One Overstressed Programmer in Illinois: A Review of The Ransomware Hunting Team

The Ransomware Hunting Team by Renee Dudley and Daniel Golden tells the tale of ransomware — the taking of computer data hostage via IT security holes — through the lens of a small group of volunteers. These dedicated, largely unpaid people, hunt down clues to the gangs that run these scams and attempt to break the tool that they use, helping people get their data back. The book is an excellent read I recommend with only a couple of caveats.

Dudley and Golden have an eye for the most interesting characters in any story. The book actually covers quite a bit of ground, from excellent government offices like the Dutch cybersecurity group to less excellent government offices like almost the entire US FBI and DHS to private companies that are essentially scams to private companies that track and fight viruses and their sometimes poor decsion making processes. But the heart of the book is the story of the volunteers who break the encryption that lets these scams continue. They do this difficult work for free, and it has taken a toll on their health and personal lives. The book is a brilliant look at the way businesses depend upon society to bail them out but usually turn a blind eye when it comes time to support society.

If I have a criticism of the book it is how it leaves somethings in the subtext. It is clear form this book that these scams largely could not exists without cryptocurrencies. But the authors do not foreground that aspect of this plague. Nor dor do they examine how well the companies that prodoce our computers and programs approach security.

But those are minor quibbles. Overall, the book is a fascinating look at ransomware, the difficulties and controversies in approaching it (they spend significant time on the question of whether negotiating with these criminals is good or bad and they do not shy away from how ransomware insurance drove up the cost of these attacks), how our institutions have and have not respnded to these events, and how unpaid volunteers have stepped into the breaches left by poor decisions at the FBI and DHS, for example. It is breezily written with a real eye for storytelling details. I heartily recommend it.