Should Paying Hacker Ransoms Be Illegal?

Open to Debate

Education, News, Society & Culture

4.6 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 14 October 2022

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

With cyber threats and ransomware on the rise globally, the Biden administration has enlisted America’s tech titans to help blunt their effects. Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, are all in discussions with Washington over how to strengthen the nation’s critical infrastructure defenses against a growing array of both private and state-sponsored attacks. Skeptics question just how much can be achieved, given how connected U.S. society has become. But solutions are emerging, from lifting the veil of cryptocurrencies, a favored transaction among hackers, to making the paying of ransoms illegal. In this special edition of Intelligence Squared’s Agree-to-Disagree series, John Donvan sits down with David Sanger of The New York Times for a closer examination of these attacks before launching into a much more specific debate with two cyber security experts. The debate: Should paying hacker ransoms be illegal? Cyber Threat Alliance president and chief executive Michael Daniel and Rapid7 vice-president Jen Ellis square off in light of recent high-profile hackings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	There's something so romantic about winter and I don't know whether that's just because
0:05.4	I'm a bit for homebody and I love a 5.
0:08.0	But I think it's just the holiday period, it's just for me, it's the most romantic period.
0:14.2	And I think anyone who's listened to my records will know that I'm quite a big fan of romance.
0:18.8	Joy in every sip with red carp snout back at Starbucks.
0:23.9	Hi everybody and welcome to a special edition of Agree to Disagree.
0:33.5	I'm John Don Van.
0:35.3	And what makes this edition special is that in addition to our usual one-on-one debate,
0:41.0	this program is preceded by an expert interview meant to get us all up to speed on the issue
0:45.9	at hand.
0:46.9	And today that issue is cyber attacks.
0:50.1	And criminals hold computer systems hostage and demand payment to allow them to get back
0:54.8	online.
0:55.8	Does it make sense to pay up or does paying up only incentivize more attacks?
1:01.7	That's the debate.
1:02.9	And it's about to be had by two true cybercrime fighters in their field, cyber threat alliance
1:07.7	chief executive Michael Daniel, and rapid seven vice president Jen Ellis.
1:12.7	But first, a conversation with David Sanger of the New York Times.
1:16.4	He's going to help me set the table for what promises to be important and especially spirited
1:21.1	debate.
1:22.1	So let's get to it.
1:23.9	David Sanger, you are perhaps the perfect person to help me give us the big picture on where
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Open to Debate, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Open to Debate and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.