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Heh, what? Ransomware existed long before cryptocurrencies. Money laundering via ACH, SWIFT, stolen credit cards, gift cards, and all sorts of online payment s

by px43 5y ago

Heh, what? Ransomware existed long before cryptocurrencies. Money laundering via ACH, SWIFT, stolen credit cards, gift cards, and all sorts of online payment systems like PayPal are still huge, no cryptocurrencies required. Cryptocurrencies are used today because they're the most efficient way to make online payments, which is a net positive for everyone. It's just as easy to hunt down criminals using cryptocurrencies as it was to hunt online criminals before cryptocurrencies got popular. https://www.knowbe4.com/ransomware https://www.knowbe4.com/ransomware

SavantIdiot 5y ago
This is enlightening. The 1989 ransomware that had a PO Box in Panama is hilarious. Really? Panama? Good point, thanks. However, opaque ledgers may make it difficult to hunt them down (Zcash, monero) in the future.
- px43 5y ago
  Maybe companies will start enabling MFA by then? Kind of frustrating how easy it still is to break into critical infrastructure. I do that sort of thing regularly as my day job. Companies who put a slight effort into security don't get ransomwared. The idea that law enforcement needs full visibility into everyone's financial history, and that's the only way for them to stop crime, is ridiculous.
  - SavantIdiot 5y ago
    I think it also makes a convincing argument for bringing back on-site backups. If there are weekly/daily backups on local disks (tapes?) that are airgapped after backup, that would save exposing credentials to the cloud storage backups. Tape is dead, long live tape!
thehappypm 5y ago
I deeply disagree that crypto is the easiest way to make online payments. Have you ever used Venmo? Or even Facebook pay? Or Zelle? Sure, it might be the easiest way to send money cross-border, but that's an edge case, the vast, vast majority of transactions are same-country.
- px43 5y ago
  Those aren't payments, those are custodial services that offer users the ability to move around numbers within their respective closed ecosystems. There's a reason that every one of those services is now moving heavily into the cryptocurrency space.
- Workaccount2 5y ago
  Crypto is definitely the easiest way. No accounts (well I suppose a wallet could be an account, so perhaps a wash here), no bank linking, no credit cards. Crypto is the closest thing to internet cash payments.
  - tedunangst 5y ago
    How do companies pay ransoms without bank accounts? Where does the Bitcoin come from?
viraptor 5y ago
Before cryptocurrency, ransomware was tiny and pretty easily trackable if it grew too large. It was so tiny, barely anyone knew about it. Now it's multi-million dollar business for each of multiple ransomware groups. You can't launder that much money through gift cards, and definitely not from a single entity. Pre-crypto ransomware was just dabbling in the idea and flying well below the radar of real enforcement. I really don't mind reclassifying that as proto-ransomware and not a real thing we experience these days.

by px43 5y ago

SavantIdiot 5y ago

This is enlightening. The 1989 ransomware that had a PO Box in Panama is hilarious. Really? Panama? Good point, thanks. However, opaque ledgers may make it difficult to hunt them down (Zcash, monero) in the future.

px43 5y ago
Maybe companies will start enabling MFA by then? Kind of frustrating how easy it still is to break into critical infrastructure. I do that sort of thing regularly as my day job. Companies who put a slight effort into security don't get ransomwared. The idea that law enforcement needs full visibility into everyone's financial history, and that's the only way for them to stop crime, is ridiculous.
- SavantIdiot 5y ago
  I think it also makes a convincing argument for bringing back on-site backups. If there are weekly/daily backups on local disks (tapes?) that are airgapped after backup, that would save exposing credentials to the cloud storage backups. Tape is dead, long live tape!

thehappypm 5y ago

I deeply disagree that crypto is the easiest way to make online payments. Have you ever used Venmo? Or even Facebook pay? Or Zelle? Sure, it might be the easiest way to send money cross-border, but that's an edge case, the vast, vast majority of transactions are same-country.

px43 5y ago
Those aren't payments, those are custodial services that offer users the ability to move around numbers within their respective closed ecosystems. There's a reason that every one of those services is now moving heavily into the cryptocurrency space.
Workaccount2 5y ago
Crypto is definitely the easiest way. No accounts (well I suppose a wallet could be an account, so perhaps a wash here), no bank linking, no credit cards. Crypto is the closest thing to internet cash payments.
- tedunangst 5y ago
  How do companies pay ransoms without bank accounts? Where does the Bitcoin come from?

viraptor 5y ago

Before cryptocurrency, ransomware was tiny and pretty easily trackable if it grew too large. It was so tiny, barely anyone knew about it. Now it's multi-million dollar business for each of multiple ransomware groups. You can't launder that much money through gift cards, and definitely not from a single entity. Pre-crypto ransomware was just dabbling in the idea and flying well below the radar of real enforcement. I really don't mind reclassifying that as proto-ransomware and not a real thing we experience these days.