Is China primed to become a global hot spot for ransomware and other cybercrimes?<\/p>\n
That question was sparked by a White House statement this week accusing Beijing\u2019s Ministry of State Security of contracting with criminal gangs for some of its hacking work and turning a blind eye to their cybercrimes for profit.<\/p>\n
Among the cybercrimes were ransomware attacks, including one that locked up computers at a U.S. company. The hackers demanded millions of dollars to unlock the computers, a senior administration official said. The accusations came as part of a broader international condemnation of Chinese government hacking mostly tied to a breach of Microsoft email servers.<\/p>\n
The accusations highlight how ransomware \u2013 which has become nearly synonymous with Russia following a string of high-profile attacks \u2013 is actually a far more global problem.<\/p>\n
They also underscore a difficult truth: Even if Russian President Vladimir Putin accedes to President Biden\u2019s demands that he dramatically clamp down on ransomware gangs operating out of Russian territory, the threat could migrate elsewhere \u2013 propelled by the multimillion-dollar payouts those gangs are demanding.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is going to be broader than just Biden putting pressure on Putin to stop ransomware. That\u2019s not going to stop this altogether,\u201d Katie Nickels, director of intelligence at the cybersecurity firm Red Canary, told me.<\/p>\n
\u201cRansomware is so massively profitable that if Russia becomes hostile territory, we\u2019d start to see operators in Brazil or North Korea or elsewhere,\u201d Brett Callow, a threat analyst at the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft, told me.<\/p>\n
Source: Washington Post<\/p>\n