Wow - Feds Got Back $500,000 Measly Bucks from NK Ransomware Hacks

[25.BX945]

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-62239638

US seizes stolen funds from suspected North Korean hackers

The US Department of Justice has seized $500,000 (£417,000)
worth of Bitcoin from suspected North Korean hackers.

The hackers attacked healthcare providers with a new strain
of ransomware, extorting the funds from several organisations

. . .

Wow ... they got back chump-change THIS time.

But 99% of the time they WON'T - and we ain't
talking chump-change.

There ARE NO good defenses against ransomware.
Somebody will ALWAYS click the big pretty
"Click Me To See Great Bargains" button.

Therefore, it's time for the FINAL, AWFUL,
defense - MAKE IT ILLEGAL TO PAY ATTACKERS.
Like REALLY illegal. Suzy-Jo clicked the
button ... well TUFF TITTY. This approach
is not just for the USA, but for *every*
country. Meet, agree, DO IT. The penalty
for paying the criminals must be GREATER
than for doing their bidding. That ENDS it.

And if you don't do multi-layered backups
like every day you DESERVE what you get.
On-site AND off-site laddies. Remember
there IS NO good defense - They CAN get
to a LOT of your stuff ... and WILL get
around to YOU soon enough. Salvation lies
in replication.

Hey, are all your "backups" on always-live
shares that the ransomware can easily get
to ? Then you DESERVE your fate. Multiple
repositories, some almost-always offline,
encryption, Unix/Linux/Solaris based ....
that's your one real defense. Storage is
cheap, trashed data/systems/PCs ain't cheap.