Business is booming for cyber extortionists. DarkSide, a hacking group that shut down a key US oil pipeline in May, has collected over $90 million recently in hard-to-trace Bitcoin from 47 victims, according to the analytics firm Elliptic. That hack ended after Colonial Pipeline paid nearly $5 million in ransom to regain control of systems needed to supply gasoline to eastern US, and was widely dubbed a ‘wake-up call’ to batten down loose digital hatches. After the subsequent executive order on cybersecurity from US President Joe Biden, regulation is expected to tighten. But there are key gaps.
There has been scant coverage of how hacks actually occur. You’d almost think that bad guys are breaking into data centres in the dead of night armed with sinister thumb drives, or sneaking lines of malevolent code past snoozing information security officers. It’s as if malware materializes spontaneously on a server, then worms its way in to seize control of operational assets. Companies are reluctant to discuss the details of a breach because it inevitably reveals some sloppy security. The absence of information creates a sense of bystander apathy, leaving many…
