Senators: Has Uncle Sam Paid Off Ransomware Criminals? (securityledger.com)

chicksdaddy writes: Just a month after an FBI official admitted that his agency sometimes advised companies stricken with ransomware to pay the ransom, two U.S. Senators are requesting information about federal agencies' encounters with ransomware malware, and whether Uncle Sam might have paid ransoms, also. "Have federal state or local governments sought DOJ or FBI’s help to remove ransomware from their computers," the Senators asked in a letter (PDF download) addressed to Attorney General Loretta Lynch. "If so, please describe the nature of any assistance sought, whether agencies have paid ransoms to remove ransomware, and whether DOJ or the FBI was able to decrypt the computer systems."

Comments

Is ransomware tax-deductible?

[mveloso]

Can you write off ransom costs on your taxes?

Do you get a receipt when you pay off your ransomware?

Winning quote of the day.

[khasim]

The success of the ransomware ends up benefitting victims: because so many people pay, the malware authors are less inclined to wring excess profit out of any single victim, keeping ransoms low.

Gotta love the "logic" that went into that statement.

Remember kids, paying the ransom is a lot cheaper than investing in security ... as long as everyone else is also paying the Danegeld.

Is there really much doubt

[DarkOx]

U.S. Senators are requesting information about federal agencies' encounters with ransomware malware, and whether Uncle Sam might have paid ransoms,

I mean the Obama administration has pretty publicly failed to up hold the 'US does not negotiate with terrorists' line. That is the sort of precedent that gets set at the top. When the President is out there doing prisoner swaps with the Taliban its pretty hard to expect some mid level IT bureaucrat to spine up and tell his bosses they fucked up don't have backups and got hit with crypt malware. Much easier to submit an expense report for "consulting services" and hope the issue is forgotten quickly.

More proof of my hypothesis about the NSA

[Applehu Akbar]

We already know that local governments, including police and sheriff offices, have been nailed by ransomware and have paid up to get their data back. If this conjecture about the feds proves out, it would reinforce my hypothesis that NSA surveillance is a paper tiger. If NSA data collection was as effective as we fear it is, they would be able to trace the Bitcoin payments and have agents sent out to strangle the perps with their own intestines, no matter where they might be located.

Whatever we think of the NSA's domestic operations, everyone in here would love to see that happen at least once.