Colonial Pipeline Paid Hackers Nearly $5M in Ransom

Re:Colonial Pipeline Paid Hackers Nearly $5M in Ransom by stefan_ on Thursday May 13, 2021 @12:52PM (#27144396)

What? No, the ransomware people truly do send a decryption tool, or the decryption functionality is built into the ransomware. Do you think they are sending people some AES key and then everyone goes off and builds some python tool to decrypt his data?

This is a fundamental misunderstanding of the ransomware business. The whole reason people pay up is because the hackers don't run and leave you hanging; if you pay they will decrypt your data. Trust and convenience are essential to making this work.

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Re:Colonial Pipeline Paid Hackers Nearly $5M in Ransom by axiosgunnar on Thursday May 13, 2021 @01:49PM (#27145026)

Great, we should get the word out then that some don't.

Perhaps a few cases of high-profile companies falsly claiming „wow, what a load of shit! we got ransommed and after paying up the hackers disappeared! we had to restore from backup, AND the money is gone“.

What are the hackers gonna do, sue those companies? :-)

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Re:Colonial Pipeline Paid Hackers Nearly $5M in Ransom by abrawill on Thursday May 13, 2021 @01:58PM (#27145154)

Oh I don't know. Maybe the hackers will hold their operation hostage for ransom? Get the money and get some nice PR all at the same time!

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Re:Colonial Pipeline Paid Hackers Nearly $5M in Ransom by superjan on Friday May 14, 2021 @07:41AM (#27153147)

I would also fear retribution by colleagues: one bad actor that does not keep his end of the bargain is bad for business for the rest.

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