The US government launches its new offensive against hackers. After the attacks, and the serious damage, to the critical infrastructures of the country (from oil pipelines to large industrial plants) the US administration has studied a new strategy by deciding to put a “bounty” on web pirates. Up to $ 10 million, also payable in cryptocurrencies. The bounty will be paid, explains a note from the State Department, for “information that can help identify or locate any person who, acting under the direction or under the control of the foreign government, participates in hostile cyber activities against the critical infrastructures of the States. United in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act ”.
And it does not end here: “Given the severity of threats from hackers, a channel on the Dark Web has been created to collect information, in order to protect the safety of possible sources”, continues the note with which the Department announced the initiative of the Rewards for Justice program, rewards for justice. The hope is to encourage, to the sound of dollars, the collaboration of some “repentant” on the network. To whom will be guaranteed, like normal collaborators of justice, the possibility of entering the special protection programs. “We are working with partners from other agencies to ensure a quick control of information”, concludes the note, “a possible relocation and payment of rewards, which could also be in crypto currencies”.
The announcement of the bounty comes two days after it was revealed that the sites of Revil, the Russian hacker group believed to be responsible for the ransomware hacker attacks against JBS and Kaseya, were revealed. Other servers of the group also known as Sodinokibi are also “inactive”. The actions of hackers, states the State Department, are in open violation of American law, “in particular extortion following ransomware attacks, intentional unauthorized access to a computer system, the voluntary transmission of a program or a code that have the effect of damaging a protected computer ».