RAOF

@bumi@kosmos.social @FranckLeroy@mastodon.online No. Some technologies enable new businesses to exist; this should be uncontroversial. Bitcoin (and, more generally, cryptocurrencies) have enabled the ransomware “business” to exist. Computer security could and should be better, but the business model of ransomware requires a way to do high-volume pseudonymous trans-national money transfers. Without a reliable way of turning a compromise into a payday there would be much less ransomware, and it would be from different sources¹. Much like the way that it is ridiculously easy to break into your home, but we don't have a huge burglary problem because turning home access into cash is difficult and unscalable. ¹: Nation-state industrial sabotage, competitor sabotage, etc

@bumi@kosmos.social @FranckLeroy@mastodon.online the special trick with Bitcoin is not that it makes the act of fraud or theft easier; it's that it makes any fraud or theft irreversible. Thus, getting away with the money is much easier, and so much more attractive.