The New York
Times is talking about a most-serious ransomware attack that shut down an oil
pipeline company that supplies half the fuel oil and gasoline for the US East
Coast. This is most concerning. I gave a lot of thought to this yesterday. If
this had happened during "the dead of winter," hundreds of thousands
or millions of houses, apartments, and office buildings could find themselves
without fuel oil. People could literally freeze to death.
State-sponsored hacking and cyberattacks go
to a certain point and stop. What deters "crossing certain lines" is
the fear of serious military retaliation. We have some very brave and stupid
private hackers taking a giant risk for a huge payday in the tens of millions
of dollars.
Criminals like these lock up the IT system
of a company, hospital, or government agency. A ransom is demanded in Bitcoins
(usually) to give the encryption code to release the organization's computer
systems. A lot of organizations quietly pay. Other organizations bravely and
rightfully refuse to pay. They build a whole new IT system to replace the one
locked up.
Almost two years ago, I got hit with
ransomware. After the lock-up, this ominous artificial intelligence voice
demanded $5,000 in Bitcoins to release my computer.
Those of you who know me well know that I
do not "bow down to bullies and thugs." I took my computer to the
retail store Best Buy. I left it with their Geek Squad team. I told them to
rebuild a new computer, if necessary. I got a phone call a week later. I was
told that my computer was ready. When I came to the store and went to check
out, I got a huge surprise. The bill was only $249.00US. My computer was back
to normal. The ransomware attack had been thwarted.
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