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My prediction: Ransomware will be the scapegoat that leads the way on making the use of encryption a criminal offence. This is exactly what many governments wan

My prediction: Ransomware will be the scapegoat that leads the way on making the use of encryption a criminal offence. This is exactly what many governments want. Up till now, the best argument against encryption is "we can't see what criminals are doing", but that isn't very tangible for many people. Just wait until a powergrid or water treatment plant in the US is down for weeks due to being "attacked with encryption" (yes, that will be the spin), and you'll have tons of people ready to vote for the outlawing of any and all encryption without a license/backdoor/etc.

dgellow 6y ago
Let's say you outlaw encryption, what would be the impact on ransomware criminals? They will continue not following the law and do their criminal things, using "illegal encryption" (aka non-backdoored encryption).
tw04 6y ago
I doubt it, my guess is it will (understandably) be used as the scapegoat to kill cryptocurrency and/or put it under a central authority controlled by governments. Ransomware was basically non-existent before criminals had a way of being paid anonymously.
- blackearl 6y ago
  Social engineering scams manage to get millions wired (https://variety.com/2018/film/news/pathe-loses-more-than-21-million-internet-scam-1203027025/ https://variety.com/2018/film/news/pathe-loses-more-than-21-...). Crypto may be more convenient and less risky, but I don't see a crypto ban stopping ransomware completely. Plus there will always be someone wanting to do it for laughs or infamy.
echelon 6y ago
This is one of the reasons crypto sucks. I'm building a list: - Attacks sovereign currencies and ability of countries to set fiscal and monetary policy. Instead, it rewards "crypto geniuses" that got in early. I'm not sure these are the people that should have power over our elected governments. - A waste of human and resource capital that could be spent solving more important problems - Hugely bad for the environment - Lack of KYC that enables money laundering, terrorism, and other illicit activities. Including randomware attacking hospitals - Rewards pump and dump and crazy schemes like NFTs that don't contribute to innovation or the economy - Relies on cryptography to remain post-quantum safe
- dgellow 6y ago
  The person you respond to is talking about encryption, not crypto currencies.

dgellow 6y ago

Let's say you outlaw encryption, what would be the impact on ransomware criminals? They will continue not following the law and do their criminal things, using "illegal encryption" (aka non-backdoored encryption).

tw04 6y ago

I doubt it, my guess is it will (understandably) be used as the scapegoat to kill cryptocurrency and/or put it under a central authority controlled by governments. Ransomware was basically non-existent before criminals had a way of being paid anonymously.

blackearl 6y ago
Social engineering scams manage to get millions wired (https://variety.com/2018/film/news/pathe-loses-more-than-21-million-internet-scam-1203027025/ https://variety.com/2018/film/news/pathe-loses-more-than-21-...). Crypto may be more convenient and less risky, but I don't see a crypto ban stopping ransomware completely. Plus there will always be someone wanting to do it for laughs or infamy.

echelon 6y ago

This is one of the reasons crypto sucks. I'm building a list: - Attacks sovereign currencies and ability of countries to set fiscal and monetary policy. Instead, it rewards "crypto geniuses" that got in early. I'm not sure these are the people that should have power over our elected governments. - A waste of human and resource capital that could be spent solving more important problems - Hugely bad for the environment - Lack of KYC that enables money laundering, terrorism, and other illicit activities. Including randomware attacking hospitals - Rewards pump and dump and crazy schemes like NFTs that don't contribute to innovation or the economy - Relies on cryptography to remain post-quantum safe

dgellow 6y ago
The person you respond to is talking about encryption, not crypto currencies.