Ransomware has been around for decades, but trust political figures to blame crypto for its rise. This weekend on NBC News’ Meet the Press, US senator Roy Blunt alleged the privacy offered cryptocurrencies were fuelling the recent spate of hacking attacks.
“It took gasoline and beef for us to think this is really a serious problem,” he said, adding that the anonymity provided by cryptocurrencies was a negative feature as they allow for untraceable ransom payments.
Charge on crypto
The comments came after recent attacks on the US gas pipeline system Colonial Pipeline and meatpacker JBS—both instances seeing hackers demand Bitcoin after compromising passwords in a cyberattack. The move caused a widespread gas shortage and meat-plant shutdowns and was one of the biggest such attacks of its kind.
Colonial paid over $4.4 million in Bitcoin to regain access to its crucial systems, while JBS’ ransom payment is unclear as of press time.
But while ransomware has been around for decade
Źródło: https://cryptoslate.com/u-s-senator-blames-crypto-for-rising-ransomware-attacks/
