Page 5 - Cyberattacks and Cyberscams: Is There an End in Sight?

The REvil ransomware had been “The more digital connec-
used before, but the Kaseya attack un- tions people make and data
settled even seasoned observers. “The they exchange, the more
scale and scope of this attack is really opportunities adversaries
unprecedented,” says cybersecurity have to destroy private lives,
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expert Dmitri Alperovitch. The criminals disrupt critical infrastructure,
showed a technical sophistication only and damage our economic 2
and democratic institutions.”
nation-states usually achieve. Some
victims dusted off backups they may —Cyberspace Solarium Commission
never have imagined needing. Others
wondered if they would recover at all.
Twenty days after detecting the attack, Kaseya announced that,
although it had not paid the ransom, it had obtained a universal
decryptor. It was later revealed that the Federal Bureau of Investi-
gation (FBI) had provided the decryptor, which it obtained by ac-
cessing REvil’s servers. In late October 2021, law enforcement
offi cials and cybersecurity professionals from the United States
and other countries turned the tables. They hacked REvil, shutting
down its operations, at least temporarily.
Cyberspace brings trade-offs. Connectivity has boosted eco-
nomic productivity, improved education, enhanced social interac-
tions, and created new forms of entertainment. But it also makes
people and things vulnerable. As the Cyberspace Solarium Com-
mission, established by Congress to develop a national cybersecu-
rity strategy, explains, “The more digital connections people make
and data they exchange, the more opportunities adversaries have
to destroy private lives, disrupt critical infrastructure, and damage
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our economic and democratic institutions.” There is no end in sight
to cyberscams or cyberattacks. But experts believe Americans can
reduce the number of scams and attacks and also build resilience
to recover from them more quickly.

Cyberoffense

Cyberscams and cyberattacks seem increasingly common. In
2020 the FBI received almost eight hundred thousand complaints

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