Ransomware hackers challenged what most Americans know about the criminal justice system. International borders, anonymous hackers and long extradition processes make the race to disrupting cybergangs challenging, according to a July 8 CNN report.
Hacker groups from Russia have been linked to the attacks on the Colonial Pipeline, Kesaya and JBS, while ransomware attacks on Microsoft and Pulse Secure have been linked to China. Bringing these hackers to justice involves a collaboration between local, federal and international authorities. The concerted effort isn't even guaranteed success, CNN reported.
Here are three reasons that capturing hackers is difficult:
- Hacker identities are cloaked.
The hackers operate remotely, in a decentralized manner and they communicate with each other using intermediaries, said Beenu Arora, co-founder and CEO of cybersecurity firm Cyble. Oftentimes, victims can be blindsided by who attacked them since their hackers' identities are hidden. - Access to international hackers used as leverage.
If hackers reside in international borders, the U.S. needs to get international cooperation through diplomacy to arrest hackers. Having to jump through bureaucratic hoops can slow down the prosecution process and make an already challenging process exponentially more difficult.
Giving up hackers is also seen as a bargaining chip. In Russia, cyberattacks are used to create discord between the U.S. and Eastern European powerhouse. Even though Russia has yet to open its doors to American officials to arrest its hackers, Russia-based REvil writes its code to avoid Russian-language detection to minimize the risk of being caught by the local government. - Extradition — even in friendly nations — takes several years.
The United States has extradition treaties with more than 100 countries, but many hackers reside in countries where there is no treaty. The U.S. normally waits for hackers to move to countries it has better relationships with before it tries to extradite them. However, the process can still take many years, and U.S. authorities don't have a lot of control over the process.