The Ransomware Hunting Team by Renee Dudley & Daniel Golden

The Ransomware Hunting Team
By Renee Dudley & Daniel Golden
FSG Books, 2022

Imagine sitting down at your computer, expecting to log in, open your browser, and begin scanning through your morning emails, but before any of that can happen a message fills your screen telling you all your files have been encrypted, and you will never be able to access them again… unless you pay for the decryption key. You have just become a victim of ransomware.

In their new book, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Daniel Golden and ProPublica technology reporter Renee Dudley have teamed up on The Ransomware Hunting Team to tell the story of the band of societal outcasts and misfits who have turned their passions into superpowers, saving the world's networks and computers from increasingly dangerous ransomware viruses, saving hundreds of millions of dollars from being put into the hands of cybercriminals, as well as saving sensitive personal information from being leaked to the dark web.

The book opens with a simple introduction to the nature of ransomware explaining it as, “An unholy marriage of hacking and cryptography, ransomware penetrates computers and renders files inaccessible without the right decryption key.” This is precisely the type of attack that has become the focus of a group of international computer geniuses, techies, and programmers who have titled themselves The Ransomware Hunting Team. They have become the first line of defense in a new type of warfare.

While ransomware attacks have become more common, many major attacks are never covered in the media, often being resolved, or paid off quietly without the knowledge of the attack ever being made public information. Companies, and large corporations fear that publizing ransomware attacks targeting their networks could project a negative image for the security of their employees and clients.

More than just a threat to the private sector, ransomware is a growing threat to governments, truly becoming a new way to wage war. With the amount of ransomware viruses steadily growing, more and more countries have begun ramping up their efforts to defend themselves from cyber attacks. Golden and Dudley explain the battle the government agencies face as they try to develop stronger defenses against viruses, using an attack that took place in 2017 as an example of hacker’s increasing targeting of government agencies:

In 2017, U.S. government officials blamed North Korea for the devastating attacks caused by the WannaCry ransomware worm. WannaCry had infected the UK’s National Health Service, among many other victims across 150 countries, before security researcher Marc Hutchins famously found a kill switch that neutralized the unusual worm.

The Ransomware Hunting Team also explains to the reader a major struggle at the center of the fight against ransomware. When a weak link is found and destroyed in a hacker’s viruses, it doesn’t just free a network from ransomware, it also signals to the hacker where their weak spot was identified, providing them with a roadmap of what to strengthen in the next virus strain. In this way, ransomware is able to improve and become more and more secure as new strains are identified and decoded.

Golden and Dudley explain how during the COVID-19 pandemic, hackers preyed on our near complete dependency on computer systems that we have as a global society by targeting hospitals, and other vital medical institutions. By targeting such high demand networks, the hackers were able to place their ransoms incredibly high, as the systems were invaluable to the institutions attacked.

The Ransomware Hunting Team clearly delivers the stories of the creation and evolution of ransomware, giving the reader a comprehensive overview of the history of computer viruses, their creators, and the personal lives of those working for the team, as they balance their obsession with ridding the world of cybercrime with their jobs and families.

Dudley and Golden are both respected journalists, and their writing reflects their acclaimed careers. With the pacing of an action-packed thriller, The Ransomware Hunting Team is loaded with page-turning moments, including tense scenes of racing against the clock to save networks and high-stakes negotiations with Russian hackers. While being loaded with technical information, The Ransomware Hunting Team manages to come across as incredibly readable, with clear explanations allowing the reader to never feel left behind as the story progresses.

The Ransomware Hunting Team provides a comprehensive look into an increasingly dangerous opponent facing the world of cybersecurity. Every day as technology advances, it opens new opportunities for hackers to improve their viruses, feeding a never-ending loop of advancement, both on the side of ransomware hackers, and on the side of those trying to beat it. The Ransomware Hunting Team is a book that should not be overlooked by anyone who wishes to better understand the complex cyberworld we inhabit.

—Micah Cummins is a college student currently living in Greenville South Carolina.