Ransomware attacks kept climbing in 2025 as gangs refused to stay dead If 2025 was meant to be the year ransomware started dying, nobody appears to have told the attackers. In its 2025 State of Ransomware in the US report, security firm Emsisoft says ransomware attacks continued to climb last year, with more victims appearing on extortion sites and more groups operating than ever before. The …
Perhaps it is time to stop the processing of personal and other sensitive data on internet connected computers. That is, until the makers of IT systems actually start producing secure systems.
If system operators were required to pay realistic compensation (a few thousand Euros, say), to each victim of personal data "theft", things would very quickly take a turn for the better.
Unfortunately, that's not really how it works though. Personal and sensitive data have become core components of how companies do business. Their transition from paper to digital has just exposed it. The internet exposed it further. Asking any of these companies to change at this point is no different than asking people to not share any of their personal information without a set of conditions being met. It turns out companies = people so stupid is as stupid does.
Legislation is an after-the-fact consideration.
Also, compensating the "victims" isn't the intention of any legislation.
Yeah, the system sucks.
If CEOs will go to prison for paying, ransomware will die.
You can't go after the criminals who are in countries that don't care as long as their own citizens aren't targeted.
But you absolutely CAN arrest the criminals who pay the ransom.
doesn't need any new legislation,
Whosoever shall aid, abet, counsel, or procure the commission of any indictable offence, whether the same be an offence at common law or by virtue of any Act passed or to be passed, shall be liable to be tried, indicted, and punished as a principal offender.
Paying a ransom aids the commission of ransomware-related crimes; it just needs a prosecutor to take it on and establish the case law.
Well thats the problem.
How do you stop people clicking links from their friends? even when they've been told not to under threat of written warnings.
But then which company thought it would be a bright idea to bind the browser so tightly into the OS, then use the browser to preview emails before you even got a chance to open them.
m$ left the door unlocked, then everyone just kicked it open....
"invent a computer that can't be compromised by opening a malicious email attachment or clicking on a malicious web link"
No need do reinvent the wheel, because it does exist already. Use FOSS (Linux, LibreOffice and the like) AND adhere to best practice (least privilege, network segmentation, you name it). Replace ALL proprietary network gear. Just one current example: https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/08/rcisco_ise_bug_poc
No one said that the migration from the current M$ biotope to a safe system will be easy, but it is possible - and necessary!
So the 'Whack-a-Mole' strategy is working about as well as expected then? We take down one big head and three smaller, hungrier ones pop up in its place. It’s almost like the business model is so profitable that 'disruption' is just a rebranding exercise for the affiliates. Until we can stop the money flowing out or make the human element (social engineering) less of a goldmine, these stats are just going to keep climbing.
STOP PAYING THE RANSOM YOU DUMMIES!!!
Come fall all the birds started flying south for the winter, except one stubborn bird. When it began to snow he decided he'd start flying south.
In the cold and wet weather his wings began to get heavy and icy causing him to crash into a barn. Still dazed from the impact a cow in the barn pooped him.
Soon he realized the poop was warming him up and started to sing. The cat on the farm heard the bird and dug him out of the poop and ate him.
Morale of the story. People who poop on you aren't always your enemies and the people who get you out of the poop aren't always your friends.
If you like the poop your in keep quiet.
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