For victims of ransomware attacks, it’s about both money and chaos. It can cost from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars to get the decryption “key” from attackers to unlock files.
In this Forbes magazine article, Milan Patel, Global Co-Head of Managed Security Services at BlueVoyant and former CTO of the FBI’s Cyber Division, said the theory that ransomware attackers seek to both take money and create chaos, “has merit,” since security researchers and government threat intelligence indicate that “nation-states are often engaged with criminal actors either through rogue elements or sanctioned operations.”
When it comes to attacks on governments, maybe that’s the idea—to create chaos and dysfunction along with crippling expenses.
