I thought this was a really interesting look at the commercial end of ransomware.
Clearly shows that as an attack class it's not going anywhere for the time being and it'll just be a growing issue.
With the amounts of money being made, you can also expect increasing sophistication as it'll make financial sense to invest.
The comments about targeting companies with insurance were also interesting. I guess it's a smart way to make sure you get a guaranteed payout. But also I can see insurance rates going up and/or companies getting out of the market if they have to pay out too often.
paraphrasing Dave Aitel, think of ransomeware as just another form of DoS (internal instead of external).
There is an under-appreciated value in ransomware that goes beyond commercial threat actors seeking "only" financial profit, and I think we'll see more targeted campaigns where primary motivation isn't a financial one, but extorting favors or other actionable intel from the data.
> The comments about targeting companies with insurance were also interesting. I guess it's a smart way to make sure you get a guaranteed payout. But also I can see insurance rates going up and/or companies getting out of the market if they have to pay out too often.
Insurance companies are often a mix of care and greed. I think a boutique insurance brokerage for ransomware might do very well if they drive changes in the client's operations through their exclusion clauses and fee structures. Find a bank or finance house willing to underwrite such an operation, perhaps with the possibility of a fat consultancy income stream to go along with it, and there is money to be made.
Each response is broken up into 6 to 14 syllables prose between comma's and periods. The translator intentionally wrote the responses to take advantage of metered speech so the reader doesn't make full thoughts as they read. This is the worst kind of sensationalized news, and as far as I'm conserned, if it's sensationalized and free, it's fake.
It doesn't seem particularly sensationalized in that it doesn't make ransomware seem any scarier than it already is.
If anything, it seems like it's meant to make the ransomware people look like cool guy Robin Hood types. Staying out of geopolitics ("we could, but we don't") while hitting the fat cats where it hurts, that sort of thing.
Other than that, I thought this was interesting at the end of the interview:
...I also think we will expand this tactic to persecution of the CEO and/or founder of the company. Personal OSINT, bullying. I think this will also be a very fun option. But victims need to understand that the more resources we spend before your ransom is paid—all this will be included in the cost of the service. =)
Even if this particular interview is fake (how do we know it's actually fake, and not just the interviewee lying/exaggerating?), this I think is a real threat that a lot of people don't consider. Most people (myself included) are very easy to dox and harass.
I wouldn't wish this on anyone, but maybe if we start getting high-profile cases where individuals are targeted for extortion leverage, maybe we'd finally get people to start caring about software/data security and data privacy.
[+] [-] raesene9|5 years ago|reply
Clearly shows that as an attack class it's not going anywhere for the time being and it'll just be a growing issue.
With the amounts of money being made, you can also expect increasing sophistication as it'll make financial sense to invest.
The comments about targeting companies with insurance were also interesting. I guess it's a smart way to make sure you get a guaranteed payout. But also I can see insurance rates going up and/or companies getting out of the market if they have to pay out too often.
[+] [-] DyslexicAtheist|5 years ago|reply
There is an under-appreciated value in ransomware that goes beyond commercial threat actors seeking "only" financial profit, and I think we'll see more targeted campaigns where primary motivation isn't a financial one, but extorting favors or other actionable intel from the data.
[+] [-] monkeydreams|5 years ago|reply
Insurance companies are often a mix of care and greed. I think a boutique insurance brokerage for ransomware might do very well if they drive changes in the client's operations through their exclusion clauses and fee structures. Find a bank or finance house willing to underwrite such an operation, perhaps with the possibility of a fat consultancy income stream to go along with it, and there is money to be made.
[+] [-] aaron695|5 years ago|reply
https://www.reddit.com/r/Malware/comments/ixvgoq/list_of_ran...
[+] [-] unknown|5 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] TheBobinator|5 years ago|reply
Each response is broken up into 6 to 14 syllables prose between comma's and periods. The translator intentionally wrote the responses to take advantage of metered speech so the reader doesn't make full thoughts as they read. This is the worst kind of sensationalized news, and as far as I'm conserned, if it's sensationalized and free, it's fake.
[+] [-] nerdponx|5 years ago|reply
If anything, it seems like it's meant to make the ransomware people look like cool guy Robin Hood types. Staying out of geopolitics ("we could, but we don't") while hitting the fat cats where it hurts, that sort of thing.
Other than that, I thought this was interesting at the end of the interview:
...I also think we will expand this tactic to persecution of the CEO and/or founder of the company. Personal OSINT, bullying. I think this will also be a very fun option. But victims need to understand that the more resources we spend before your ransom is paid—all this will be included in the cost of the service. =)
Even if this particular interview is fake (how do we know it's actually fake, and not just the interviewee lying/exaggerating?), this I think is a real threat that a lot of people don't consider. Most people (myself included) are very easy to dox and harass.
I wouldn't wish this on anyone, but maybe if we start getting high-profile cases where individuals are targeted for extortion leverage, maybe we'd finally get people to start caring about software/data security and data privacy.
[+] [-] everdrive|5 years ago|reply
I'm not sure what you mean by this.