Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share The Ransomware Threat
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
The Ransomware Threat
You might receive an innocuous looking email – it might even look like it’s from your boss – asking you to click on a link. Watch out! It could be the start of a ransomware attack. Over the last year cybersecurity experts say that the number of ransomware attacks has grown exponentially. During the pandemic lockdowns criminal hackers have been able to exploit the vulnerabilities inherent in the increase in homeworking to infiltrate computer systems, shut them down and then demand a ransom to restore services, or even to stop publishing data they’ve stolen. Along with the increased volume of attacks, the level of ransom demands has grown.
Using new technology and techniques, this has become a lucrative business for international criminal gangs, with individuals, businesses, schools, hospitals and charities all targeted.
Joining David Aaronovitch in the Briefing Room to discuss ransomware attacks are:
Emily Taylor, CEO of Oxford Information Labs and Editor of Chatham House's Journal of Cyber Policy
Sadie Creese, Professor of Cyber Security at the University of Oxford
Geoff White, investigative journalist and author and presenter of the BBC’s podcast series, The Lazarus Heist
Susan Landau, Bridge Professor of Cyber Security and Policy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and the School of Engineering, Department of Computer Science, Tufts University
Producers: John Murphy, Sally Abrahams and Imogen Serwotka
Sound Engineer: James Beard
Editor: Jasper Corbett
View all episodes
By BBC Radio 4
4.8
5252 ratings
You might receive an innocuous looking email – it might even look like it’s from your boss – asking you to click on a link. Watch out! It could be the start of a ransomware attack. Over the last year cybersecurity experts say that the number of ransomware attacks has grown exponentially. During the pandemic lockdowns criminal hackers have been able to exploit the vulnerabilities inherent in the increase in homeworking to infiltrate computer systems, shut them down and then demand a ransom to restore services, or even to stop publishing data they’ve stolen. Along with the increased volume of attacks, the level of ransom demands has grown.
Using new technology and techniques, this has become a lucrative business for international criminal gangs, with individuals, businesses, schools, hospitals and charities all targeted.
Joining David Aaronovitch in the Briefing Room to discuss ransomware attacks are:
Emily Taylor, CEO of Oxford Information Labs and Editor of Chatham House's Journal of Cyber Policy
Sadie Creese, Professor of Cyber Security at the University of Oxford
Geoff White, investigative journalist and author and presenter of the BBC’s podcast series, The Lazarus Heist
Susan Landau, Bridge Professor of Cyber Security and Policy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and the School of Engineering, Department of Computer Science, Tufts University
Producers: John Murphy, Sally Abrahams and Imogen Serwotka
Sound Engineer: James Beard
Editor: Jasper Corbett
More shows like The Briefing Room
View all
In Our Time
5,389 Listeners
From Our Own Correspondent
381 Listeners
The Documentary Podcast
1,840 Listeners
Global News Podcast
7,902 Listeners
Profile
105 Listeners
6 Minute English
1,782 Listeners
Learning English Conversations
1,049 Listeners
The Bottom Line
32 Listeners
The Week in Westminster
28 Listeners
More or Less: Behind the Stats
899 Listeners
The Infinite Monkey Cage
1,925 Listeners
Newshour
1,080 Listeners
Westminster Hour
45 Listeners
Moral Maze
65 Listeners
The New Statesman | UK politics and culture
127 Listeners
The Inquiry
748 Listeners
Political Fix
150 Listeners
Political Thinking with Nick Robinson
107 Listeners
13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle
4,108 Listeners
Americast
741 Listeners
You're Dead to Me
2,979 Listeners
Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
26 Listeners
The Rest Is Politics: Leading
988 Listeners
Radical with Amol Rajan
30 Listeners