5 ms·

maybe state governments should preempt this and make it illegal for municipalities or state agencies to pay ransoms, so they are less attractive targets

pergadad 7y ago
Then there'll be workarounds such as those intermediary companies that claim to unlock it but in reality just pay off the cryptolocker guys and keep a part of the fee for themselves. That said, this city could have used some negotiation help.
Shivetya 7y ago
I would be more impressed if government at every level were held to higher standards than they impose on businesses. the hoops we jump through for SOX compliance which includes cybersecurity since 2017 [1] why aren't local, city, and state, officials, if not Federal, held accountable for the same? Similar to the story we had recently where state colleges across New York and elsewhere were not complying with the ADA and costing the tax payers millions. [1] https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/5069/text https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/5069...
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
  The competing pressure is to drive down costs because no one wants to pay taxes.
pjc50 7y ago
Only if that comes with funding to defend against attacks and restore services. Otherwise, congratulations, you've turned off a city and it won't be working again for six months.
throwaway13337 7y ago
"We never pay any-one Dane-geld, No matter how trifling the cost; For the end of that game is oppression and shame, And the nation that plays it is lost!" But the problem is that those that don't pay hurt even more. The US makes it illegal to pay kidnapper ransom and, as a result, US citizens have much worse outcomes (often murdered) when they are ransomed abroad. The theory that it makes US citizens less attractive targets is confounded by the fact that some families/friends of the victims can and do pay anyway (illegally). Planet money did a podcast on it. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/09/01/548032302/episode-792-the-ransom-problem https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/09/01/548032302/epis...
- dagw 7y ago
  Another interesting podcast on the topic of kidnapping: http://www.econtalk.org/anja-shortland-on-kidnap/ http://www.econtalk.org/anja-shortland-on-kidnap/ Goes into the details of kidnapping as a business venture from the kidnappers perspective, and how a price equilibrium is found between 'buyers' (ransom payers) and 'sellers' (kidnappers). On interesting story was when the partner of a small business owner got kidnapped as punishment for failing to pay some protection money. When the business owner went to negotiate the ransom, the kidnappers had had an accountant already go through the businesses fiances so they knew exactly how much they could ask for, without it bankrupting the business owner (so that the owners company could keep thriving and thus could keep paying protection money).
- woodrowbarlow 7y ago
  > The theory that it makes US citizens less attractive targets is confounded by the fact that some families/friends of the victims can and do pay anyway (illegally). but this wouldn't be true of governments, compared to private citizens, since government spending is a matter of public record.
- Buttons840 7y ago
  > The US makes it illegal to pay kidnapper ransom What? I read the book "Never Split the Difference" written by a former FBI hostage negotiator, and it had stories of him helping with some kidnapping cases and offering a ransom. If I remember correctly his goal was not to avoid paying a ransom, but to make it as small as possible. Good book by the way.

pergadad 7y ago

Then there'll be workarounds such as those intermediary companies that claim to unlock it but in reality just pay off the cryptolocker guys and keep a part of the fee for themselves. That said, this city could have used some negotiation help.

Shivetya 7y ago

I would be more impressed if government at every level were held to higher standards than they impose on businesses. the hoops we jump through for SOX compliance which includes cybersecurity since 2017 [1] why aren't local, city, and state, officials, if not Federal, held accountable for the same? Similar to the story we had recently where state colleges across New York and elsewhere were not complying with the ADA and costing the tax payers millions. [1] https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/5069/text https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/5069...

AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
The competing pressure is to drive down costs because no one wants to pay taxes.

pjc50 7y ago

Only if that comes with funding to defend against attacks and restore services. Otherwise, congratulations, you've turned off a city and it won't be working again for six months.

throwaway13337 7y ago

"We never pay any-one Dane-geld, No matter how trifling the cost; For the end of that game is oppression and shame, And the nation that plays it is lost!" But the problem is that those that don't pay hurt even more. The US makes it illegal to pay kidnapper ransom and, as a result, US citizens have much worse outcomes (often murdered) when they are ransomed abroad. The theory that it makes US citizens less attractive targets is confounded by the fact that some families/friends of the victims can and do pay anyway (illegally). Planet money did a podcast on it. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/09/01/548032302/episode-792-the-ransom-problem https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/09/01/548032302/epis...

dagw 7y ago
Another interesting podcast on the topic of kidnapping: http://www.econtalk.org/anja-shortland-on-kidnap/ http://www.econtalk.org/anja-shortland-on-kidnap/ Goes into the details of kidnapping as a business venture from the kidnappers perspective, and how a price equilibrium is found between 'buyers' (ransom payers) and 'sellers' (kidnappers). On interesting story was when the partner of a small business owner got kidnapped as punishment for failing to pay some protection money. When the business owner went to negotiate the ransom, the kidnappers had had an accountant already go through the businesses fiances so they knew exactly how much they could ask for, without it bankrupting the business owner (so that the owners company could keep thriving and thus could keep paying protection money).
woodrowbarlow 7y ago
> The theory that it makes US citizens less attractive targets is confounded by the fact that some families/friends of the victims can and do pay anyway (illegally). but this wouldn't be true of governments, compared to private citizens, since government spending is a matter of public record.
Buttons840 7y ago
> The US makes it illegal to pay kidnapper ransom What? I read the book "Never Split the Difference" written by a former FBI hostage negotiator, and it had stories of him helping with some kidnapping cases and offering a ransom. If I remember correctly his goal was not to avoid paying a ransom, but to make it as small as possible. Good book by the way.