Hackers Help FBI Fight Cybercrime
The FBI recently cracked a terrorist’s iPhone without Apple, but it still had outside help. Now the US government is teaming up with others all over to fight cybercrime.
In addition to the Defense Department recruiting the most tech-savvy Americans earlier this month, the FBI recently urged security experts and businesses to inform the agency if they’re attacked, especially by ransomware.
This malicious software encrypts data on internal computer systems, in effect holding it hostage until hackers receive a ransom in exchange for a decryption key, as The Hill noted recently. Law enforcement often tells victims to “just pay the ransom,” which helps fuel an almost $1 billion-per-year ransomware industry.
“The sectors hardest hit by ransomware include industries that rely on computer access for performing critical functions, such as healthcare and law enforcement,” Reuters stated. “FBI alert was focused on ransomware known as MSIL/Samas.A, which the agency said seeks to encrypt data on entire networks, an alarming change because typically, ransomware has sought to encrypt data one computer at a time.”
Holding Your Banking Data for Ransom
“Financial institutions are likely the next major sector to be targeted by ransomware, if their systems have not been infected already,” according to a report by the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology. “Law enforcement has neither the time nor the resources to track down the culprits.”
