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How typical is it for an apology/statement of this nature after an event makes the news? Is there any precedent?

• gostsamo 5y ago
  The hackers who locked an hospital and caused the death of a woman in Germany also promised to be more careful next time.
  • tnzm 5y ago
    The real question is did the hospital promise to be more careful next time
    • gostsamo 5y ago
      According to the Geneva convention, hospitals are not targeted. Maybe we shall offer to drop that part and require hospitals to have their own anti-air defense.
      • tnzm 5y ago
        Maybe we should. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunduz_hospital_airstrike https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunduz_hospital_airstrike
        • gostsamo 5y ago
          I'm not even sure if you are joking or you are that out of touch with reality.
          • tnzm 5y ago
            Reality does seem quite inconsistent with itself lately. Maybe if I got in touch with it I could tell it to come back when it has fixed all its double standards. But I'm pretty sure it won't listen. If you wanna try and tell it that, don't start from me - I'm just along for the ride. Same as all the commenters who have no loved one in either hospital but are quick to propose clever solutions to spherical problems in vacuum
            • gostsamo 5y ago
              This is going meta way above my pay-grade. Sorry, but I haven't read Phillip Dick lately and I can't keep up with your train of thought.
    • gwright 5y ago
      The idea that the "real" problem with criminal activity is that victims aren't properly prepared to defend themselves is odious.
      • tnzm 5y ago
        Ultimately it's the patients that are the victims; the institution to which they had entrusted their health was the one that exposed them to remote attack.
        • gwright 5y ago
          Again blaming the victim for not being prepared. Don't get me wrong, being prepared is important but insufficient prep should never be communicated as a way mitigate the culpability of the attackers.
• mr_mitm 5y ago
  Somewhat similar: After a ransomware attack on a German hospital where one person died as a consequence, the attackers gave away the encryption key for free. > The attackers reportedly withdrew the extortion demand and provided a decryption key to unlock the servers. The justice minister report said that the attackers are no longer reachable. https://www.wired.com/story/a-patient-dies-after-a-ransomware-attack-hits-a-hospital/ https://www.wired.com/story/a-patient-dies-after-a-ransomwar...
• mastax 5y ago
  I remember there being a similar statement after a hospital ransomware attack last made the news here. Now that I'm looking for it there are a lot of hospital ransomware attacks that didn't show up on my radar. It makes sense from a pure self-serving rational perspective. They don't want to become target of a well-funded investigation or be held responsible for damages above and beyond some unimportant business network. They want to blend in with the background of 1000 other ransomware attacks per day and make money.
• treis 5y ago
  These groups are oddly professional. Excellent "customer" service and they care a lot about their reputation. Well, at least their reputation in reliably unlocking the data. It makes sense when you look at them as a business interested in making money. It's better for them to stay a (relatively) minor annoyance. If they reach the level of geo-political threat then suddenly governments will devote a lot more resources to shutting them down.
  • Ashanmaril 5y ago
    > Excellent "customer" service Do these guys offer hosting services? I'm looking to switch from Google Cloud
  • viraptor 5y ago
    The incentives comparison of actually quite interesting. They're more of a sales team being called by customers who need their product, then a support team. Each caller is an almost guaranteed sale, but they close it by providing tech support. As opposed to companies where the support is normally a pure cost center, talking to you after you already spent the money.
• salawat 5y ago
  Relevant: >Leo Rosten in The Joys of Yiddish defines chutzpah as "gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, incredible 'guts', presumption plus arrogance such as no other word and no other language can do justice to". In this sense, chutzpah expresses both strong disapproval and condemnation. In the same work, Rosten also defines the term as "that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan." Chutzpah amounts to a total denial of personal responsibility, which renders others speechless and incredulous ... one cannot quite believe that another person totally lacks common human traits like remorse, regret, guilt, sympathy and insight. The implication is at least some degree of psychopathy in the subject, as well as the awestruck amazement of the observer at the display Honestly, it feels like there may be an international game of terrible idea chicken going on.
• RandomWorker 5y ago
  I have never heard of this happening ever.
• seibelj 5y ago
  I think they are worried. When the USA puts their focus on a single thing, usually they can crack the case. See Ross Ulbricht / Silk Road.
  • sonotathrowaway 5y ago
    Ross ran afoul of the FBI. Attacking a gas pipeline is somewhere between a terrorist attack and a military attack. If I were them I’d be less concerned about the FBI and more about being declared a terrorist and being put on a kill list.
  • grumple 5y ago
    I think this is a good point. Messing with oil is probably the fastest way to bring the full weight of the US gov to bear upon you.
    • gwright 5y ago
      > messing with oil That is an incredible understatement. Disrupting key infrastructure would be considered an act of war if it was done by a state actor. I'm not sure what the equivalent characterization would be for a non-state actor. I do realize that in this case, as reported, the hack involved the IT systems and not the operational systems but I think my point still stands.
      • DanielBMarkham 5y ago
        And that's the long story: tech is continuing to give individuals the powers only states had in the past. States are unsure how to respond. In addition, this allows actual states to attack other states and use individuals or small groups as shields. Not an easy place to be.
        • tnzm 5y ago
          Bingo.
• crazypython 5y ago
  The hacker group gives part of their profit to charity and does not attack hospitals or non-profits.
  • TomGullen 5y ago
    AKA their PR budget If they also prove they donated to charity via Bitcoin I would assume some legal rights for the victims to claim this money back off the charities. (And it looks like they've given $20k USD to date which is probably a paltry amount for what they've been extracting https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54591761 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54591761)
    • crazypython 5y ago
      Chill. Why would they need positive PR? Exactly how does that help them? They are attacking large profitable corporations and sharing some money with charities. They're helping solve inequality.
      • TomGullen 5y ago
        Exactly, PR to try to portray them as the Robin Hoods of the digital age which it sounds you've bought right on into.
      • TchoBeer 5y ago
        Sounds like you summed up exactly why they need good PR. If they spin it well they can be Robin Hood, if they spin it poorly they're common criminals.
    • mxcrossb 5y ago
      More like buying indulgences
  • Gorbzel 5y ago
    No legitimate charity would keep funds donated by criminals in order to justify their means.
• stoolpigeon 5y ago
  It's unusual. But this hack was also unusual. All the rest I'd heard of had much more localized ramifications. This one they hit too hard and I'm not sure the apology will be enough to stop what they have probably put into motion.
• aNoob7000 5y ago
  It sure sounds like they messed up big time, and it could cost them. I'm sure Putin will never do anything to them while they are in Russia, but the moment they step out of the country to spend some of their money, all bets are off. They deserve to be hunted down and punished accordingly. When your need to scam people out of money hurts many people and an economy, I say, "Screw You!!."
  • paganel 5y ago
    > I'm sure Putin will never do anything to them while they are in Russia, Was this confirmed as a Russian hacker group? The article only states that: > Biden also said that although U.S. intelligence had found no evidence to link the attack with the Russian government, he believed the country had "some responsibility to deal with" the issue since some evidence did indicate that the ransomware may have originated in Russia. So basically the US authorities have no proof but their leader "believes" that the Russians are behind it.
    • viraptor 5y ago
      I don't think your summary is correct. The fragment says there's no evidence for Russian gov connection, but there is some for country connection. And the law enforcement actions against Russian ransomware groups are... pretty weak. Could have something to do with a few campaigns actually disabling the malware if Russian language is detected.
    • tnzm 5y ago
      The first sentence of their purported apology does contain 3 obvious Russisms.
• ghc 5y ago
  This is highly atypical, but they are probably worried. They just created a geopolitical incident that Russia has to clean up, and I would imagine there will be consequences for the group.
  • faitswulff 5y ago
    How is Russia involved?
    • ghc 5y ago
      from TFA: > Biden also said that although U.S. intelligence had found no evidence to link the attack with the Russian government, he believed the country had "some responsibility to deal with" the issue since some evidence did indicate that the ransomware may have originated in Russia. Ransomware is software that hackers use to take control of data before demanding money in exchange for its return.