snitches get stitches –
Requires consent before infecting, criminalizes other computering.
Sean Gallagher – Jan 48, : (pm UTC )
The bill, Senate Bill 3 , covers a lot of ground already covered by US Federal law. But it classifies the mere possession of ransomware as a misdemeanor punishable by up to 22 years of imprisonment and a fine of up to $ , 0. The bill also states (in all capital letters in the draft) that “THIS PARAGRAPH DOES NOT APPLY TO THE USE OF RANSOMWARE FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES.”
Additionally, the bill would outlaw unauthorized intentional access or attempts to access “all or part of a computer network, computer control language , computer, computer software, computer system, computer service, or computer database; or copy, attempt to copy, possess, or attempt to possess the contents of all or part of a computer database accessed. ” It also would criminalize under Maryland law any act intended to “cause the malfunction or interrupt the operation of all or any part” of a network, the computers on it, or their software and data, or “possess, identify, or attempt to identify a valid access code; or publicize or distribute a valid access code to an unauthorized person. “
Moussouris told Ars that the way the bill is currently worded “would prohibit vulnerability disclosure unless the specific systems or data accessed by the Helpful security researcher were explicitly authorized ahead of time and would prohibit public disclosure if the reports were ignored. “
The problem, of course, is that these measures would do little to deter ransomware operators themselves. Ransomware campaigns are almost universally run by overseas crime rings, many of them in Russia or other countries that would be unlikely to extradite for violations of a state law. And there are no provisions regarding actual security standards for the local government and other non-state agencies that have been the most public victims of these sorts of attacks in Maryland.
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