Massachusetts Steamship Authority hit by ransomware attack; ferries delayed
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Re: Massachusetts Steamship Authority hit by ransomware attack; ferries delayed
#2Time to ban bitcoin.
https://newrepublic.com/article/162589/ban-bitcoin-cryptocur...
Re: Massachusetts Steamship Authority hit by ransomware attack; ferries delayed
#3I 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.
Re: Massachusetts Steamship Authority hit by ransomware attack; ferries delayed
#4I 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 think more often it is the rest of executives demanding CTOs and IT heads prove to them in absolute terms that more security is needed when nothing bad has happened yet.
Re: Massachusetts Steamship Authority hit by ransomware attack; ferries delayed
#5How 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 we'll reveal/block your data unless you pay up)
Re: Massachusetts Steamship Authority hit by ransomware attack; ferries delayed
#6A federal ban on paying ransomeware would reduce the incentive to commit these attacks.
Re: Massachusetts Steamship Authority hit by ransomware attack; ferries delayed
#7How 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…
Ransomware wasn't nearly as prevalent prior to cryptocurrency because moving that kind of money was much harder.
Another interesting shift is that complete administrative takeover is often less compelling: Software is more secure covering administrative functions, but users, which have access to all of your business data, are vulnerable as ever.
Re: Massachusetts Steamship Authority hit by ransomware attack; ferries delayed
#8Time to ban bitcoin. https://newrepublic.com/article/162589/ban-bitcoin-cryptocur...
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.
Re: Massachusetts Steamship Authority hit by ransomware attack; ferries delayed
#9How 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.
Re: Massachusetts Steamship Authority hit by ransomware attack; ferries delayed
#10How 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…
I've only heard of ransomware over the past 8 years or so. Crypto, has done a lot for making such payment processes more palatable to criminal orgs.