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Tech Life

The global rise of ransomware

Tech Life

BBC

Tech News, Technology, News

4.3227 Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2021

⏱️ 24 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How hackers stole millions from companies around the world, and why they're so difficult to stop. Chris Fox speaks to Jen Ellis from cybersecurity firm Rapid7 and to Tom Pace from NetRise about the growth in ransomware attacks in recent years, and why companies often feel they have no choice but to pay large ransoms. And Joe Tidy travels to Russia in an attempt to track down alleged ransomware gang members.

Transcript

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0:00.0

On Radio 4, the more you listen, the more you see.

0:04.7

Hello, I'm Brian Cox.

0:05.6

And I'm Robin Ince, and this is The Infinite Monkey Cage.

0:08.3

In this series, we're going to have a planet off.

0:10.8

I feel like Jupiter wins.

0:12.8

And after all of that, we're just going to chill out a bit.

0:15.9

We're talking about your bog standard.

0:17.8

Ice, not the fancy one.

0:20.1

Science with funny bits.

0:21.9

The new series of The Infinite Monkey Cage.

0:24.1

Listen on Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.

0:31.8

This is TechTent from the BBC World Service.

0:34.5

I'm Chris Fox and this week we're talking about ransomware. It's a

0:38.4

cyber security threat, earning hackers millions of dollars, taking down businesses, hospitals,

0:43.9

even oil pipelines in the process. How did it become such a problem? And why aren't the people

0:49.1

responsible being caught? With me is our cyber reporter Joe Tidy. He's been to Russia to try and track down

0:55.7

some of the hackers. Yeah, it was an eye-open experience, Chris. We were here for about just over a

1:00.0

week, and we ended up getting the closest that anyone's ever got to the world's most wanted hacker.

1:05.0

When an American court declares a person guilty in hacking, where is the evidence?

1:10.1

They turn up for work. They're in, you know, huge offices. They take it very seriously. They put in their hours.

1:17.2

Generally speaking, my advice is to pay the ransom.

1:20.2

That's all coming up on TechTent.

...

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