Looking to the future, the relationship between cyber criminals and the corporate sector could well develop into one that is like parasitic symbiosis.
The ransomware epidemic has made headlines in recent years, with large organizations targeted with alarmingly high ransom demands. But it is probably in the interests of these threat actors to avoid the limelight, focus on less newsworthy targets, and avoid creating too much damage. This could be termed a tapeworm strategy: don’t kill victims, just quietly exploit them.
The Colonial Pipeline attack offered support for this concept. In May 2021, the Russia-based DarkSide group attacked a critical piece of US infrastructure—the Colonial Pipeline that was responsible for almost half the gasoline supply to the East Coast. A ransom of $4 million in bitcoin was paid but the pipeline was shut for a week,