Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Thursday October 29 2015, @10:41AM   Printer-friendly
from the backups-just-do-it dept.

There is a particularly devious type of malicious software that locks users out of their own computer systems until an individual agrees to pay a ransom to the hackers. In these cases, the FBI has surprisingly suggested just ponying up the dough.

It's not the type of advice one would typically expected from the FBI, but that's exactly what was recommended by Joseph Bonavolonta, the assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's CYBER and Counterintelligence Program Boston office.

"The ransomware is that good," said Bonavolonta at the 2015 Cyber Security Summit in Boston, as quoted by Security Ledger. "To be honest, we often advise people just to pay the ransom."

https://www.rt.com/usa/319913-fbi-pay-ransomware-hackers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

Yeah, it's RT, but I did a search, and that or similar headlines popped up on dozens of news sites. I clicked a couple of them, and the stories match. Try this one,
https://thehackernews.com/2015/10/fbi-ransomware-malware.html

Personally, I can almost certainly afford to nuke and reinstall, unless they get my RAID array. Then - I'd have to think hard.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by tathra on Thursday October 29 2015, @07:30PM

    by tathra (3367) on Thursday October 29 2015, @07:30PM (#256190)

    One of the justifications for the war on drugs is that the people who deal in drugs are not nice and do nasty things

    they do nasty things because of the insanely, ridiculously high profit margins on drugs created specifically because of prohibition. legalize drugs, and voila, drug cartels evaporate almost overnight because their primary source of money has vanished. remove their reason for doing "bad things" - ludicrously high profit margins created by prohibition - and there's no more reason for them to do those "bad things". for a real-world example of exactly this happening, see alcohol prohibition, which created the mafia, who then basically vanished in the US upon passage of the 21st amendment.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Insightful=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   3