"So now it comes out: Colonial Pipeline did pay ransom -- nearly $5 million -- to Eastern European hackers. It did it last Friday, contradicting earlier reports that the company had no intention of paying an extortion fee. And it paid in untraceable cryptocurrency within hours after the attack. Once they received the payment, the hackers provided Colonial with a decrypting tool to restore its disabled computer network. (Ransomware is a type of malware that locks up a victim’s files, which the attackers promise to unlock for a payment.)
Why does the U.S. allow such extortion? On Monday, Anne Neuberger, the White House’s top cybersecurity official, declined to tell companies whether they should pay cyber ransoms. “We recognize, though, that companies are often in a difficult position if their data is encrypted and they do not have backups and cannot recover the data,” she said.
That’s a signal to criminal hackers to escalate this destructive game. IMHO, United States law should prohibit all such payments, ban the use of cryptocurrency for international payments, and prohibit cyber-insurance policies." Robert Reich, former labor secretary.
Anyone want to bet that restrictions on cryptocurrencies are coming?