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The Ransomware Problem Is a Bitcoin Problem

lawfareblog.com

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Re: The Ransomware Problem Is a Bitcoin Problem

#61

Post by Dah00n »

tptacek wrote: post #22
Dah00n wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a cryptocurrency advocate but as arberx points out in another comment this is avoiding the real problem. The problem isn't cryptocurrency or ransomware. The root cause is what needs to be fixed: Software publishers and software owners are to blame for insecure systems. Software development is like the wild west with absolutely no accountability. This need to change.

There is no evidence at all that computer science and information technology actually knows how to solve the underlying security problems without forcing untenable compromises on the economy. We can produce secure software, but only at a level of expense and time that would preclude most commercial software development.

That may be but that doesn't change that fact that the underlying problem isn't cryptocurrency. Lashing out at other technologies because of lack of accountability in software development won't solve anything. At best it will move it somewhere else but in the end the problem stil haven't been solved.

Besides, software could absolutely be made much safer without destroying the economy. We all know that the systems that get hit are often a mess a twelve year old could "hack" by using specific search engines or kiddy scripts. Laws punishing those that run software with known vulnerabilities that end up causing society problems like these ransomware attacks do should have been made decades ago.

Re: The Ransomware Problem Is a Bitcoin Problem

#62

Post by yawaworht1978 »

Indeed, it is rather simple, all the founders and idealists of btc have been something like technology supremacist and do not want any government interventions infringing on their business matters. They need to pretend how this is legal and a technology achievement to obfuscate the real purpose. These are, founders getting rich, money laundering(called anonymous transactions), exchange of illegal goods( how many people pay with btc for legal things and how many use it to pay for all kinds of illegal things on the dark web?) . Someone intelligent enough to create Bitcoin is intelligent enough to know this will be used for illicit purposes. No way in hell did a borderline anarchist cypherpunk believe the general population will trust his system more than the banking system. If most governments simply outlaw it, the price will have a rapid trajectory towards zero. Bitcoin and the ecosystem are the only logic tool for ransomware transactions, there is no sugarcoating this.

Re: The Ransomware Problem Is a Bitcoin Problem

#63

Post by emodendroket »

lancemurdock wrote: post #34
SavantIdiot wrote: post #3

I'd like to hear how cryptocurrency advocates address this without deploying a fallacy. Cryptocurrency makes ransomware possible, without the former, the latter cannot thrive. The defenses I usually hear come in the form of "current banking facilitates bad stuff, too," which is a fact, but doesn't absolve cryptocurrencies central role in ransomware. As the article states, there is simply no way to pay a ransom withou…

car accidents account for 38K deaths a year in the US alone. If we ban cars, we'd be saving 38K lives every year. Why do people continue driving knowing this statistic? The conversations around ransomware and climate are both slippery slopes. We should be focused on better security to prevent attacks as well as facilitating more renewable energy instead of stifling innovation.

Is the claim that cryptocurrency is providing a societal benefit comparable to the automobile then?

Re: The Ransomware Problem Is a Bitcoin Problem

#64

Post by px43 »

cgb223 wrote: post #6

Never understood why ransomware didn’t use more anonymous crypto currencies like Monero or ZCash. Doesn’t that better protect the scammers from law enforcement?

Criminals will keep doing what works until it stops working. There are botnets that still do command and control over IRC.

Re: The Ransomware Problem Is a Bitcoin Problem

#65

Post by Mc_Big_G »

mcphage wrote: post #51
blhack wrote: post #40

I think that what you're seeing is HNers, and techies in general not really understanding that there is a world that exists well outside of their bubble of technology. Bitcoin did not create the concept of ransom. It didn't even create the concept of ransom as a business model for organized crime. See for instance our neighbor to the south: https://www.vox.com/2018/5/11/17276638/mexico-kidnappings-cr... This is such…

> Should we ban shipping? Shipping is pretty useful, though. What are the other major uses for Bitcoin?

Ask someone in a country whose currency has been debased.

Re: The Ransomware Problem Is a Bitcoin Problem

#66

Post by matthewmarkus »

SavantIdiot wrote: post #3

I'd like to hear how cryptocurrency advocates address this without deploying a fallacy. Cryptocurrency makes ransomware possible, without the former, the latter cannot thrive. The defenses I usually hear come in the form of "current banking facilitates bad stuff, too," which is a fact, but doesn't absolve cryptocurrencies central role in ransomware. As the article states, there is simply no way to pay a ransom withou…

The "problem" here is that a market for infrastructure bugs now exists. The birth of a market isn't a bad thing, though. Furthermore, the market hasn't created the bugs, but exposed them! This exposure is a net benefit to society because the bugs have value that predates the advent of cryptocurrencies. It's just that before cryptocurrencies the value was hidden and only unlockable by nation states in times of war. Far better for infrastructure to be continuously under attack and strengthened via ransomware than to completely collapse in battle.

Re: The Ransomware Problem Is a Bitcoin Problem

#67

Post by endisneigh »

toxik wrote: post #50
endisneigh wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you say this in jest but in reality plenty of people have stopped using cash by themselves for this exact reason.

People abandoned cash out of convenience, not fear of mugging.

Sure, but there are some people who don’t carry cash because of mugging and other related things (can get lost, be stolen, etc)

Re: The Ransomware Problem Is a Bitcoin Problem

#68

Post by onetimeusename »

SavantIdiot wrote: post #3

I'd like to hear how cryptocurrency advocates address this without deploying a fallacy. Cryptocurrency makes ransomware possible, without the former, the latter cannot thrive. The defenses I usually hear come in the form of "current banking facilitates bad stuff, too," which is a fact, but doesn't absolve cryptocurrencies central role in ransomware. As the article states, there is simply no way to pay a ransom withou…

I think creating a currency outside the reaches of politicians is the point, come what may. That isn't to say ransomware isn't bad, there are other obvious ways of stopping ransomware.

The bigger point is that a financial system should not have a central authority who can limit access to it. Some cryptocurrencies have gone further and built privacy into the transactions also.

Re: The Ransomware Problem Is a Bitcoin Problem

#69

Post by quanticle »

emodendroket wrote: post #63
lancemurdock wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

car accidents account for 38K deaths a year in the US alone. If we ban cars, we'd be saving 38K lives every year. Why do people continue driving knowing this statistic? The conversations around ransomware and climate are both slippery slopes. We should be focused on better security to prevent attacks as well as facilitating more renewable energy instead of stifling innovation.

Is the claim that cryptocurrency is providing a societal benefit comparable to the automobile then?

Not yet, but it might. Early cars were noisy, slow, finicky and far more polluting than cars today. They're only as useful as they are today because they were allowed to evolve for a hundred and twenty years.

Banning Bitcoin because it's used in cybercrime is analogous to banning the Model T because it got used in a bank robbery.

Re: The Ransomware Problem Is a Bitcoin Problem

#70

Post by px43 »

mcphage wrote: post #51
blhack wrote: post #40

I think that what you're seeing is HNers, and techies in general not really understanding that there is a world that exists well outside of their bubble of technology. Bitcoin did not create the concept of ransom. It didn't even create the concept of ransom as a business model for organized crime. See for instance our neighbor to the south: https://www.vox.com/2018/5/11/17276638/mexico-kidnappings-cr... This is such…

> Should we ban shipping? Shipping is pretty useful, though. What are the other major uses for Bitcoin?

Sending money over the internet.

If you don't understand why that's an critical utility for billions of people on this planet, then you're not worth arguing with.

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