Ransomware is mad right now. If you don’t know what it is, give it a quick google with a VPN.
I mean, rolling up to a huge corporation and padlocking some of their assets and offering the key for a price is what we’re looking at here. Take Russia, they have an extremely capable cyber team – it’s bananas. From what it looks like, a team that started as a gang and got government funding. An American oil pipeline was hacked recently, locked down, with a $5million price tag attached for its freedom. A price just about uncomfortable enough to make everyone feel comfortable, paid within the week. Hackers are happy, companies happy and can stomach the cost but governments… well they aren’t so pleased. We’ll get to that in a second. Here’s a wild theory – You’re Russia. You’re building a pipeline from the Motherland to some other part of the Middle East. But wait! American ships that are building the thing, they’ve been told to stop by their President. You (Russia) are pissed. You get your gang together and decide to give America a taste of their own medicine – you lockdown their pipeline with Ransomware, not for the money but for the ‘hey, we’ll make life hell unless you lift those shipping bans.‘A week ago the Ransom was paid, 7 days later America drops all bans on the building of Russian pipelines. Interesting. Almost as though the two strongest nations in the world are play fighting, testing each other’s limits. Just a theory, though. Putin has some big ol’ balls.
Back to governments – Negotiating with terrorists, that’s a good place to start.
Governments don’t do what the bad guys want because they’d just keep getting their way. It’s madness, we’re all out here working hard and our governments are busy being screwed in the ass by anyone with a missile. Instead, they stand for the principle. We’d rather die than let them get their way. Back to Ransomware, companies keep paying. The NHS paid, Pipeline paid, often the cost is that of business. The cogs must keep turning.It is a little bit silly though. Keep paying and they’ll keep coming. The market’s new and it’s showing its colours. A solution would be the financial aid of a government and a few GCHQ guys on the job to help put the matter to bed. Then again the business would be ruined and god help them if it’s a pipeline, you can’t wait out that storm – not when oil is involved. Yes, of course, johns paper mill down the street is different to the NHS but it’s the same principle, no?It does open up the question of back doors into encryption, monitored, only ever used in extreme circumstances. But then again, what would be the point in encryption if big brother could run a line of code and clear the smoke, along with your anonymity.
A dilemma.