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WanaDecrypt0r Ransomware Earns Just $26,000 In Ransom Payments (krebsonsecurity.com)
An anonymous reader quotes Krebs On Security:
As thousands of organizations work to contain and clean up the mess from this week's devastating Wana ransomware attack, the fraudsters responsible for releasing the digital contagion are no doubt counting their earnings and congratulating themselves on a job well done. But according to a review of the Bitcoin addresses hard-coded into Wana, it appears the perpetrators of what's being called the worst ransomware outbreak ever have made little more than USD $26,000 so far from the scam...
It's worth noting that the ransom note Wana popped up on victim screens (see screenshot above) included a "Contact Us" feature that may have been used by some victims to communicate directly with the fraudsters... I find it depressing to think of the massive financial damage likely wrought by this ransom campaign in exchange for such a comparatively small reward.
It's worth noting that the ransom note Wana popped up on victim screens (see screenshot above) included a "Contact Us" feature that may have been used by some victims to communicate directly with the fraudsters... I find it depressing to think of the massive financial damage likely wrought by this ransom campaign in exchange for such a comparatively small reward.
There is the cost of getting caught. A multi-national attack hugging big organization will have a lot of people out for blood. Just hitting one or two areas you may get some jail time, but if this guy gets caught he is in serious trouble.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
The real question is why isn't the NSA getting its feet nailed to the floor for this? They discovered (or engineered) a critical weakness in a major operating system, and rather than report it to make sure we are actually safe from this threat, they used it to make malicious software which then got released into the wild and is being used against the world.
This is the largest breach of trust of any US government agency that I know of, and yet people are just ignoring that aspect of it.
Cost to those scammed: huge, potentially millions and maybe a few lives lost or harmed â" it hit quite a few hospitals; not that the scammers really care what it cost other people.
There are also some benefits to society, like boosting emergency preparedness. This has clearly shown how NHS in particular are overly dependent on computer systems, to a point that hospitals can't operate when systems go down. How would they be able to handle a real emergency, like a war?
Nobody knew, or those who did didn't say anything. Now everybody knows, and there's a chance of vulnerabilities being scrutinized and contingency plans made and tested.