ProPublica Reporter & Author Renee Dudley on Writing About the Hunters and the Hackers

In this week's episode of the Future of Cyber Risk podcast, David speaks to Renee Dudley, reporter at ProPublica and co-author of The Ransomware Hunting Team: A Band of Misfits' Improbable Crusade to Save the World from Cybercrime. Renee tells about how her investigative reporting focus took her to cybercrime and ransomware, and how in her research she met a "ransomware hunting team" of a dozen individuals who crack ransomware for victims and rarely ask for anything in return. She also talks about her investigation into companies who claim to help victims with ransoms but are actually scams and how individuals can protect themselves against a ransomware attack.

Topics discussed:

• How Renee got into covering cybersecurity, which was sparked by seeing how CISOs were frustrated about not getting funding from their board, and which eventually became a primary topic of her investigative reporting.
• How she researched and wrote The Ransomware Hunting Team, including the story of how she tracked down ransomware expert DemonSlay335 and learned about the independent threat hunting team made up of a dozen private researchers like him who help victims of ransomware.
• What the mindset and altruistic motivation is behind individuals who crack ransomware and save victims millions of dollars (and it’s not fame and fortune).
• How Renee investigated companies that offer assistance to those who have been impacted by ransomware, uncovering that while some are transparent and legit, some are scamming the victims that seek their help.
• What steps individuals can take to protect themselves against a ransomware attack, including having offline backups, setting up 2FA, and being wary of phishing emails.
• The similarities between the hunters and the hackers in terms of skills and motivation, including a mutual respect for each other, and how each team tries to recruit the other.