G7 Calls on Russia To Crack Down on Ransomware Gangs (therecord.media) 58
In light of the recent wave of high-profile ransomware attacks that have caused havoc in the US and Europe, the member states of the G7 group have called on Russia and other countries to crack down on ransomware gangs operating within their borders. From a report: "We call on all states to urgently identify and disrupt ransomware criminal networks operating from within their borders, and hold those networks accountable for their actions," the G7 group said in a communique published on Sunday, at the end of a three-day conference held in Cornwall, UK. "In particular, we call on Russia [...] to identify, disrupt, and hold to account those within its borders who conduct ransomware attacks, abuse virtual currency to launder ransoms, and other cybercrimes," the G7 group added.
The joint statement was signed by the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US -- more commonly known as the Group of Seven (G7). It comes after a series of ransomware attacks that caused disruptions at hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, fuel outages on the US East Coast following the Colonial Pipeline attack, and beef supply issues across Australia and the US following the JBS Foods ransomware incident.
The joint statement was signed by the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US -- more commonly known as the Group of Seven (G7). It comes after a series of ransomware attacks that caused disruptions at hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, fuel outages on the US East Coast following the Colonial Pipeline attack, and beef supply issues across Australia and the US following the JBS Foods ransomware incident.
If they can control social media...? (Score:1)
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Re:If they can control social media...? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:If they can control social media...? (Score:5, Interesting)
That's the popular narrative of the "Putin the all powerful" in the Anglosphere. As usual, reality has nothing to do with Anglosphere narrative.
Reality is that Russian state is pathetically weak, and their federal government barely controls Kremlin grounds themselves and can't even reach Moscow proper all that well. Their primary field of expertise is national defence and foreign policy, which is why Westerners keep imagining Putin as "the all powerful dictator". Relations between foreigners and Russia are in fact the main competency of the Federal government in Russia and one that regional governments mostly concede to it. On the other hand, domestically federal government is so weak, its borderline irrelevant. It's the local governments that matter. And local governments are so hopelessly "far away from Moscow" as Russians themselves put it (read: seat of federal government) and so hopelessly corrupt, that those infamous Putin's yearly marathon Q&A sessions are about half "reporters asking question" and other half "residents from across Russian Federation coming to Moscow to beg the president to do something about their government not giving any fucks about federal government's laws and regulations and just openly acting against them when they see fit".
It's quite similar to situation in Italy with Mafia, with exception that in Russia, central government is far weaker than one in Italy, and therefore local crime lords are far more influential than Italian mafia families are in their locales. And ransomware gangs, just like other local crime gangs from insurance fraud gangs to racketeering gangs are typically under the "umbrella" of local politicians and local police force.
It's why when looking for IT security experts, Russian intelligence couldn't just turn to its crime world directly in spite of them having some of the best hackers in the world the way US intelligence does. Instead it got requests to help prosecute from FBI and other Western police organisations alongside the details on who it was that was the perpetrator, and only then could it be able to identify who the experts working in those fields in Russia are. Because there's just no communication of that kind between regional police/prosector's offices in Russia and federal government, and that's when regional authorities even care enough to find out.
Re:If they can control social media...? (Score:4, Insightful)
That's the popular narrative of the "Putin the all powerful" in the Anglosphere. As usual, reality has nothing to do with Anglosphere narrative. Reality is that Russian state is pathetically weak, and their federal government barely controls Kremlin grounds themselves and can't even reach Moscow proper all that well.
Actually, this is a good point. Ransomeware is tolerated by the Russian government because if it hurts western businesses and societies, they see nothing wrong with that, but the actual cause of so many Russian being cybercriminals is that the Russian economy is in the toilet, and there is a huge surplus of clever, technically-sophisticated Russians just looking for cash.
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I hear from some tech site that flying cars [slashdot.org] is going to be a growth industry, pass it along.
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I would mostly agree, with caveat that it's "more tolerated" rather than simply "tolerated". Because central government in Russia tolerates most criminality, including that which is extremely harmful to itself. This is because of weakness of government and massive corruption within their system of governance.
Just google "Russian mafia" if you want to know more. Their criminal lords are so powerful, they don't even hide from police. They're literally called "thieves in law" because they are known to law enfo
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its state sanctioned
It's just a theory which is based on nothing more that stereotypes about Russia
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If they can control US social media then perhaps they can take a crack at stopping this flood of scammers?
They can't control US social media.
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They can't control US social media.
Well, yes and no. They can certainly shape the narrative, there's no question about that. And that is inded a form of control. All too effective, I might add.
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They can't control US social media.
Well, yes and no. They can certainly shape the narrative, there's no question about that. And that is inded a form of control. All too effective, I might add.
I think you have it the other way around. The social media can shape the narrative.
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I think you have it the other way around. The social media can shape the narrative.
Again, yes and no, but mostly "no".
They initially shape the narrative by first influencing social media, which then goes on to metastasize and shape public opinion, which in turn feeds back to influencing social media...and the cycle continues.
It's like lighting a bale of hay- you only need to light one tiny corner and it takes off and feeds on itself (because in the end, people are stupid and gullible).
For reference, see Facebook, twitter, etc etc etc.
Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
What incentive does Russia have to do that? Those guys bring hard currency into the anemic Russian economy, screw up stuff in the US and Europe, and just generally help Russia vis a vis the west. In addition, it keeps the hackers from turning to domestic crime.
Seems like a win in every way for Russia. Why would they trash that?
Sanctions. (Score:2)
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But as long as Europe is dependent on Russian natural gas in the winter that's probably a pipe dream.
That is a Republican talking point but as always this isn't as simple as the right wing think tanks in Washington would have you believe. Europe's options for importing gas include getting gas from the Middle East and North Africa, ramping up work on the Southern Gas Corridor through Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan; Importing Liquefied Natural Gas from the United States and Australia as well as from East Africa. Sure, those are perhaps more expensive options and would result in some transient short
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Ah if only they had learned from China and India and became the outsourcing capital of the world. We'd be wondering why customer service speaks with a Russian accent.
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Zero, and it seems absurd to even ask.
If anything, I would think the pressure would be almost reversed, with Western internet businesses being encouraged to "see the light" and abandon Russian markets. Google or MS may bemoan lost revenue, but Russia seems unlikely to be a growth market anyway, constantly pressuring them for privacy/security compromises, and any emerging domestic competitor will not likely be exporting a competing product adopted by anyone.
After that you can start considering targeting Rus
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If its proven that this is done with tacit approval of the Russian government, the G7 will be forced to retaliate.
Given that Russia is not even in the top 10 economy in the world, they will be in for a world of hurt if a full scale "cyber war" erupts. Moreover, the customers in Europe they rely upon for energy may decide to accelerate a transition away from fossil fuels as well as buy energy from other sources. e.g. fracked and subsidized LPG from the US.
No
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tldr; because it will blow up in their face. If its proven that this is done with tacit approval of the Russian government, the G7 will be forced to retaliate.
Retaliate how? They're already sanctioning Russia for Crimea, for assassinating dissidents, for half a dozen other things. If Europe and America had another lever to pull, don't you think they would have already used it?
Given that Russia is not even in the top 10 economy in the world, they will be in for a world of hurt if a full scale "cyber war" erupts.
Your thinking is backwards. The top 10 economies in the world have more to lose in a cyber war. The less you have, the less you have to lose.
Moreover, the customers in Europe they rely upon for energy may decide to accelerate a transition away from fossil fuels as well as buy energy from other sources. e.g. fracked and subsidized LPG from the US.
They're already doing it.
No doubt, President Putin has weighed the risk, and that is why he is saying that he would approve of extradition of cyber criminals to the US for trial. Whether its lip service or real is for him to decide.
"Lip service" is correct. It means nothing to say that they will extradite cybercriminals. Actually doing it: ah, that's a d
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The US is really trying to avoid escalation, but from my perspective as an poorly informed US citizen, our back is close to being against the wall. Undermining our system of government and attacking our critical infrastructure can only lead to an insane angry giant. If it gets really b
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If its proven that this is done with tacit approval of the Russian government, the G7 will be forced to retaliate.
Yes, the G7 will send a very strongly worded letter and when that fails, they'll send another in all caps.
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Gains don't have to be all tangible either. It's important to remember that near the heart of Russian culture is a deep resentment of Europe. For centuries, Russia has wanted to be seen/accepted as part of Europe, but have been snubbed even after joining royal families and seizing the Eastern half. There's an opportunity in that resentment.
Toothless tiger (Score:3, Funny)
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Command and control of Russia's nukes is reportedly poor, and gaming out exactly what could happen with broad civil unrest across the country would be next to impossible. I don't think the potential risk of this type of action is warranted.
Seems like a milquetoast effort (Score:4, Insightful)
Asking Russia to crack down on ransomeware gangs seems about as strong-willed as asking them to stop espionage, particularly since the amount of overlap between ransomeware gangs and Russian cyberintelligence/cyberwarfare interests are.
Not that I have an answer, either, given the tricky nature of attribution and the lack of any expected cooperation by the Russian government and their overlapping interest in the tools and access obtained by Russian criminal gangs.
Maybe it's time to start targeting Russian network access? I don't think it will have a huge impact on the gangs themselves, but it might motivate the Russian government to do something vs. the problems it could cause for the broader Russian economy.
You won't actually see any pressure exerted (Score:3)
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Putin has never worked for anything but the government, but he has a billion dollar home and 500 million dollar yacht. Some estimates of his net worth are as high as $200 billion, almost all of which is believed to be parked in western investment.
An asset freeze on Russian nationals would definitely get his attention.
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I think it might be of limited value, I doubt the account information says "PUTIN, VLADIMIR, A RUSSIAN NATIONAL". It's all well tangled in a web of transnational anonymous business entities, accounts, etc.
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Forensic accountants are pretty good at what they do. And they don't have to get 100% of the assets, just enough to hurt.
Right, "crack down".. (Score:1)
Did they smile when they said it? I'm sure all he has to do is make a phone call to their intelligence apparatus, not sure I'd go so dramatic as "crack down" myself.
I hate ransomware gangs as much as the next guy. (Score:2)
Russia to G7 (Score:2)
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The obvious real message: (Score:2)
This is how wars start. (Score:2)
US: "Taliban, please control terrorist training and activities in your border."
Taliban: "Meh"
uh huh (Score:3)
I'm sure your constant barrage of sanctions and your pushing NATO troops and missiles right up to Russian's borders will make them ever so inclined to cooperate with your concerns.
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Cuban Missile Crisis.
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This sort of behavior from within Russia IS THE REASON they aren't in the G8 any more.
Fix cyber-crime, get out of the two invaded areas of the Ukraine and the G7 will talk to you....
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If they wanted Russia to listen to them, maybe they shouldn't have kicked her out of the G8?
Damn, the stupid is very very strong in this one.
You tried. It wasn't a good try, nor a smart one, but go to the back of the class and pick up your Participation Trophy.
Perhaps it's time for the national domain... (Score:2)
...authorities to be sanctioned (no DNS routing to or from their national TLD) by effectively cutting off the internet to that country after persistent, unchecked (by national govt) cybercrime originating from that nation.
Since offenders in these originating countries do seem to fear attacking local resources, it's obvious that govts in those countries could stop them if they wanted to.
Internet quarantine would be very effective as the 99.9999% of legitimate internet users would demand the govt get offender
Fox guarding the hen house? (Score:1)
Yesss, no prrroblem, comrrrade (Score:2)
"Yes, do not be vorry, ve vill certainly crack down on zese terrible crrriminal gangz, trust us, ve vill do zat rrright avay."
HAHAHA (Score:2)
Like that asshole Putin will do anything about it. He's up there on with China on "threats to the world that should be eliminated". He wants to see us destroyed just as bad as China does.
the right people to ask... (Score:2)
The joint statement was signed by the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US -- more commonly known as the Group of Seven (G7)
Which was formerly known as the Group of Eight or G8 before they throwed out Russia in 2014.
Yeah, definitely the right group of people to ask Russia for anything. How can you be so tone-deaf? The arrogance is thick with these ones.
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Sanctions etc. work only if you can isolate the country on the receiving side. In fact, they very, very rarely work. South Africa is the exception, not the rule.
If you can't force your views on the other country by military victory and surrender, you only have two other options. One is to talk, negotiate and find a solution that trades something you want for something they want. The other is to accept it and get on with your life.
But that's the external perspective. Russia is much more important for interna
Just baseless accusations (Score:2)