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Ransomware Sales On the Dark Web Spike 2,502% In 2017 (carbonblack.com)
Slashdot reader rmurph04 writes:
Ransomware is a $6.2 million industry, based on sales generated from a network of more than 6,300 Dark Web marketplaces that sell over 45,000 products, according to a report released Wednesday by cybersecurity firm Carbon Black.
While the authors of the software are earning six-figure incomes, ransom payments totalled $1 billion in 2016, according to FBI estimates -- up from just $24 million in 2015. Carbon Black, which was founded by former U.S. government "offensive security hackers," argues that ransomware's growth has been aided by "the emergence of Bitcoin for ransom payment, and the anonymity network, Tor, to mask illicit activities.. Bitcoin allows money to be transferred in a way that makes it nearly impossible for law enforcement to 'follow the money.'"
While the authors of the software are earning six-figure incomes, ransom payments totalled $1 billion in 2016, according to FBI estimates -- up from just $24 million in 2015. Carbon Black, which was founded by former U.S. government "offensive security hackers," argues that ransomware's growth has been aided by "the emergence of Bitcoin for ransom payment, and the anonymity network, Tor, to mask illicit activities.. Bitcoin allows money to be transferred in a way that makes it nearly impossible for law enforcement to 'follow the money.'"
Why isn't the backup market exploding?
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
I'm sooo scareddddd!
Pussies!
I thought bitcoin had every transaction tracked how it flows from wallet to wallet for anyone to check. How is it non-traceable besides the fact a name isn't tied to the 'account number?' When you cash out, don't you have to use a real name or is there markets that people just trade cash for bitcoin without any name required.
I don't get the Trump reference in this context.
Trump lewd conversation about women Donald Trump On Tape: I Grab Women "By The Pussy”
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
The government acts as though its solely able to protect us in face of overwhelming evidence its neither competent to do so nor able. Then on the other side steals money from those who wish not pay for this service. The left acts as though the world would collapse without humanity paying this extortion.
The reality here is extortion existed long before the internet and the only difference was more or less who was behind it. Now the Russian government or its handlers anyway have its hand in it too. The idea Bitcoin somehow is the only reason the American (fill in America with your country) 'protection' racket can't stop it is because it never could even before Bitcoin came on the scene. Before Bitcoin these Russian extortion schemes just utilized other means to obtain results. There were pre-paid Visa/Master/American Express gift cards, Western Union money transfer services, Money Pak, store gift cards, and others. Before this it was popular to demand government issued money orders. There are also wire transfers which were also popular. Wire transfers are no longer 100%. When you have the money it can technically be taken back today because of changes that were made in response to these sorts of schemes.
Bitcoin for the first time put the power into the hands of the user. While it may be these scams continue your no longer beholden to your bank's decision.
If you are one of the millions of victims of the modern financial system and refused access to bank accounts either because you were involved in porn, prostitution, are an illegal immigrant, are a crypto proponent, deal with legal drug sales (at the state level), are a man whose being victimized via a coercive government + child support scheme which deprives people of jobs/drivers licenses/passports/and bank accounts indirectly/etc then crypto is a really great tool. If you are looking to challenge the authority of a foreign power from dictating how you live like is what is happening with Catalonia and Spain then crypto is a really great tool for you.
If you are part of a libertarian migration and independence movement and are being targeted crypto is a great tool for you. There are a lot of great reasons why Bitcoin has been wildly successful. It's going to be a long time before it sees widespread adoption. People find change hard, but the reality is it's to your advantage to retain control over your own business and keep those far far away from you out and that is exactly why crypto is so powerful.
“Impeachment would be a messy, contentious affair, but the alternative – three more years of destabilizing dysfunction – is worse,” the ad reads. “Both good Democrats and good Republicans who put country over party did it before with Watergate. To succeed, impeachment requires unimpeachable evidence. That’s why I am making this offer.”
The porn producer notes in the ad that this “is not my first rodeo,” citing past rewards for information on Republicans like former Rep. Bob Livingston in 1999, who resigned from Congress after admitting to an extramarital affair, and Sen. David Vitter, who weathered a prostitution scandal in 2007.
“Sure I could use that $10 million to buy luxuries or further my businesses,” Flynt writes, “but what good would that do me in a world devastated by the most powerful moron in history?”
Apparently they didn't have Tor or Bitcoin in 2015, so that explains why the ransomware industry grew from $24 million to over a billion in 2016!
This television program yesterday interviewed a supposed expert who said the same thing about bitcoin anonymity being compromised at cash-out.
Grab 'em high, grab 'em low, Harvey Weinstein showed us how. You wouldn't know, would you ?
Curiously enough the article left off a mention of Microsoft Windows.
Yet another industry.