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Crypto e-mail service pays $6,000 ransom, gets taken out by DDoS anyway

8 points by etiam 11y ago

celticninja 11y ago
paying the ransom was terrible advice, not only did it not work but now attackers know there is a potential payout it is in their interest to attack again. if it isn't the same attackers then another group, who is attacking doesn't matter. I hope ProtonMail now stop taking advice from whoever told them to pay up.
- ianopolous 11y ago
  They only paid the ransom because of extreme pressure from the other 100 companies in their datacentre that were also offline. The ransomers contacted them after the second, much stronger and more sophisticated attack to deny responsibility for the second DDOS. https://protonmaildotcom.wordpress.com/ https://protonmaildotcom.wordpress.com/
  - celticninja 11y ago
    that was partially my point, they paid the ransom, now they are subjected to another attack. If it is a new attacker perhaps they knew that a ransom had been paid therefore it was worth the attack, perhaps on the basis that any new attack may not even have to last as long as the initial attack. Personally the problem should rest with the data host, if the issue spills over to other customers then they need to mitigate that how they see best, I dont see it as being ProtomMails fault.
wodenokoto 11y ago
This is something I've been wondering about bitcoins. Don't we know those 15 coins' hash/ID and couldn't we (theoretically) send out a burn notice on those coins, saying whoever is paying you these money are the extortionists? I mean, isn't the blackmail payment visible in the block chain, and thus, the next move of the coins?
- FlyingAvatar 11y ago
  It's fairly easy to obfuscate the source of coins. There are "laundering" services where you can send a bunch of coins and they will redistribute them randomly mixed with others who use the service. Even if you could reliably follow them all, what agency would keep track of which coins are "tainted"? For an amount of money this small, it's just not practical. Even for the many thousands of coins stolen from MtGox, tracking them is not practical.

8 points by etiam 11y ago

paying the ransom was terrible advice, not only did it not work but now attackers know there is a potential payout it is in their interest to attack again. if it isn't the same attackers then another group, who is attacking doesn't matter. I hope ProtonMail now stop taking advice from whoever told them to pay up.

ianopolous 11y ago
They only paid the ransom because of extreme pressure from the other 100 companies in their datacentre that were also offline. The ransomers contacted them after the second, much stronger and more sophisticated attack to deny responsibility for the second DDOS. https://protonmaildotcom.wordpress.com/ https://protonmaildotcom.wordpress.com/
- celticninja 11y ago
  that was partially my point, they paid the ransom, now they are subjected to another attack. If it is a new attacker perhaps they knew that a ransom had been paid therefore it was worth the attack, perhaps on the basis that any new attack may not even have to last as long as the initial attack. Personally the problem should rest with the data host, if the issue spills over to other customers then they need to mitigate that how they see best, I dont see it as being ProtomMails fault.

wodenokoto 11y ago

This is something I've been wondering about bitcoins. Don't we know those 15 coins' hash/ID and couldn't we (theoretically) send out a burn notice on those coins, saying whoever is paying you these money are the extortionists? I mean, isn't the blackmail payment visible in the block chain, and thus, the next move of the coins?

FlyingAvatar 11y ago
It's fairly easy to obfuscate the source of coins. There are "laundering" services where you can send a bunch of coins and they will redistribute them randomly mixed with others who use the service. Even if you could reliably follow them all, what agency would keep track of which coins are "tainted"? For an amount of money this small, it's just not practical. Even for the many thousands of coins stolen from MtGox, tracking them is not practical.