: Massachusetts Steamship Authority hit by ransomware attack; ferries delayed
#43I'm curious if seeing headlines like this causes other companies to invest more in security.
Or is it more like "well as long as it doesn't hit us we don't care"
Re: Massachusetts Steamship Authority hit by ransomware attack; ferries delayed
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
It would cause companies to pay secretly and illegally instead, something which cryptocurrencies enable. Ban cryptocurrencies. They are the cause of the ransomware epidemic.
> Ban cryptocurrencies. This is meant sincerely, not glibly: How? How can cryptocurrencies be banned in any meaningful sense? We can "ban" them in a legal sense ("Use of cryptocurrencies are illegal after 1 Jan 2022"), great. But how can they be practically banned so long as computers themselves are not invaded by governments to observe every detail of their operation and private overlay networks are still technicall…
Not that I am supporting this, but technically and legally just blackhole all IPs detected to run a Bitcoin/Ethereum/etc node, just like governments do right now with malware command centers.
Legal/technical framework is already here.
Re: Massachusetts Steamship Authority hit by ransomware attack; ferries delayed
#45I have to wonder: Are there CTOs or IT heads going into board meetings or other meetings, and telling people that these systems are secure? Because if so, they need to be tried for fraud. If it's on the internet, it is not secure.
I would be surprised if this kind of thing makes it to any significant managerial level before an attack.
Re: Massachusetts Steamship Authority hit by ransomware attack; ferries delayed
#46With the US under a constant barrage of attacks it makes sense to trash the "space force" and create a legitimate "cyber security force."
This may be our last chance to maintain global power through the use of force at all, given that so many competitors are gaining foothold in every other area.
We need bullet proof IT infrastructure, instant backtracing, and effective retaliatory responses ready to deploy, yesterday!
Why the hell isn't the attacker's computer compromised when they access the data? (rhetorical)
Re: Massachusetts Steamship Authority hit by ransomware attack; ferries delayed
#47How exactly are the ransoms even paid out? I would assume cryptocurrencies, but before those existed how did they pay out? I'm not sure what it would be called, but has there been any investigation in a sort of "transparent by default" database system? Ideally if this were possible people wouldn't need to care about data being stolen (though in this case it's unclear what the attack did, but many times it's more like…
Before cryptocurrency you had to buy things from shady online pharmacies or send/fund Visa gift cards. Source: https://www.varonis.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-ransomware/ Crypto is really what's made ransomware at the scale we see it now possible.
Crypto makes it more efficient. It would still occur without crypto just fine. Your talking about a black market worthy many millions, maybe billions.
Re: Massachusetts Steamship Authority hit by ransomware attack; ferries delayed
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nope, no point banning the thing the criminals use, because they don’t follow the law anyway. Ban paying ransoms, the corporations are much more likely to follow the law.
If the victim has no way to pay the ransom, there will be no point in trying to blackmail them. If you ban paying ransoms, desperate people will just do it in secret, something bitcoin works hard to enable.
For large companies "paying in secret" is pretty difficult given public accounts. The typical CFO would rather get a new job elsewhere rather than risk prison because his CTO colleague did a poor job securing the IT. They just work there.
A ban on ransomware payment also has the nice side effect of banning ransomware insurance, which has been making the problem worse so far.
Re: Massachusetts Steamship Authority hit by ransomware attack; ferries delayed
#49With the US under a constant barrage of attacks it makes sense to trash the "space force" and create a legitimate "cyber security force." This may be our last chance to maintain global power through the use of force at all, given that so many competitors are gaining foothold in every other area. We need bullet proof IT infrastructure, instant backtracing, and effective retaliatory responses ready to deploy, yesterday…
What does it have to do with space force? These are two separate issues.
Re: Massachusetts Steamship Authority hit by ransomware attack; ferries delayed
#50With the US under a constant barrage of attacks it makes sense to trash the "space force" and create a legitimate "cyber security force." This may be our last chance to maintain global power through the use of force at all, given that so many competitors are gaining foothold in every other area. We need bullet proof IT infrastructure, instant backtracing, and effective retaliatory responses ready to deploy, yesterday…
[deleted]