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Unchained

How Ransomware Evolved Into a Big Business - Ep.256

Unchained

Laura Shin

News, Tech News, Business News

4.61.3K Ratings

🗓️ 20 July 2021

⏱️ 57 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Gurvais Grigg, Chainalysis public sector CTO, and Kim Grauer, director of research at Chainalysis, review the ransomware landscape. Show Highlights: their backgrounds and roles at Chainalysis how a ransomware attack works what types of businesses are usually targeted in ransomware attacks why ransomware as a service (RAAS) is a booming business why Kim and Gurvais believe the hacking group REvil is becoming more sophisticated what characteristic of REvil hints that the group could be affiliated with Russia how the RAAS business model works how ransomware payments can be tracked why ransomware reporting has a data problem why Bitcoin is the preferred method of payment amongst ransomware attackers what two factors makes BTC preferable to privacy coins how ransomware groups teach victims to transfer BTC how ransomware groups cash out of their BTC how counter-terrorism tactics can help fight ransomware attacks how the Department of Justice may have partially recovered part of the Colonial Pipeline ransomware payment what tools and strategies governments can and will use to battle ransomware Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2  Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero  Conjure: https://conjure.finance    Episode Links   People Kim Grauer - Director of Research at Chainalysis https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-grauer-a9501144 Gurvais Grigg - Global Public Sector Chief Technology Officer at Chainalysis https://www.linkedin.com/in/gurvais-grigg-b1027a153/    Chainalsysis Ransomware Data https://go.chainalysis.com/rs/503-FAP-074/images/Ransomware-2021-update.pdf   https://go.chainalysis.com/rs/503-FAP-074/images/Chainalysis-Crypto-Crime-2021.pdf   https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/applying-counterterrorism-strategies-to-ransomware   https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/eastern-europe-cryptocurrency-market-2020    Ransomware Attacks Kaseya https://decrypt.co/75246/what-the-revil-ransomware-attack-means-for-crypto https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-03/ransomware-attack-us-revil/100265656  Colonial Pipeline https://ciphertrace.com/ransomware-seizure-blockchain-analytics-helps-us-authorities-seize-over-2-million-in-darkside-ransom-paid-by-colonial-pipeline/  https://www.elliptic.co/blog/us-authorities-seize-darkside  JBS Holdings https://www.wsj.com/articles/jbs-paid-11-million-to-resolve-ransomware-attack Other Chainalysis  Twitter: https://twitter.com/chainalysis Website: https://www.chainalysis.com/ Who is REvil?  https://fortune.com/2021/07/07/what-is-revil-ransomware-attack-kaseya/ https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/revil-threat-actors/  Combating ransomware: https://securityandtechnology.org/ransomwaretaskforce/report/  Why Gurvais joined Chainalysis: https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/gurvais-grigg-chainalysis  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi, everyone. Welcome to Unchained, your no-hi resource for all things crypto. I'm your host,

0:07.6

Laura Shin, a journalist with over two decades of experience. I started covering crypto six

0:12.2

years ago and as a senior editor at Forbes, was the first mainstream media reporter to cover

0:16.6

cryptocurrency full-time. This is the July 20th, 2021 episode of Unchained. My book, The Cryptopians,

0:23.9

Idealism, Greed, Lies and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Crate is available for pre-order

0:29.0

on Amazon, Barnes and Noble Bookshop or any of your favorite bookstores. Go to bit.ly slash

0:34.2

Cryptopians. That's b-i-t dot l-y slash c-r-y p-t-o p-i-a-n-s. The Crypto.com app lets you buy,

0:43.7

earn and spend crypto all in one place. Earn up to 8.5% interest on your Bitcoin and 14% interest

0:51.3

on your stablecoins. Paid weekly. Download the Crypto.com app and get $25 with the code Laura.

0:58.4

The link is in the description. TASOS is smart money. That's redefining what it means to hold

1:04.1

an exchange value in a digitally connected world. Discover how people are reimagining the world

1:09.3

around you on TASOS. Conjure brings any asset you want onto Ethereum by allowing for users to

1:15.1

create synthetic assets which track other markets. With zero interest loans and unlimited assets,

1:20.2

it's helping DeFi to consume tradfi. That's c-o-n-j-u-r-e dot finance. Check it out.

1:27.6

Today's topic is ransomware. Here to discuss our Kim Grower, Director of Research at

1:32.0

Chain Analysis and Gervis Grig, Public Sector CTO at Chain Analysis. Welcome, Kim and Gervis.

1:38.9

Hi. Hello. So ransomware has become quite the phenomenon this year

1:46.4

with hackers extorting $412 million from victims last year and then in the first five

1:52.8

months of this year obtaining $127 million. And then at the beginning of July, a group called

1:59.1

Reval, I believe it's pronounced, perpetrated the largest ransomware attack so far, infecting

2:04.8

more than 1 million computers. And for that, they demanded a $70 million ransom.

2:10.9

Before we dive into all the particulars on the topic for today,

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