We have your Files Send bitcoin or else...
Bloomberg Businessweek|February 10, 2020
The time I sabotaged my editor with ransomware I bought for $150 on the dark web
- Drake Bennett
We have your Files Send bitcoin or else...

As you may be aware, there’s money to be made on the internet. The question, of course, is how. Not everyone has the reality-distortion skills to start their own tech unicorn, or the Stanford connections to become an early employee there, or the indifference to sunlight necessary to become a world-class Fortnite gamer. Not everyone lives in the relatively few places where software engineering jobs are well-paying and plentiful.

If you’re willing to break the law—or at least the laws of the U.S., a country you may not yourself call home—your options expand. You can steal credit card numbers, or just buy them in bulk. You can hijack bank accounts and wire yourself money, or you can hijack email accounts and fool someone else into wiring you money. You can scam the lonely on dating sites. All of these ventures, though, require resources of one kind or another: a way to sell the stuff you buy with other people’s plastic, a “mule” willing to cash out your purloined funds, or a talent for persuasion and patience for the long con. And, usually, some programming skill. But if you have none of these, there’s always ransomware.

Malicious software that encrypts data on a computer or a server, ransomware allows an attacker to extort a payment in exchange for the decryption key. Over the past year in the U.S., hackers hit the governments of Baltimore, New Orleans, and a raft of smaller municipalities, taking down city email servers and databases, police incident-report systems, in some cases even 911 dispatch centers. Hospitals, dependent on the flow of vital, time-sensitive data, have proved particularly tempting targets. So have companies that specialize in remotely managing the IT infrastructure of smaller businesses and towns— hacking them means effectively hacking all their clients.

この蚘事は Bloomberg Businessweek の February 10, 2020 版に掲茉されおいたす。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トラむアルを開始しお、䜕千もの厳遞されたプレミアム ストヌリヌ、9,000 以䞊の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしおください。

この蚘事は Bloomberg Businessweek の February 10, 2020 版に掲茉されおいたす。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トラむアルを開始しお、䜕千もの厳遞されたプレミアム ストヌリヌ、9,000 以䞊の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしおください。

BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEKのその他の蚘事すべお衚瀺
Instagram's Founders Say It's Time for a New Social App
Bloomberg Businessweek US

Instagram's Founders Say It's Time for a New Social App

The rise of AI and the fall of Twitter could create opportunities for upstarts

time-read
4 分  |
March 13, 2023
Running in Circles
Bloomberg Businessweek US

Running in Circles

A subscription running shoe program aims to fight footwear waste

time-read
3 分  |
March 20 - 27, 2023
What I Learned Working at a Hawaiien Mega-Resort
Bloomberg Businessweek US

What I Learned Working at a Hawaiien Mega-Resort

Nine wild secrets from the staff at Turtle Bay, who have to manage everyone from haughty honeymooners to go-go-dancing golfers.

time-read
10 分  |
March 20 - 27, 2023
How Noma Will Blossom In Kyoto
Bloomberg Businessweek US

How Noma Will Blossom In Kyoto

The best restaurant in the world just began its second pop-up in Japan. Here's what's cooking

time-read
3 分  |
March 20 - 27, 2023
The Last-Mover Problem
Bloomberg Businessweek US

The Last-Mover Problem

A startup called Sennder is trying to bring an extremely tech-resistant industry into the age of apps

time-read
10+ 分  |
March 20 - 27, 2023
Tick Tock, TikTok
Bloomberg Businessweek US

Tick Tock, TikTok

The US thinks the Chinese-owned social media app is a major national security risk. TikTok is running out of ways to avoid a ban

time-read
10+ 分  |
March 20 - 27, 2023
Cleaner Clothing Dye, Made From Bacteria
Bloomberg Businessweek US

Cleaner Clothing Dye, Made From Bacteria

A UK company produces colors with less water than conventional methods and no toxic chemicals

time-read
3 分  |
March 20 - 27, 2023
Pumping Heat in Hamburg
Bloomberg Businessweek US

Pumping Heat in Hamburg

The German port city plans to store hot water underground and bring it up to heat homes in the winter

time-read
3 分  |
March 20 - 27, 2023
Sustainability: Calamari's Climate Edge
Bloomberg Businessweek US

Sustainability: Calamari's Climate Edge

Squid's ability to flourish in warmer waters makes it fitting for a diet for the changing environment

time-read
4 分  |
March 20 - 27, 2023
New Money, New Problems
Bloomberg Businessweek US

New Money, New Problems

In Naples, an influx of wealthy is displacing out-of-towners lower-income workers

time-read
4 分  |
March 20 - 27, 2023