Will the US government’s response to ransomware be an effective deterrent for bad actors?
Sort by:
Of course government attention leading to development of proper policies and deterrents against the ransomware is going to help. What is also important, in my opinion, is for the government to develop a comprehensive set of recommendations and procedures for recovery for such attacks. Lots of businesses do not realise that they do not have proper recovery and contingency plans until the actual disaster happens. We saw it with COVID and we need to learn from our mistakes and improve. Government agencies doing research and recommendation on best practices will benefit everyone.
Yes, we saw this last year when the President signed an executive order to improve the national cybersecurity systems (this was around the attacks on Microsoft Exchange, Colonial Pipeline, and Solarwinds - all of which were in the news). Sanctions are on the table against bad actors, this could however have negative implications on relationships with other countries.
No. Locks still only keep honest people out. The US from a group-political stand point is also viewed globally as softer under the current administration. Ransomware will continue. The psychology of most bad actors is what also drives them. They have a “we are smarter than you mentality”. The bigger threat is also not ransomware, it’s the malicious, seek to destroy bad actors that are not driven by money or a reward, they just want to to inflict destruction. Ransomware will never go away, but only smaller unorganized players, possibly, will take any US threats as real.
It may be a deterrent for some of the smaller players on the field that may move to some other field of forms of attack, scam.
The issue I see is that the potential payouts are so big that bigger actors in the field will continue to evolve in attack sophistication.
Ransomware is here to stay, either in the current form or some evolution of it.
The response of a country in isolation helps but it is not enough. A global solution must be sought, to protect ourselves, but especially to seek ways to punish hackers or even the countries that host or finance them. In addition, it is necessary to combine and align the efforts of public institutions with private companies.