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> The best defence against frauds and scams seems to be a kind of "intellectual vaccination" via repeated exposure to benign, non-functional specimens. Similar
by modeless 5y ago
> The best defence against frauds and scams seems to be a kind of "intellectual vaccination" via repeated exposure to benign, non-functional specimens.
Similarly, ransomware is doing us all a favor. Every ransomware hack exposes and closes a vulnerability that could do much more damage in the hands of a truly malicious actor such as an enemy in wartime.
- calpaterson 5y agoRansomware isn't a "benign, non-functional specimen" :). It has real harms and they can be quite serious. I suppose that - always dangerous to extend an analogy - ransomware is more like "intellectual variolation" than vaccination. I wonder what would happen in wartime though.
- modeless 5y agoRandom, sparse ransomware attacks are absolutely benign compared to what a wartime enemy would do. If you don't think so, you haven't properly imagined the serious, extensive, real world damage that could be done by coordinated simultaneous attacks. Look at Stuxnet's destruction of machinery and then imagine that applied to a wide swath of the economy, including basic infrastructure like water and power, all at once.