www.darkreading.com Open in urlscan Pro
2606:4700::6810:e0ab  Public Scan

Form analysis
0 forms found in the DOM

Text Content

Dark Reading is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC
Informa PLC|ABOUT US|INVESTOR RELATIONS|TALENT
This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all
copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place,
London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales and Scotlan. Number 8860726.

Black Hat NewsOmdia Cybersecurity

Newsletter Sign-Up

Newsletter Sign-Up

Cybersecurity Topics

RELATED TOPICS

 * Application Security
 * Cybersecurity Careers
 * Cloud Security
 * Cyber Risk
 * Cyberattacks & Data Breaches
 * Cybersecurity Analytics
 * Cybersecurity Operations
 * Data Privacy
 * Endpoint Security
 * ICS/OT Security

 * Identity & Access Mgmt Security
 * Insider Threats
 * IoT
 * Mobile Security
 * Perimeter
 * Physical Security
 * Remote Workforce
 * Threat Intelligence
 * Vulnerabilities & Threats


World

RELATED TOPICS

 * DR Global

 * Middle East & Africa

See All
The Edge
DR Technology
Events

RELATED TOPICS

 * Upcoming Events

 * Webinars

SEE ALL
Resources

RELATED TOPICS

 * Library
 * Newsletters
 * Reports
 * Videos
 * Webinars
 * Whitepapers

 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * Partner Perspectives:
 * > Microsoft

SEE ALL


 * Vulnerabilities & Threats
 * Cyberattacks & Data Breaches


FRAMEWORKS, GUIDELINES & BOUNTIES ALONE WON'T DEFEAT RANSOMWARE

We need more than "do-it-yourself" approaches to threats that clearly rise to
the level of national security issues.

Jon Miller, CEO & Co-Founder, Halcyon

April 9, 2024

4 Min Read
Source: Christophe Coat via Alamy Stock Photo


COMMENTARY

The US government is ramping up efforts to stem the increasingly
disruptive scourge of ransomware attacks. For example, the State Department
recently offered up to $15 million for information on LockBit, and $10 million
for information on the BlackCat/ALPHV or Hive ransomware gangs. 

Where these bounties might be most effective is in enticing operators to "out"
rival threat actors, or disgruntled affiliates to exact some revenge if they are
cheated out of their cut of a ransom. However, the conditions that need to be
met in order to collect these bounties are rigorous, and the payouts represent a
tiny fraction of the revenue ransomware operators and their partners are
realizing, leaving little incentive to cooperate with authorities.



So, is the government doing enough? Is a criminal law enforcement approach to
this threat really going to make a dent in attacks? Are adversarial nations
taking advantage of this big gray area that is the nexus of cybercriminal and
nation-state operations? 




RANSOMWARE OPERATORS AS NATION-STATE PROXIES

We know rogue nations like Russia support ransomware operations, and they
provide a safe harbor for attackers. A recent report by Chainalysis assessed
that 74% of all the illicit revenue generated by ransomware attacks during 2021
went to Russia-linked attackers, the lion's share of ransomware proceeds. 

We cannot discount the potential dual nature of many of today's ransomware
attacks. There is plenty of overlap between cybercriminal activity and
nation-state operations, as evidenced by shared tooling and attack
infrastructure. Using ransomware gangs as proxies provides plausible deniability
for nations like Russia, while leveraging them in a larger geopolitical
strategy. 



Nations like Russia have zero interest in relinquishing such valuable assets to
Western authorities. Don't let the faux "takedowns" the Russian government has
touted fool you — they are purely a publicity stunt, and no more.


DESIGNATING SOME RANSOMWARE ATTACKS AS TERRORISM

Ransomware attacks targeting critical infrastructure providers like healthcare
organizations have crossed the line from cybercriminal activity to a serious
national security threat. It's no longer just speculation as to whether
ransomware attacks are threatening lives. 



When remote attackers disrupt systems critical to care and hold dozens of
healthcare providers and their patients to ransom, we simply call it an IT
security event and the government response is to offer more guidelines and
frameworks. But if hundreds of gunmen coordinating with an adversarial nation
entered dozens of hospitals and held the staff and patients hostage, preventing
the administration of care for days on end, would offering the hospital
guidelines on how to detect gunmen be an acceptable government response?

A recent report by Ponemon found a direct link between ransomware attacks and
negative patient outcomes: 68% of survey respondents said ransomware attacks
disrupted patient care; 46% noted increased mortality rates; 38% noted more
complications in medical procedures. Other research found that between 2016 and
2021, ransomware attacks contributed to between 42 and 67 patient deaths, as
well a staggering 33% increase in death rates per month for hospitalized
Medicare patients. There is definitely a case to be made to designate some of
these attacks as acts of state-supported terrorism. 

Some might argue that the lack of a clearly stated political motive behind
ransomware operations means that, while an attack on a hospital that disrupts
patient care and leads to negative outcomes could be described as inflicting
terror, it would not necessarily meet the definition of terrorism.



However, executive order 13224, issued by the George W. Bush administration in
September 2001, does not support that conclusion, and seems to be clearly
applicable to some ransomware attacks, such as those against healthcare
providers:

"For the purpose of the Order, 'terrorism' is defined to be an activity that (1)
involves a violent act or an act dangerous to human life, property, or
infrastructure; and (2) appears to be intended to intimidate or coerce a
civilian population; to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or
coercion."

Cybercriminal activity is the purview of law enforcement. They investigate,
collect evidence of a crime, indict, and prosecute when possible. So far this
has only resulted in a few arrests, mostly of low-priority suspects. But if we
designate these attacks as threats to national security, there are different
rules of engagement that would go far beyond mere indictments, and can include
offensive actions deemed appropriate and proportional, both cyber and kinetic. 


THE HARD TRUTH: GUIDELINES AND FRAMEWORKS ARE NOT ENOUGH

Organizations that are the victims and potential victims of these attacks have
largely been left to fight this battle on their own while getting little to no
protection from the government. Unless and until the US and allied governments
make this determination, there are few real consequences for these threat actors
while targeted organizations are still left to fend for themselves. While
guidelines and frameworks are useful, they are still "do-it-yourself" approaches
to a threat that clearly rises to the level of a national security issue. 

We need more than vanilla government public relations programs to combat
ransomware attacks. It is imperative that the US government and allied nations
that are the targets of these attacks differentiate at least a portion of them
by reclassifying them as terrorist acts so we can leverage some new tools in
this fight. Otherwise, it will be a long, hard, lonely road ahead for ransomware
victims.





ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

Jon Miller

CEO & Co-Founder, Halcyon

Jon Miller is the CEO & Co-founder of Halcyon with 25+ years working in the
cybersecurity industry. Prior to Halcyon, Jon was the CEO & Co-founder of
Boldend, a next-generation defense contractor focused on building offensive
tools for the US Government. Previous to Boldend, Jon held the title of Chief
Research Officer of Cylance (now Blackberry) where he focused on malware and
product efficacy. Prior to Cylance, Jon was employee number 70 at Accuvant (now
Optiv) where with a group of others he helped build and lead the largest
technical consultancy at the time Accuvant LABS, working with over 95% of the
Fortune 500 as an offensive security expert. Before Accuvant, Jon was a ten year
veteran penetration tester, serving as one of the first in the industry working
for the Internet Security Systems (now IBM) X-Force.

See more from Jon Miller
Keep up with the latest cybersecurity threats, newly discovered vulnerabilities,
data breach information, and emerging trends. Delivered daily or weekly right to
your email inbox.

Subscribe

You May Also Like

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vulnerabilities & Threats

Critical SolarWinds RCE Bugs Enable Unauthorized Network Takeover
Vulnerabilities & Threats

Patch Now: Up to 900K MikroTik Routers Vulnerable to Total Takeover
Vulnerabilities & Threats

'ScarletEel' Hackers Worm Into AWS Cloud
Vulnerabilities & Threats

Third MOVEit Transfer Vulnerability Disclosed by Progress Software
More Insights
Webinars

 * Cybersecurity Strategies for Small and Med Sized Businesses
   
   April 11, 2024

 * Defending Against Today's Threat Landscape with MDR
   
   April 18, 2024

 * Securing Code in the Age of AI
   
   April 24, 2024

 * Beyond Spam Filters and Firewalls: Preventing Business Email Compromises in
   the Modern Enterprise
   
   April 30, 2024

 * Key Findings from the State of AppSec Report 2024
   
   May 7, 2024

More Webinars
Events

 * Black Hat USA - August 3-8 - Learn More
   
   August 3, 2024

 * Cybersecurity's Hottest New Technologies: What You Need To Know
   
   March 21, 2024

 * Black Hat Asia - April 16-19 - Learn More
   
   April 16, 2024

More Events



EDITOR'S CHOICE

A medical professional wearing scrub attire clicking on a screen in front of her
Cyberattacks & Data Breaches
Round 2: Change Healthcare Targeted in Second Ransomware AttackRound 2: Change
Healthcare Targeted in Second Ransomware Attack
byDark Reading Staff
Apr 8, 2024
2 Min Read

Hand-drawn risk management flow chart
Remote Workforce
CISO Corner: Ivanti's Mea Culpa; World Cup Hack; CISOs & Cyber AwarenessCISO
Corner: Ivanti's Mea Culpa; World Cup Hack; CISOs & Cyber Awareness
byTara Seals, Managing Editor, News, Dark Reading
Apr 5, 2024
10 Min Read
Car blueprint 3D blue electric
ICS/OT Security
Software-Defined Vehicle Fleets Face a Twisty Road on
CybersecuritySoftware-Defined Vehicle Fleets Face a Twisty Road on Cybersecurity
byRobert Lemos, Contributing Writer
Apr 8, 2024
5 Min Read

Digital spider on blue background
Threat Intelligence
Solar Spider Spins Up New Malware to Entrap Saudi Arabian Financial FirmsSolar
Spider Spins Up New Malware to Entrap Saudi Arabian Financial Firms
byRobert Lemos, Contributing Writer
Apr 8, 2024
4 Min Read
Reports

 * Industrial Networks in the Age of Digitalization

 * Zero-Trust Adoption Driven by Data Protection

 * How Enterprises Assess Their Cyber-Risk

 * SANS Institute Survey: The State of Cloud Security

 * Forrester Report: The Total Economic Impact Of Bizagi's Low-Code Intelligent
   Process Automation Platform

More Reports
White Papers

 * The State of Incident Response

 * Causes and Consequences of IT and OT Convergence

 * Secure Access for Operational Technology at Scale

 * FortiSASE Customer Success Stories - The Benefits of Single Vendor SASE

 * Zero Trust Access For Dummies, 2nd Fortinet Special Edition

More Whitepapers
Events

 * Black Hat USA - August 3-8 - Learn More
   
   August 3, 2024

 * Cybersecurity's Hottest New Technologies: What You Need To Know
   
   March 21, 2024

 * Black Hat Asia - April 16-19 - Learn More
   
   April 16, 2024

More Events





DISCOVER MORE WITH INFORMA TECH

Black HatOmdia

WORKING WITH US

About UsAdvertiseReprints

JOIN US


Newsletter Sign-Up

FOLLOW US



Copyright © 2024 Informa PLC Informa UK Limited is a company registered in
England and Wales with company number 1072954 whose registered office is 5
Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.

Home|Cookie Policy|Privacy|Terms of Use

Cookies Button


ABOUT COOKIES ON THIS SITE

We and our partners use cookies to enhance your website experience, learn how
our site is used, offer personalised features, measure the effectiveness of our
services, and tailor content and ads to your interests while you navigate on the
web or interact with us across devices. You can choose to accept all of these
cookies or only essential cookies. To learn more or manage your preferences,
click “Settings”. For further information about the data we collect from you,
please see our Privacy Policy

Accept All
Settings



COOKIE PREFERENCE CENTER

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your
browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you,
your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you
expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can
give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to
privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the
different category headings to find out more and change our default settings.
However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site
and the services we are able to offer.
More information
Allow All


MANAGE CONSENT PREFERENCES

STRICTLY NECESSARY COOKIES

Always Active

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched
off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you
which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy
preferences, logging in or filling in forms.    You can set your browser to
block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then
work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Cookies Details‎

PERFORMANCE COOKIES

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and
improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the
most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site.    All
information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you
do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and
will not be able to monitor its performance.

Cookies Details‎

FUNCTIONAL COOKIES

Functional Cookies

These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and
personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose
services we have added to our pages.    If you do not allow these cookies then
some or all of these services may not function properly.

Cookies Details‎

TARGETING COOKIES

Targeting Cookies

These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may
be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you
relevant adverts on other sites.    They do not store directly personal
information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet
device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted
advertising.

Cookies Details‎
Back Button


BACK



Search Icon
Filter Icon

Clear
checkbox label label
Apply Cancel
Consent Leg.Interest
checkbox label label
checkbox label label
checkbox label label

 * 
   
   View Cookies
   
    * Name
      cookie name

Confirm My Choices