I hate to sound like a grumpy old man bashing technological progress, but the truth is, I miss the days when muggings were done face-to-face rather than in a cold, impersonal way over the internet. There’s something romantic about a classic armed robbery that the new generation doesn’t understand!
But time passes, and some of the biggest global cybersecurity attacks and extortion campaigns in recent history have been launched. This has hit federal and state agencies in several countries, and, according to experts, “every major global industry”, potentially putting millions at risk.
As we in the US are seemingly the biggest target, a shocking fact emerges in light of recent news: You mean the biggest risk to our national security isn’t Donald Trump?
The scheme involved international hackers who found and exploited a series of security flaws in a widely used file transfer tool for sensitive personal materials, Moveit, made by the company Progress.
Hackers have targeted organizations that have abundant amounts of data that can be used to recreate people’s identities for the purposes of identity theft. I’ve adopted the practice of protecting my identity from theft: making sure it’s completely undesirable.
I cultivated a terrible personality, wasn’t very successful, and developed a horrible stench, all to ward off these crimes—and friends too…
Russia-based hacker group “Clop” claimed responsibility for the attacks and demanded two payments from affected organizations. One would be to not post the data on the dark web, and the other to decode the information so that it is usable again. Not only do they do cyberterrorism, they do IT! They are so versatile!
Experts say hundreds of organizations may have been hacked and that Clop asked to be contacted for negotiations rather than seeking contact himself because he is likely already overwhelmed by the sheer scale of his own scam.
I love the idea of committing cybercrime on the honor system! A thug who trusts others is like a drug dealer who doesn’t do drugs or a nihilist who believes in… beliefs.
The affected countries identified so far are the US, Canada and the UK. In the latter, the BBC network, the British Airways company and the Boots pharmacy chain were exposed through their payroll provider Zellis, in addition to the oil giant Shell and Ofcom, the body that regulates communications.
In the US, the attack is known to have hit the Department of Energy’s military nuclear waste dump, several state governments, many large hospital systems, and more than 26 universities.
It is not known exactly what data was extracted. Knowing American schools, the hackers must not have gathered much information about world geography. But they may have learned that the US has never in recorded history made a single mistake.
It is believed that most of these hacker gangs are located in Eastern Europe. Crimes like these have doubled around the world in recent years, becoming a $1 billion-a-year industry.
As recently as April, the FBI followed the closure of the Colonial Pipeline oil system due to a similar ransomware attack. Colonial had to pay its hacker $4.4 million to receive a tool to restore its system.
The hacker, Darkside, clarified: “Our goal is to make money, not create problems for society.” It means that in the end they are just one company, only without the problems for society.
Despite major efforts and a $15.6 billion cybersecurity budget in 2023, the US government accepts these attacks as a reality. US Cyber Command, a military agency that fights hacking, says it cannot operate on US networks, which is why it is often unable to defend companies.
What do I think of it? If hackers don’t steal over $15.6 billion… maybe we should hire them instead of this agency.
Translated by Clara Allain
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