Lex Cybernetica Podcast

No paying of bills online. No appealing of fines. No reporting of hazards. No court sessions. No applying for municipal positions. No free WiFi for tourists at the airport. This is what life was like for Atlantans for over a week after a ransomware cyberattack was waged on the city government of the capital of Georgia, USA, on March 22, 2018. Cybersec experts hired by the city claim the attackers come from the SamSam hacking crew. And what did the initiators of what the New York Times called “one of the most sustained and consequential cyberattacks ever mounted against a major American city” ask for in return for the antidote? Six Bitcoin, at the time worth a measly $50,000 or so. Similar but smaller cyberattacks recently targeted Dallas, Texas, Birmingham, Ala., North Carolina, New Mexico, and Colorado. One cannot help speculating that a few grand aren’t really what’s behind similar cyberaggressions, but rather a red herring to cover the tracks of an offensive by a state actor. It’s not only that it’s hard