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I completely agree. People should be unaware of ransomware attacks, despite the increase in frequency, scope, and severity over the last decade. Platforming cr

• danpalmer 5y ago
  There's a difference between educating and warning people about attacks, and having the attackers do that themselves. I'm not saying we shouldn't talk about these things, we absolutely should! It just shouldn't be by interviewing and glamorising those committing the crimes.
  • schoen 5y ago
    I share your concern that people will see this as cool or glamorous. But isn't it also helpful for people to try to understand the perspective of the attackers, for example because they might * become better able to defend themselves * become better motivated to defend themselves * better understand how to deter these attackers * become more motivated to seek action from government or vendors to deter these attackers * have a more informed debate about the ransomware industry or organized crime as a whole ...? Edit: for example, things that I had heard that were confirmed for me by this interview include that the Russian government is consciously tolerant of this activity (maybe someone could find ways to change that!?), that organized crime fears being caught or attacked by NSA, that ransomware attackers are very sensitive to their reputation and public image, that you can probably count on them to keep their side of their illicit bargains, and that they are especially motivated by money rather than ideology. All of those seem like pretty interesting ideas that might be hard to confirm quite as well in other ways.