Criminals know how to pick a victim, and COVID-19 provided hackers with the perfect opportunity to ramp up ransomware attacks. As this Government Technology report outlines, hackers began unleashing viruses around the same time Mother Nature (or a lab in Wuhan) began unleashing “her” own virus on the world. With the world knocked off balance, people and businesses left dizzy and disoriented, cybercriminals got to work. Last year, the U.S. saw a 300-percent increase in cybercriminal activity. This year, things have only gotten worse. According to recent research, five ransomware attacks occur with each passing minute.
Evolution is a natural part of existence, especially within the world of crime. Cybercriminals are becoming more capable of extorting sizable sums of money from major companies. In October of last year, Software AG paid more than $20 million in ransom fees. The recent JBS and Colonial attacks were a little different, however. The cybercriminals demanded bitcoin from their victims. Ask and you shall receive, and they most certainly received.
Who, or more specifically, what is to blame for the rise in cybercrimes, including ransomware attacks? Bitcoin, naturally. Although bitcoin is indeed an attractive payment option for criminals, it’s also an attractive option for non-criminal actors, more than100 million of them worldwide. Should we blame ice-cream and chips for the obesity crisis plaguing the world, or should we perhaps focus on the people consuming the food?
Humans are both the cause and the solution for almost every problem occurring on the planet, and this includes acts of crime. Pointing the figure at bitcoin makes no sense. Why do criminals demand to be paid in cryptocurrency? Because it is attractive and easy to send. These are not bad characteristics. They only become problematic when problematic people get involved.
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As Elizabeth Warren’s misinformed comments show, when it comes to narratives of good and evil, a bad guy is always needed. In the case of bitcoin, more specifically, a scapegoat. The attacks on bitcoin are reminiscent of Nancy Reagan's views on pot. Nuance simply cannot compete with nonsense.
The narrative being shaped around cryptocurrencies, especially bitcoin, is a highly divisive one. On one side, you have the idealists and reformers who see bitcoin as a key that can unlock a better, fairer future. On the other side, you have people, many of whom are misinformed, calling bitcoin every epithet imaginable. Warren Buffet famously called it “rat poison.” However, the whole bitcoin bad narrative doesn’t actually carry any water.
After all, a bread knife can be used to slice a lovely loaf; in the hands of a manic murderer, however, it can be used to inflict unimaginable levels of pain on another human. What bitcoin needs is proper regulation. In the United States alone, 46 million people own bitcoin. That’s almost 1 in 7 people. Bitcoin is a movement, an idea, a powerful one that resonates around the world.
Calls to ban it are as idiotic as they are unfeasible. In the U.S., with or without bitcoin in circulation, ransomware attacks will continue to occur. Instead of scapegoating an exciting new technology, how about focusing on improving cyber defense technologies?
A ban, not that it’s really possible, is like taking antidepressants to fight the depression caused by your marriage, yet still remaining married to the very person causing the depression. Do you really think that a ban on bitcoin will bring an end to ransomware attacks? These styles of attacks have been around for almost 30 years. Today, they are just more sophisticated in nature, as are the ways in which payments are made. Bitcoin is a sign of technological progress. Just because bad actors happen to like it doesn’t take anything away from its potential.
Ban bitcoin and hackers will simply demand to be paid in a different cryptocurrency. Ok, so ban cryptocurrencies. Again, with more than 10,000 in existence, good luck with that. Even with no cryptocurrencies in circulation, demands from criminals will always exist. Instead of taking antidepressants, how about ending the marriage?
Instead of focusing on fighting the wars of yesteryears, by investing heavily in fighter jets and tanks, how about putting more money into the development of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which receives paltry sums when compared with the United States’ military branch.
Members of the Biden administration fail to acknowledge one simple fact:
The battlefields of tomorrow will be located in cyberspace, not in the Middle East. Bitcoin is not to blame for the ransomware attacks, myopic mindsets and a lack of foresight are. While the likes of Elizabeth Warren and her colleagues are busy pointing fingers in the wrong direction, cybercriminals are planning the next big attack. Is the U.S. prepared?
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