08/19/2022
Data safety in the age of ransomware attacks - A hacker's perspective
Ransomware attacks becoming fairly common across the world has become something of a phenomenon. Not many people could use a computer let alone code on it during the 90s. That, has changed however...some for the better and other for worse.
The same geeks that the jocks laughed at back in the day became today’s Bitcoin billionaires among other things. Not to say that jocks didn’t have their moments, however, today one is hard-pressed to find anything resembling the likeness of jocks in the arena. There was no battle that took place, simply that one side didn’t keep up with the other.
That’s how evolution works too, that which the nature finds unused gets discarded, and that which is used often is always front and centre.
What’s funny is that the jocks themselves became geeks and started to code, learning to write out ideas and then executing them digitally. The geeks successfully created a vacuum which no one is adequately able to fill. The results are astonishing!
Data Thieves on the rise!
People today think that the data thieves have only now gotten in on the action, benefitting from lack of knowledge of those who couldn’t use a computer displayed to separate them from their money.
This problem is not new, and not contingent on intelligence. The truth of the matter depends on how one perceives the world. Thinking in terms of assets and liabilities, one can easily surmise the importance of getting know each one intimately.
An asset, such as transaction datum creates many more opportunities in the digital realm such as trading of intellectual information or juicer yet, creation of financial instruments that can then be used to trade on the stock market.
Just prospects for the geeks AND jocks of today have created an environment for the layman where they have to guard their data from such unscrupulous characters.
Ironically enough, the jocks and the geeks themselves fit the bill of carrying out such as task. They have won over more than one can imagine!
What no one is asking
Despite data safety being touted as the paramount priority for all organisations across the globe, they display an odd behaviour that displays the willingness to do the exact opposite of that very thing!
This all ties back to the earlier days of being able to work for one’s self and doing projects that mattered. The job phenomenon is really a recent invention, and requires that the collective of mankind strengthen its back and give their blood, sweat, and tears to make someone else’s project better.
Although nothing wrong with that notion, it begs the question: “why do hackers steal other people’s data in the first place?”
Without a real answer in definitive terms, the society cannot evolve into something better than what it is. Here, it is argued that the real reason is that these hackers are people who have lost something precious to them...
Perhaps their home, a loved one, or that they have a general grievance against an uncaring system...or perhaps it is the purveyors of the system itself who are the mastermind behind such attacks to keep those on their bandwagon in line.
Whatever the real answer or motive may be, one thing is completely certain: ransomware attacks are only going to grow, swallowing up unrestrained pieces of digital property with them. Data safety is not a matter of protecting the proverbial ball from an unseen defender, but rather an environment to be created that must not be polluted by miscreants.
