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The Silk Road, founded by Ross Ulbricht in 2011, was a notorious darknet online marketplace. This platform rose to prominence by facilitating the exchange of illicit goods and services using cryptocurrency. The Silk Road exemplified the difficulties and complexities associated with the convergence of technology, law enforcement, and the evolution of cybercrime.

Under the pseudonym "Dread Pirate Roberts," Ross Ulbricht founded the Silk Road with the initial goal of creating an anonymous, decentralised marketplace where users could engage in transactions beyond the reach of traditional law enforcement. The platform ran on the Tor network, giving users complete anonymity by concealing both buyers' and sellers' identities.

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What is the Silk Road dark web?

The Silk Road was an online black market where users could buy and sell illicit goods anonymously. It operated via darknets, anonymous networks that can only be accessed through specialized software like Tor Browser. The content of darknets makes up the dark web - Silk Road was the first modern dark web marketplace.

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Silk Road operated via a hidden darknet feature in the anonymous Tor network. Accessed with an app, the Tor network allowed users to anonymously browse Silk Road without the threat of traffic monitoring. All transactions were conducted in cryptocurrency - namely Bitcoin - which further ensured anonymity.

The Silk Road defined its name based on the historical network of trade routes between Asia, the Middle East, East Africa, and Europe. And although the Silk Road hasn't operated for years, it laid the foundation for other darknet markets to follow. Today, the Silk Road is an important case study when analyzing the growth of other dark web markets.

Who created the Silk Road?

The Silk Road was founded in 2011 by Ross Ulbricht, who used the pseudonym "Dread Pirate Roberts." Ulbricht created the Silk Road to enable anonymous online commerce while protecting users' identities, transactions, and individual freedoms - this helped spur the trade of illicit goods. He operated the dark web marketplace until 2013.

In 2013, the FBI shut down the Silk Road website. That year, Ulbricht was arrested and charged with money laundering, computer hacking, conspiracy to traffic narcotics, and attempting to have at least five people killed because they threatened to reveal the truth behind the Silk Road.

Before sentencing, in a letter to the judge, Ulbricht stated his actions were a commitment to his libertarian ideals: He believed the Silk Road gave people the freedom to make their own choices. He was given five sentences, including two life sentences without parole - and he was fined $183 million.

How does the Silk Road work?

The Silk Road market operated on the Tor network, which masks your identity through IP address anonymity and encryption technology, while allowing you to find other websites on the dark web. Within the Tor network, customers could access the Silk Road, then anonymously connect with vendors to buy illegal goods with cryptocurrency.

The Tor Browser is downloaded via torproject.org. When the Silk Road was in operation, you could search for it on Tor and get redirected to a signup screen requiring a username and password.

Once access was granted, vendors and customers used the Silk Road to make transactions with cryptocurrency or via an escrow (a trusted third-party). To avoid detection, all purchased items were sent to alternative addresses, like PO boxes.

What could I buy on the Silk Road?

On the Silk Road, you could buy banned energy drinks, hacking services, digital goods (such as malware and pirated software), and forgeries (such as fake licenses and other illicit documents). Legal goods and services were also for sale (art, books, jewelry). But the most common and lucrative trade on the Silk Road was for drugs - by 2013, 70% of the products for sale on the Silk Road were drugs.

Like mainstream e-commerce platforms, Silk Road users could rate and review products and vendors. This helped promote reliable vendors and weed out the fraudsters.

When it opened, the Silk Road prohibited the sale of anything with the intent to "harm or defraud": child pornography, assasinations, or weapons. Offshoots of the Silk Road were less prohibitive. Along with drugs, other dark web marketplaces have offered cyber-arms, weapons, and counterfeit currency.

Stolen personal data - which can lead to identity theft - is also a big commodity. Run a dark web scan and you may be surprised to find your own personal data up for sale.

But the dark web is more than just shady online black markets. You can use trusted dark web search engines to find some helpful dark websites. You can also find secure email services, independent journalism platforms, and even the dark web Wiki.

When was the Silk Road shut down?

The Silk Road was shut down in 2013. Spearheaded by US Senator Charles Schumer, the DEA and Department of Justice conducted a lengthy investigation that led to the Silk Road's eventual shutdown - along with the arrest of founder Ross Ulbricht.

The FBI seized crypto wallets of Silk Road users and arrested Ulbricht, collecting millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin. The seizure of Bitcoin and arrest of Ulbricht were meant to send a clear message to all other cybercriminal enterprises.

Since 2013, other dark web marketplaces have taken over, and the proliferation of these services is largely due to the success of the Silk Road. It's the original inspiration for an extremely profitable underground global trade that continues today.

Is the Silk Road still active?

The dark web Silk Road is no longer active, but it established the template for other marketplaces to follow. Many of them use Tor for anonymous access, and conduct transactions through Bitcoin and escrow services. Some also have a rating system for vendors, just like the original Silk Road.

Long after the Silk Road marketplace was shut down, much of its proceeds were still purportedly missing. In 2020, Bitcoin blockchain verifiers spotted two transactions made from a Bitcoin address associated with the Silk Road.

Worth approximately $1 billion at the time, it was later revealed that the US Government made these transfers in a civil forfeiture action. According to a press release, the Bitcoin wallet belonged to "Individual X" who had stolen the Bitcoin by hacking the Silk Road.

Here are the fates of other dark web marketplaces that emerged in the wake of the Silk Road:

Silk Road 2.0: Run by the same administrators, this was a revamp of the original Silk Road. In 2014, the site's escrow accounts were compromised, resulting in the reported theft of $2.7 million worth of Bitcoin. Later that year, Blake Benthall (a.k.a. "Defcon," the alleged owner and operator of Silk Road 2.0) was arrested.

Utopia: Launched in 2014, Utopia was shut down after only 8 days, when undercover agents were able to buy large amounts of a variety of drugs. Utopia was used to trade drugs, weapons, stolen credit cards, and other illicit goods. Agents also seized around $610,900 in Bitcoin.

Black Goblin Market: Also launched in 2014, this marketplace was de-anonymized via a security oversight: Black Goblin would send confirmation to new users via email - with headers exposing the server's true German IP address and other details. The site was shut down soon after.

Dark web markets are notorious for selling a variety of illegal goods.
Whether you want to access dark web markets or simply browse anonymously online, using a VPN alongside the best privacy browsers like Tor - which is still available to access the dark web today - can help protect your privacy and security. Check out our guide on whether a VPN, proxy, or Tor is best.

Government efforts against dark web markets

Today, in the post-Silk Road era, many online black markets continue to thrive. As a billion dollar industry dealing in illicit goods, dark web markets are a great concern for governments. US agencies, like the FBI, are constantly working with international law enforcement agencies to stop the growth of dark web markets all over the globe.

Here are some successful government efforts against dark web markets:

Operation Onymous (2014): Involving 17 countries, this major operation targeted several dark web markets. Authorities shut down around 27 websites, including Silk Road 2.0, Cloud9, and Hydra - seizing $1 million in Bitcoin, along with €180,000 in cash, gold, silver, and drugs.

Operation Bayonet (2017): This multinational operation targeted the AlphaBay and Hansa dark web markets.Their shutdown ultimately led to the rise in popularity of other markets, like TradeRoute and Dream Market.

Operation SaboTor (2019): This multi-agency crackdown led to the arrest of 61 people and 50 dark web accounts. Executing 65 search warrants, law enforcement seized more than 299 kilograms of drugs, 51 firearms, and $7 million in Bitcoin, cash, and gold.

Dream Market (2019): One of the most popular dark web drug markets at the time, Dream Market specialized in narcotics and stolen data. Authorities set up a sting operation, leading to the arrest of drug dealers accused of selling methamphetamine and heroin.

Dark Market (2021): The largest dark web marketplace was brought down by an international operation led by German authorities. Vendors mainly sold drugs, counterfeit money, stolen credit card details, anonymous SIM cards, and malware. The bust seized more than €140 million in crypto.

Anonymous browsing with a VPN or other encryption services will help hide your online activity from your government, ISP, or other prying eyes.
Even if you aren't perusing darknet markets, true anonymous browsing will keep you safe from prying eyes - such as governments and your ISP. Our guide to private browsing is a start. From there, use encryption software and the best Google Chrome security and privacy extensions to shore up your security and privacy.

What is the biggest darknet market?

Silk Road was the biggest dark web market of its day. Today, there are more varieties of darknet markets - these new dark web markets are more likely to specialize in specific goods or a unique transaction system. Some imitate the Silk Road, while others find ways to innovate.

Darknet markets will exist as long as there remains supply and demand for illicit goods. Here are some of the biggest darknet marketplaces today:

AlphaBay: Taken down in 2017 during Operation Bayonet, AlphaBay was re-launched in 2021. This marketplace features an auction-style system similar to eBay. All transactions are made through a secure escrow system. Unlike most other darknet marketplaces, AlphaBay accepts other forms of cryptocurrencies in addition to Bitcoin.

VersusMarket: One of the largest "all-purpose" dark web markets, VersusMarket offers drugs along with a wide selection of counterfeit items, such as jewelry, gold, software, and carded items (acquired through illegal card purchases). VerusMarket is considered a community project and includes buyers in the development of the platform.

Vice City Market: This market prioritizes customer and vendor feedback to develop what it calls the best user experience. Vice City Market supposedly prides itself on excellent customer support and operational security. It also supports walletless purchases so customers don't need to deposit additional cryptocurrency in their crypto wallets.

ASAP Market: Previously known as ASEAN Market, this market primarily focuses on drugs. An account is not required to browse the selection, but you need to register to buy. One of the perks of ASAP Market is its system for identifying scammers and fake reviews.

Why are darknet markets so volatile?

Despite demand for legitimacy, the world of darknet markets is rife with shady characters, scams, and instability. The marketplaces are also a hotbed for cyberattacks, and the threat of law enforcement means they could be shut down at any time.

All of this contributes to the volatility and criminality of cyber black markets. Since the rise of dark web markets, scams and shutdowns have always been an issue, resulting in massive financial losses throughout the years.

Here are the biggest dark web market scams and shutdowns in history:

The Evolution Marketplace: At its peak, this dark web market was known for its reliability and security. So users were alarmed when the site abruptly went down in 2015. Eventually, it was discovered that the shutdown was an "exit scam," where the site's operators killed the website and stole approximately $12 million in escrowed Bitcoin.

The RealDeal: This marketplace specialized in selling malicious code and zero-day attacks. It was one of the many ambushed by a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack operation. The market owners discovered the attacker was collaborating with the owner of a rival - Mr. Nice Guy's Market - who also had plans to scam his users.

Nucleus: This sizable market went offline in 2016 after a dispute between moderators and a merchant. It was alleged that the merchant hacked Nucleus after getting banned from selling on the market. Nucleus shut down, while holding around 5,000 escrowed Bitcoin coins from customer accounts.

Trade Route: The major crackdown, Operation Onymous, diverted customers from other marketplaces and led to the rise of Trade Route. But after being hacked and extorted in 2017, this dark web marketplace shut down.

The general volatility of darknet markets has led to calls for further decentralization of transactions to protect both buyers and vendors. If cryptocurrency is held in a customer account on a darknet platform, it's always at risk if a site shuts down.

Commentators have suggested "multi-sig" crypto payments - requiring multiple keys to authorize a payment - and OpenBazaar, a fully-decentralized marketplace for e-commerce transactions.

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The Silk Road dark web launched in 2011. This guide explains what was sold on the Silk Road market and what happened to the dark website.

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Gamergate, a phrase coined in 2014, refers to a gaming community scandal involving a variety of problems, including ethics in gaming journalism, harassment, and discussions over identity and representation in video games. The debate started traction on social media channels which highlighted the problems that the gaming industry faced in addressing these concerns.

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Gamergate, online harassment campaign in 2014-15 that targeted women in the video game industry. The attacks were attributed largely to white male right-wing gamers who railed against the rise and influence of women and feminism in the industry. Gamergate served as a recruiting tool for the growing alt-right movement and helped spur the online "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory, which soon spawned the wider QAnon conspiracy movement.

The Gamergate campaign was sparked by the release in 2013 of Zoë Quinn's game Depression Quest. The game received acclaim from game critics and praise from mental health professionals, but it also spurred a backlash from a vocal minority in the online gaming community because its subject was depression. Although interactive fiction was among the oldest and most established genres in the history of video games, the text-driven interior monologue style of Quinn's game was disparaged as boring. In short, Depression Quest was no Call of Duty.

In August 2014 Depression Quest debuted to a much larger audience when it was released on Steam, one of the world's largest PC gaming distribution platforms. Days later, a former boyfriend of Quinn's wrote a long post on the Penny Arcade and Something Awful forums that accused her of deceptive and manipulative behaviour during their relationship. Although both sites hastily removed the posts, the contents were copied by users on the anonymous forum 4chan. 4chan posters crafted a narrative that accused Quinn of having had a physical relationship with a journalist in order to obtain a positive review of her game and to advance her career. Although the accusations were proved false, Quinn became the focus of an online sexual harassment campaign, which included threats of rape and death, on sites such as Reddit and 4chan. After the latter forum banned further discussion of Gamergate, commentary on the controversy migrated to 8chan (later 8kun).

The online campaign was initially called "Quinnspiracy" before the hashtag #Gamergate was coined by conservative actor Adam Baldwin on Twitter on August 27, 2014. Right-wing columnist Milo Yiannopoulos popularized the hashtag on the Breitbart News site, and he soon became one of the most visible faces of both Gamergate and the broader anti-feminist movement. Steve Bannon's Breitbart would do much to spread awareness of Gamergate, and Bannon and Yiannopoulos would use that platform to draw Gamergate supporters into the larger alt-right movement.

Gamergate widened its focus to target other prominent women in the gaming community, including Jenn Frank, who wrote about gaming for The Guardian and other publications; Anita Sarkeesian, a feminist blogger and critic of the portrayal of women in video games; and Brianna Wu, an independent video game developer and blogger. These women, who were labeled "social justice warriors" in Internet forums, were threatened online with physical harm. "Next time she shows up at a conference," read one anonymous post on Quinn, "we...give her a crippling injury that's never going to fully heal." When Sarkeesian was scheduled to speak at Utah State University in October 2014, the school was threatened with a massacre of women on campus. "I have at my disposal a semi-automatic rifle, multiple pistols, and a collection of pipe bombs," read the threat. One Twitter account targeting Wu was named "Death to Brianna."

In addition to being subjected to physical threats, the women were doxxed (personal information, such as their home addresses and phone numbers, was made public online). That common online trolling behaviour caused Quinn to leave her home and cancel public appearances. Several people who spoke out against Gamergate were targets of "swatting," wherein a hoax 911 call, typically describing an especially hazardous ongoing crime, such as a hostage situation, is made in an attempt to send a heavily armed police force to the target's address. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation looked into the threats but later closed the investigation without prosecuting anyone. Wu and her family offered an $11,000 reward for information leading to a conviction. Others, including Internet pioneer and software engineer Marc Andreessen, also offered rewards.

As the Gamergate controversy continued, major tech companies, including Intel, temporarily pulled their ads from some gaming sites. The harassment and discussions kept raging on Twitter and other social media platforms. 8chan continued to host the derogatory messages and became heavily associated with extreme-right groups. Participants in the online forums framed attempts to curtail their discussions as an infringement of their free speech rights and legitimate concerns over ethics in video game journalism.

In 2015 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Elonis v. United States that cyber harassment alone does not qualify as a punishable crime. Proof of intent to commit a crime is necessary. However, critics of Gamergate have called such anti-woman harassment campaigns a form of misogynistic terrorism and have argued that such threats should be prosecuted under existing terrorism laws. A significant portion of the male online gaming community has been labeled "toxic" and "poisonous," and its actions have been described as rooted in deep fears about women gaining increasing control in the gaming industry.

The women targeted in Gamergate have continued to report harassment and ongoing frustration at the lack of action taken against the harassers, and Wu has said that she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of Gamergate. Some observers, however, believe that the gaming industry has become more diverse and open to women since the harassment campaign began.

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Gamergate, online harassment campaign in 2014-15 that targeted women in the video game industry. The attacks were attributed largely to white male right-wing gamers who railed against the rise and influence of women and feminism in the industry. Gamergate served as a recruiting tool for the growing

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What It Feels Like to Be a Gamergate Target

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Zoe Quinn is sitting uncomfortably on a plastic chair, in a small empty room upstairs from the GameCity festival in Nottingham. Outside, above the jagged rows of Victorian shops and houses, the sky is slate grey and a gentle rain has started to fall. Quinn's bright clothes and dyed red and orange hair are a stark contrast to the gloom beyond the window. "I like the weather in England," she says absentmindedly.

Quinn is in the UK to talk about her work as a games designer, but most people at the event have come to know her as patient zero of Gamergate, the vociferous video game "protest movement" that exploded across the internet in August. Leaderless and chaotic, this ragtag community of self-identifying "hardcore" gamers sees its culture under threat from insidious outsiders - usually feminists and academics - who are challenging the industry on its sometimes questionable representation of violence, minorities and gender. Gamergate wants video games to be left alone.

But proponents of this movement say their key target is games journalism. Gamergate complains about cronyism between certain writers and developers and has taken exception to the progressive sociopolitical leanings of news sources such as Polygon and Rock, Paper, Shotgun. It has even organised mass email campaigns asking major corporations to pull adverts from targeted sites.

The undercurrent, however, has always been darkly misogynistic. The victims of Gamergate's ire have mostly been female developers, academics and writers. It was an alleged relationship between Zoe Quinn and a prominent games journalist that kickstarted the whole furore this summer. Quinn and several other women have since had to flee their homes after death and rape threats - mostly for pointing out that the games industry has a problem with representing women.

When I speak to her, Quinn has been in the UK for four days. She doesn't know where she's going next. She's been staying on friends' couches, at hotels. There is no destination.

"How could I go back to my home?" she asks. "I have people online bragging about putting dead animals through my mailbox. I've got some asshole in California who I've never talked to hiring a private investigator to stalk me. What am I going to do - go home and just wait until someone makes good on their threats? I'm scared that what it's going to take to stop this is the death of one of the women who's been targeted."

She is teary and shaking as she talks, but through it all she's also funny and engaging. Despite the trauma she has been through, she still loves games.

Zoe Quinn: 'I'm scared that it's going to take the death of a woman to stop this' Photograph: BBC

"I grew up in a super small town in upstate New York; my nearest neighbour was really far away," she says. "A friend of the family gave me a Game Boy when I was very little, and it was amazing. I used to run around the woods pretending to be Samus Aran [from the game Metroid], using sticks as swords, imagining I was beating up aliens."

When Quinn was 12, her dad bought her a 3DO console at a garage sale and she discovered games such as Night Trap and Star Control 2. "Dad knew I was a little nerd," she says. "I'd been stealing Nintendo Power magazines from the library. I still feel bad about that. I just loved those long screenshots of a whole level, where you could see all the items and everything - I was so vividly in love with those games."

Through her teens, she knew she wanted to do something creative, but didn't know what. She wrote "terrible" science fiction stories ("in gel-pen!") and later started taking photographs. She was offered a photography job in Toronto, but when she got there, the position fell through. She stuck around and met a few people from the city's indie game development scene.

"It was like coming home," she says. "I thought, this is what I want to do for ever. Game development combines all this disparate art stuff I'd been doing into one single thing that I could use to say very specific stuff. My brain breaks everything down into systems - and I realised, ah, these are game mechanics! I can communicate now!"

She started using the intuitive development package Stencyl, but it was in beta and kept crashing, so she taught herself Flash. "I made the silliest point-and-click ever," she laughs. "I go back now and think, what was I doing? I never went to college or anything, I have no formal training, I just made my own way into programming."

Quinn designs mostly short comedy games; little sketches about life, love and sadness. Realistic Relationship Simulator, for example, is about holding in a fart at the beginning of a love affair until you feel comfortable enough with the other person to let it out. "I make really dumb games based on Twitter jokes," she says during a discussion with fellow designer Christos Reid. "I notice funny things, it tends to be autobiographical by accident."

Her work typifies the emerging independent game development scene, which has prospered in the age of digital distribution. Small teams and even lone programmers are now able to produce offbeat and idiosyncratic games and sell them online to a growing global audience. It means that alongside the mainstream hits we see in high street stores, there are experimental titles such as the border control simulator Papers, Please, and the heart-wrenching That Dragon, Cancer, which is about one family's struggle with the disease. Like many other indies, Quinn slowly built up a community around her games. But then one project changed everything.

The year after arriving in Toronto, Zoe started working on an interactive novel named Depression Quest about her own struggles with the condition. She made a trailer the day her job was canned and then began writing, giving herself a tight deadline to ensure she'd finish it. The game puts players into the role of a depression sufferer, trying to keep hold of a job and a relationship, seeking therapy, taking medication. Released as a browser game in February 2013, it gained traction very quickly.

"A lot of it was because of how accessible I made it," says Quinn. "You didn't have to download it, you could send it as a link to someone. The control system was very simple - I wanted to make sure that, if there was someone it could help who doesn't know how to use a two-stick controller or doesn't want to download something, it was still available ... it was about removing the barriers. I asked very little of the player other than time."

With interest growing, and positive press coming in, she put the game on Greenlight, the community review section of the popular gaming download site Steam - a sort of PC version of the Apple app store. If Depression Quest was approved for inclusion on the service, it would open up a new audience of millions.

A typical Gamergate-related meme

But very quickly it became obvious that being a woman and setting out to make quirky semi-autobiographical games was going to make her a target, and a subset of Steam users took exception to this odd outsider infiltrating their sanctum. In an interview with Vice media at the time, Quinn spoke about receiving harassing phone calls and rape threats. "I started getting stuff sent to my email: 'Oh I saw your game on Greenlight and I hope you kill yourself.'"

She withdrew the game, only to resubmit later, more determined. This time, it was approved by the Steam Greenlight community, but the hate never stopped. Looking back, it's obvious how starkly premonitory this all was. The tinder for Gamergate had been there for months. All it needed was a lit match.

Then, in August, Quinn's ex-boyfriend, Eron Gjoni, uploaded a blog post about their breakup. He alleged she had cheated on him several times, mentioning her relationship with a games writer for the US gaming site Kotaku, Nathan Grayson. The post was linked to on the internet chat site 4Chan, a popular hangout out for gamers; some saw a confirmation of their fears about games industry collusion and corruption, others a chance to bully another female game developer. "It was very precise and deliberate," says Quinn about Gjoni's blog post. "I fully believe it was there to ruin my life. As soon as it hit 4Chan, they went into 'get this bitch' mode. They started doxxing me immediately, asking who had hacking skills."

Doxxing, or the public posting of a person's contact details on social media, has become a favoured method of online intimidation. Soon Quinn's home address, as well as personal photos, were all over the internet. The situation erupted. There were allegations that she had slept with Grayson in order to secure a favourable review for Depression Quest - though he never actually reviewed the game. A small but vocal minority harbouring a simmering resentment towards certain games writers and their relationships with developers bubbled over. There was a growing rabble mentality. A fury.

On 25 August, media critic Anita Sarkeesian released the latest online video instalment of her controversial Tropes vs Women in video games series, examining the objectification of female characters in many hit titles. It's not an uncommon theme, and it reflects an unease many have with the mainstream games industry. Blockbuster titles like Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto and Hitman revel in depictions of weaponised slaughter and sexual violence; even confirmed fans see elements of these highly marketed experiences as problematic. These games are often consumed like misogynistic rap music, as a guilty adult pleasure.

Nevertheless, the launch of Sarkeesian's video reignited a nonsensical conspiracy that feminist academics were seeking to control and censor games, instead of merely exploring them. The anger directed at Quinn and Sarkeesian merged and intensified.

Somehow Hollywood actor Adam Baldwin got involved, tweeting in support of enraged gamers, ostensibly asking questions about journalistic integrity. He penned the hashtag #GamerGate and linked to videos critical of Quinn. The loose affiliation of hardcore gamers suddenly transmogrified into a seething pressure group. In the midst of it all, Quinn's life evaporated.

Gamergate continued to suck in more people - some trying to reinvent its origins to make the campaign seem more credible, and some clinging to it as a way of expressing concerns about games journalism, seemingly without comprehending Gamergate's roots in abuse and harassment. The size and demographic of the group is hard to measure as its members are anonymous and its organisation decentralised. However, the focus on the US games industry suggests that most active supporters are in North America, while the age of active members seems to range from the stereotypical teenagers hiding away in their bedrooms, to mature gamers with wives and families.

I ask Quinn, what about those people who have found Gamergate to be a supportive community, who genuinely do see it as about journalistic ethics?

"No!" she says. "I have 16 gigabytes of evidence, I've got massive amounts of screen grabs. But proof doesn't matter, logic doesn't matter - the fact that the review they're propping up as the excuse for their crusade doesn't exist and has never existed, that does not matter - it still gets thrown at me constantly.

"People can just make shit up and you can't debunk it, they'll just replay it. This is used to terrorise my family and go after my boyfriend, to ruin his life too for the crime of being associated with me. Now tell me it's about ethics in games journalism."

I realise she is shaking not in fear, but in anger. She has carried this for months. "I was hoping no one would buy into that ethics reinvention because it's so very transparent," she says. "It's like a cardboard prop of a city - it looks like a city, but if you touch it, it all falls over. And now people who do care about ethics in journalism are part of my ex's revenge on me! Goddamn celebrities and corporations have weighed in on attempts to destroy my life. I don't think there's a handbook on how to deal with a hate group coming out of a blog post by your ex. It would be like the Tea party starting over a shitty relationship."

She is withering too about #notyourshield, the hashtag supposedly for women and people from minorities to express support for Gamergate, which is characterised as populated by entitled white men. "It's all based on utter stupidity," she explodes. "Every single thing they've done has been doublespeak, everything they've done has been harmful and toxic. Not a single positive thing has come out of Gamergate - all it's done is ruin people's lives. It's disgusting.

A rape threat made to Brianna Wu this October

"I am losing patience with people who say, 'maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle'. Really? Who sees somebody burning down a house and says, 'maybe we should get the arsonist's opinion'? Fuck you."

Partly, what Quinn's experience says is that, in the games culture orthodoxy, women don't get to be ambiguous, weird and idiosyncratic - or at least they don't get to do all that and be visible and loud. The pervading social media narrative forces all women who enter this arena into prescribed roles: you get to be a professional victim or a hero. Quinn chose neither of those - she wanted to make quirky games and just get by. The same has happened with Sarkeesian, as well as game developer Brianna Wu, actress Felicia Day and writer Jenn Frank - high-profile games industry women, drawn into the Gamergate vortex of abuse and harassment, their lives reconstructed into mega-bitch or martyr archetypes.

Quinn gets many messages of support, she says, but they place her under unbearable pressure. "I never wanted this many eyes on me - I just wanted to make fun stuff in relative peace. It's become this huge thing and there's no going back from it. I can't move on because that means giving up the thing I love. It means giving in. The takeaway from Gamergate can't become that if you harass someone for long enough they'll leave. Even though my heart's not fully in it, I don't feel like I have another choice that I can live with."

In August, Quinn left her home, and hasn't been back. Sarkeesian fled her home too, and now cannot appear at events without receiving death threats. Gamergate followers either deny culpability or deny that it's really happening; many are disgusted by the abuse, or fall victim themselves. But the forums they frequent bristle with hate-speak and attract abusers happy to ruin lives for momentary kudos; and this is all happening in the shadow of the Gamergate banner.

Outside of the maelstrom, industry watchers try to remain pragmatic. It's arguably true that games journalism, a small arm of the wider entertainment journalism sector, needs to mature; it needs to make clear codes of conduct and to remain transparent to readers. But some of the fears driving Gamergate - that a feminist cabal is attempting to infiltrate and ruin games - are bizarre and laughable.

The movement claims to be anti-censorship and anti-political, but then it enthusiastically uses the tactics of reactionary moral campaigners, including hassling corporations into dropping advertising from sites that support controversial writers. They proclaim to support free expression, yet have sought to restrict opposing voices.

Many games sites have been intimidated into staying silent - and Quinn is convinced this allowed things to escalate. "While everyone else was being quiet, I had to deal with it myself," she says. "I had to sit in a 'raid' [internet chat] room for three weeks collecting the hows and whys of what happened, people talking about how to smokescreen it, how to pull other people in, about how to make counter-arguments - all the while, they were targeting members of my family and sending naked pictures of me to my dad."

But Quinn is threading her life back together. She's working on several projects, including a full-motion video adventure, partially inspired by the retro gaming classic Night Trap. Under the working title Camp's Not Dead, it's a homage to trashy B-movies - she's even managed to rope in one of the actors from infamous flop The Room to star. "I also have an idea for a graphic novel that deals with the very small moments from the last few months," she says. "Like having to explain to a detective how Adam Baldwin got involved with your sex life."

And in Nottingham, at the GameCity festival, she was warm, funny and entertaining, joking with fellow game designers Ed Stern and Chris Avellone in a talk about the writing process; taking part in a hilarious live text adventure night; sharing stories about her games, especially Depression Quest. "I met this one kid at IndieCade," she says during her talk with Reid. "He said, 'I fell out with my father over the fact that he lives with depression and I didn't talk to him for seven years. We sat down and played your game and now we're talking and things are getting better.'

"The fact that we can do something like that with a game is so powerful. To think my little thing helped anyone. Nothing I say can express what that means to me. The people who feel that way - they're the ones who make me want to do all this again."

HOW THE SAGA UNFOLDED

February 2013 Zoe Quinn releases Depression Quest independently, for the first time.

19 March 2014 The Game Developers Choice awards receive bomb threats: the aggressors say they will explode a bomb if the organisers go ahead with giving Anita Sarkeesian an award. She is given the award and the threat proves empty. Police search the building beforehand yet find nothing.

11 August 2014 Depression Quest, the game developed and created by Quinn, Patrick Lindsey and Isaac Schankler, is debuted on Steampowered.com, the same day as Robin Williams's suicide is announced.

16 August 2014 Quinn's ex-boyfriend, Eron Gjoni, posts a defamatory blog post alleging that Nathan Grayson, a games journalist, had an affair with Quinn, leading to positive reviews from the magazine Kotaku.

19 August 2014 Quinn is "doxxed" anonymously - this is where someone's address, bank details, telephone numbers are published on the internet. It is hard to trace the culprits, and leads to harassment and very real threats.

27 August 2014 Sarkeesian becomes embroiled after she posts a new episode of the "Women as Background Decoration, part 2" series online, commenting on sexism in gaming.

27 August 2014 As a response to the criticism of women in the gaming world, actor Adam Baldwin coins the hashtag #GamerGate.

15 September 2014: Julian Assange tweets using #GamerGate after an "Ask Me Anything" discussion on Reddit is interrupted with questions about the topic.

Late September, early October 2014 An online movement, called "Operation Disrespectful Nod", begins to target companies that advertise on gaming sites that have published criticisms of sexism within the industry.

1 October 2014 Online gaming website Gamasutra tweets: "Yes, our partners at @intel were flooded with complaints over a recent opinion piece, and they did pull an ad campaign."

3 October 2014 Intel publishes a statement online claiming: "We recognise that our action inadvertently created a perception that we are somehow taking sides in an increasingly bitter debate in the gaming community. That was not our intent, and that is not the case".

9 October 2014 Game developer Brianna Wu shares an image on Twitter which mocks #GamerGate. It is met with overwhelming negativity.

10 October 2014 As a result, Wu too is "doxxed" and her private details are published on the forum 8chan. After numerous threats online, including death threats, Wu and her husband contact police and flee their home.

14 October 2014 Sarkeesian pulls out of a talk at Utah State University after several terrorist threats are received, one referring to the 1989 massacre at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique. The university is unable to guarantee Sarkeesian's safety, and she pulls out.

31 October 2014 Wu creates a fund to offer legal support to those in the games industry who are victims of online harassment. She offers a reward of $11,000 for information on those responsible for her death threats.
Luisa Le Voguer Couyet

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Zoe Quinn: 'All Gamergate has done is ruin people's lives'

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The first target of the controversial Gamergate campaign, Zoe Quinn tells how death threats, hate mail and misogyny became the online smash of the summer

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Gamergate was sparked by charges of unethical practises in game journalism. certain critics claimed that certain journalists had inappropriate associations with game creators, jeopardising the quality of their reviews. This sparked worries about conflicts of interest and the necessity for the sector to have transparent ethical standards. Calls for reform and increased responsibility were needed, and they emphasised the need of maintaining integrity in order to develop confidence among players.

Despite its origins in ethical concerns, Gamergate swiftly deteriorated into a poisonous online movement which was characterised by harassment and abuse, primarily directed at women in the gaming industry. Female celebrities, especially game creators and critics, have become the principal targets of online harassment, doxxing, and threats.

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The broader debate regarding identity and representation in video games was another component of the Gamergate issue. Critics said that the industry needs to be more inclusive, with gender, racism, and sexual orientation issues addressed in game narratives and character design. This issue sparked a broader discussion among gamers about the significance of varied and inclusive storytelling.

The Gamergate scandal had a long-lasting impact on the gaming community. It exposed the industry's tones of misogyny and harassment, thus emphasising the importance of addressing these concerns. The incident also sparked debate on diversity and representation in games, resulting in beneficial industry developments such as increasing attempts to create more inclusive content.

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Video game developers have always sought to "find the fun" for their audiences and to provide players with exciting worlds to escape to. However, the cost of "finding the fun" was highlighted in 2014 when women in the games industry attempted to expose the misogyny in some games and in their communities.

In response, some members of the gamer community lashed out. In what became known as the GamerGate controversy, predominantly male activists sought to intimidate women in the industry with death threats and rape threats. These gamers expressed a desire to isolate the world of gaming from broader social mores.

GamerGate was a low point for the gaming world, seemingly confirming yet another poor stereotype. But in the eight years since GamerGate, the games industry has transformed. As game developers have become more diverse, so too have the people who play their games.

The things developers and players care about have changed too, heralding a new era of "values-conscious games" which explore a variety of topics, such as empathy, diversity and wellbeing. These are proving increasingly popular with existing and newfound audiences.

The gaming landscape has changed dramatically since 2014. Reports of violent video games causing real-world violent behaviour have been found to be greatly exaggerated.

Meanwhile, gaming showcases such as Wholesome Direct have grown rapidly, providing a platform for hundreds of "thoughtful, uplifting and compassionate" games that focus on " cosiness " rather than competition.

Read more: Why do we keep having debates about video-game violence?

" Walking simulators" are a genre of game that focuses heavily on stories that unfold as characters walk around, with more emphasis on atmosphere and artistry than exciting gameplay. Games in the genre had previously been regarded as " notgames ", or games that value creativity over conventional game design, but their critical and commercial success challenges the notion of what games can be and shows that what players want from their games may be changing.

The ongoing success of Fortnite and Call of Duty, which are fairly traditional shooter games, demonstrates that "fun" is still alive and well in video games and that old gameplay formulas still appeal to many gamers. But it was Animal Crossing, where players plant trees and build homes on an island, that became known as the game of the pandemic by emphasising the importance of friendship and compassion.

Many popular games now foster a similar message, even if they also feature weapons and combat. The Last of Us: Part II, a game about the aftermath of a zombie pandemic, highlighted gay and trans characters and storylines. It sold 10 million copies.

Death Stranding, in which players traverse a post-apocalyptic America, focuses on the importance of connection. Life is Strange: True Colours, the latest in a game series in which teenagers discover and harness supernatural abilities, has even made a superpower out of empathy.

Values-conscious gaming

The notion of games being used as vehicles for good is nothing new. Games For Good, which aims to harness gaming's popularity to achieve social good, was founded in 1998. However, in recent years, the ways in which games can achieve this have expanded significantly.

It's not unusual to hear gamers state that a game fostered their empathy for a cause, encouraged them to get more active, or even changed their lives by approaching issues that they value in a uniquely immersive way. This is becoming even more important as the gaming community, almost half of whom are now women, continues to evolve.

Read more: Debunking one of the biggest stereotypes about women in the gaming community

Values-conscious game design is a growing field in academia that aims to satisfy the demands of this evolving audience. The field suggests that a focus on values really could help enable games to both "do good" and do well.

Values-conscious games aim to make people reflect on the content of the games they play, ask questions about their own lives, and examine their biases. Players have claimed that The Walking Dead, a zombie game based around moral decision-making such as whether to save a character or escape, was more engaging because it encouraged them to reflect on their choices and actions.

Some players expressly seek to challenge their own values through " dark play ", replaying a decision-making game in order to make different choices that explore difficult topics such as sexuality, power dynamics and societal taboos.

Changing values affects game developers too. As the average age of male game developers has increased, more games have come to explore the father-child relationship. Many developers also take part in " game jams ", which encourage them to tell their personal stories through games.

More importantly, developers from different backgrounds and with different perspectives now have a seat at the table. More women, nonbinary, genderqueer and transgender people are making games, with surveys finding that these made up 38% of developers in 2021 compared to 24% in 2014.

This increased diversity has led to game-based retellings of developers' personal experiences, such as Nina Freeman's Cibele, which details her first sexual relationship, or Zoe Quinn's Depression Quest, a game inspired by her own lived experience of mental health issues.

Games for good

While some developers bristle when their work is classified as just another "empathy game", it is nevertheless heartening to see how values-conscious games are meaningfully affecting the lives of their players. Players of Depression Quest, for example, cite the game as the reason they sought help for their struggles.

Positive outcomes can also come from the most unexpected of sources: Tetris has been shown to reduce flashbacks of traumatic memories, Bejewelled may reduce depressive symptoms and stress, and Pac-Man can help autistic children build social skills.

Read more: Five digital games to help your child's development

It's clear that values-conscious gaming is not here to take the "fun" out of video games or to fan the flames of GamerGate. Instead, by presenting games as a medium for exploring the important things in our lives, value-conscious games provide a valuable opportunity for new demographics of developers to start making games, and new demographics of players to start playing them.

In 2022, games don't just have to value fun. They can value empathy, mental health and an array of diverse and inclusive stories, among other things. The trend since GamerGate suggests a hunger for games that challenge players in fresh, new ways and speak to things that players care about. I, for one, can't wait to play what's coming next.

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How 'GamerGate' led the gaming industry to embrace more diverse and caring values

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The games industry is evolving with the changing values of its players.

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Gamergate was a multifaceted and complex controversy that began as a call for ethical reform in gaming journalism but devolved into a platform for online harassment and abuse. Whilst the ethical concerns raised were valid and prompted important discussions, the movement's negative and harmful aspects cannot be ignored. The fallout from Gamergate proves to shape ongoing discussions about ethics, inclusivity, and the culture of the gaming community and aims to set a precedent to improving the culture within.

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The main purpose of the Silk Road was to facilitate the trade in illegal goods, such as drugs, fake documents, and hacking tools. In addition, the marketplace included discussion boards where users could exchange information about these activities. Because it was decentralised and pseudonymous, Bitcoin was the main currency used on the Silk Road which provided an extra degree of anonymity.

Despite its best efforts to stay hidden, law enforcement eventually became aware of the Silk Road. Ulbricht was taken into custody by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in October 2013, after the Silk Road was effectively shut down. The Ulbricht case brought attention to the difficulties law enforcement faces in stopping illicit activity on the darknet and sparked debate about how it should be regulated.

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Data security tools make data loss prevention more efficient

As businesses navigate the complexities of modern-day cybersecurity initiatives, data loss prevention (DLP) software is the frontline defense against potential data breaches and exfiltration. DLP solutions allow organizations to detect, react to and prevent data leakage or misuse of sensitive...

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How the Silk Road Affair Changed Law Enforcement

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Shutting down The Silk Road set the stage for future action against darknet marketplaces forever. Here's how the saga unfolded.

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The closing of the Silk Road was a major turning point in the ongoing war on cybercrime. It emphasised how adaptable criminal organisations are at using technology for illicit purposes and the necessity of creative law enforcement tactics to thwart their efforts. The prosecution of Ross Ulbricht also sparked discussions about the limits of law and morality when it comes to dealing with cybercrime.

Even though the Silk Road was shut down, the idea of darknet markets persisted. Rather, it signalled the start of a disagreement between law enforcement and people involved in illegal online activity. As the Silk Road disappeared, new markets sprang up to take its place, which highlighted the difficulties in fighting cybercrime due to the nature of it.

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An important chapter in the history of cybercrime is the Silk Road saga, which highlights the intricate relationship between technology, anonymity, and illicit activity on the internet. Law enforcement won when the Silk Road was shut down, but it also served as a sobering reminder of the difficulties brought on by the darknet's covert nature. Discussions about digital privacy, online security, and the ongoing fight against illicit activity in the digital sphere are all influenced by the legacy of the Silk Road.

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The 1999 release of the Melissa virus signalled a dramatic shift in computer security by highlighting the possible danger of macro-based malware. The Melissa virus was named by David L. Smith. The virus was sent via email systems, which caused disruption and furthering the weaknesses of the early internet.

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The virus was created to take advantage of flaws in Microsoft Word and Outlook. Word documents that were infected and sent as email attachments allowed the virus to spread across platforms and devices rapidly. The malicious document would automatically send itself to the first 50 email addresses in the victim's Microsoft Outlook contacts when the recipient opened it. The widespread of the virus was facilitated by automated and quick distribution technique that was a foreign concept during the early rise of the internet.

It facilitated the virus's spread by turning off Microsoft Word's macro security settings. The consequences of infection were furthered by the idea that the compromised documents frequently contained passwords for adult websites. This caused a halt on the network and system malfunctions which therefore inconvenienced users.

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David L. Smith was detained in 1999 and entered a guilty plea to counts related to the development and dissemination of the virus. This incident marked one of the first times someone was prosecuted for creating malicious software. The events were followed by emphasis on the seriousness of cybercrimes which were further conveyed by Smith's arrest and subsequent prosecution. This also set legal precedents for similar cases involving malware developers in the future.

The Melissa virus acted as a warning to the general public and the cybersecurity community. It brought attention to the need for better security procedures and sparked the creation of antivirus programmes that could find and stop malware with a macro component before it spread. In response, Microsoft improved the Office suite's security features.

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A new breed of malware that was based on macros and took advantage of flaws in widely used software was preceded by the Melissa virus. Based on the knowledge gained from Melissa, later attacks used comparable techniques to spread quickly via email networks. In the face of changing cyberthreats, these incidents highlighted the continued need for alertness and flexible security measures.

The Melissa virus was a watershed moment in computer security history, exposing the potential for rapid and widespread damage caused by macro-based malware. The incident prompted significant advances in cybersecurity practises, such as the creation of antivirus tools and the inclusion of more robust security features in widely used software. Melissa's legacy reminds us of the ongoing cat-and-mouse game between cybersecurity professionals and malicious actors, emphasising the importance of taking proactive measures to mitigate the risks posed by evolving cyber threats.

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How the Melissa Virus Changed the Internet

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It was March 26, 1999. People were still adjusting to using email on a regular basis, and Microsoft Outlook had only been around for a few years. A man named David L. Smith decided to capitalize on the confusion surrounding the internet and email when he created the first successful email-aware comp…

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The virus that changed the internet: Melissa virus explained | NordVPN

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The May 2017 "WannaCry" ransomware attack was a global cybersecurity incident that affected hundreds of thousands of computers in over 150 countries. This massive cyberattack exploited a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows operating systems, specifically targeting systems that had not been updated with Microsoft's security patch.

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WANNACRY: Earth's Deadliest [Computer] Viruses

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WannaCry spread via a worm-like mechanism that enabled it to move laterally across networks.

The attack primarily targeted organisations and businesses, causing critical infrastructure such as healthcare systems, telecommunications, and transportation to be disrupted.

The ransomware took advantage of a Windows vulnerability known as EternalBlue, which was part of a collection of hacking tools allegedly developed by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) and later leaked by a hacking group known as the Shadow Brokers.

WannaCry encrypted files on the computer and displayed a ransom message demanding payment in Bitcoin in exchange for the decryption key once a system was infected.

The attack demanded a small payment, but its scope and impact drew widespread attention.

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The rapid spread of WannaCry impacted a variety of industries, disrupting critical services such as healthcare facilities, where some systems were rendered inoperable.

Data loss and financial damages were reported for government agencies, businesses, and individuals.

The magnitude of the WannaCry attack prompted a global response. Governments, cybersecurity firms, and law enforcement agencies worked together to investigate and mitigate the impact of the incident.

To prevent further exploitation of the vulnerability, Microsoft issued emergency security patches for unsupported versions of its operating systems.

While the ransomware attack spread globally, identifying a specific individual or group was difficult. Some reports allegedly blamed North Korean hackers, while others mentioned criminal organisations.

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WannaCry Ransomware | What Is The WannaCry Ransomware Attack?

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WannaCry ransomware is a crypto ransomware worm that attacks Windows PCs. Learn in detail about what WannaCry ransomware is, how WannaCry ransomware works and get helpful tips on how to protect against it.

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The WannaCry attack underscored the significance of timely software updates and patch management.

It emphasised the importance of international cooperation in combating cyber threats, as well as the potential risks associated with the spread of hacking tools.

WannaCry's global impact raised awareness of cybersecurity threats, leading to improvements in security practises and policies.

To prevent future attacks, organisations and individuals became more vigilant about updating their systems and implementing robust cybersecurity measures.

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The WannaCry ransomware attack served as a wake-up call to the vulnerabilities present in interconnected digital systems, as well as the potential for widespread cyber-threat consequences. It emphasised the significance of proactive cybersecurity measures, international collaboration, and public awareness in reducing the risks posed by ransomware and other malicious cyber activities.

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Is your computer vulnerable to attack from WannaCry ransomware? Read on to find out as we explore all there is to know about the WannaCry ransomware attack.

In this article, you will learn:

What WannaCry ransomware is

How the WannaCry ransomware attack worked

The impact of the WannaCry ransomware attack

How to protect your computer from ransomware

WannaCry ransomware explained

WannaCry is an example of crypto ransomware, a type of malicious software (malware) used by cybercriminals to extort money.

Ransomware does this by either encrypting valuable files, so you are unable to read them, or by locking you out of your computer, so you are not able to use it.

Ransomware that uses encryption is called crypto ransomware. The type that locks you out of your computer is called locker ransomware.

Like other types of crypto-ransomware, WannaCry takes your data hostage, promising to return it if you pay a ransom.

WannaCry targets computers using Microsoft Windows as an operating system. It encrypts data and demands payment of a ransom in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin for its return.

What was the WannaCry ransomware attack?

The WannaCry ransomware attack was a global epidemic that took place in May 2017.

This ransomware attack spread through computers operating Microsoft Windows. User's files were held hostage, and a Bitcoin ransom was demanded for their return.

Were it not for the continued use of outdated computer systems and poor education around the need to update software, the damage caused by this attack could have been avoided.

How does a WannaCry attack work?

The cybercriminals responsible for the attack took advantage of a weakness in the Microsoft Windows operating system using a hack that was allegedly developed by the United States National Security Agency.

Known as EternalBlue, this hack was made public by a group of hackers called the Shadow Brokers before the WannaCry attack.

Microsoft released a security patch which protected user's systems against this exploit almost two months before the WannaCry ransomware attack began. Unfortunately, many individuals and organizations do not regularly update their operating systems and so were left exposed to the attack.

Those that had not run a Microsoft Windows update before the attack did not benefit from the patch and the vulnerability exploited by EternalBlue left them open to attack.

When it first happened, people assumed that the WannaCry ransomware attack had initially spread through a phishing campaign (a phishing campaign is where spam emails with infected links or attachments lure users to download malware). However, EternalBlue was the exploit that allowed WannaCry to propagate and spread, with DoublePulsar being the 'backdoor' installed on the compromised computers (used to execute WannaCry).

What happened if the WannaCry ransom was not paid?

The attackers demanded $300 worth of bitcoins and then later increased the ransom demand to $600 worth of bitcoins. If victims did not pay the ransom within three days, victims of the WannaCry ransomware attack were told that their files would be permanently deleted.

The advice when it comes to ransom payments is not to cave into the pressure. Always avoid paying a ransom, as there is no guarantee that your data will be returned and every payment validates the criminals' business model, making future attacks more likely.

This advice proved wise during the WannaCry attack as, reportedly, the coding used in the attack was faulty. When victims paid their ransom, the attackers had no way of associating the payment with a specific victim's computer.

There's some doubt about whether anyone got their files back. Some researchers claimed that no one got their data back. However, a company called F-Secure claimed that some did. This is a stark reminder of why it is never a good idea to pay the ransom if you experience a ransomware attack.

What impact did the WannaCry attack have?

The WannaCry ransomware attack hit around 230,000 computers globally.

One of the first companies affected was the Spanish mobile company, Telefónica. By May 12 th, thousands of NHS hospitals and surgeries across the UK were affected.

A third of NHS hospital trusts were affected by the attack. Terrifyingly ambulances were reportedly rerouted, leaving people in need of urgent care in need. It was estimated to cost the NHS a whopping £92 million after 19,000 appointments were canceled as a result of the attack.

As the ransomware spread beyond Europe, computer systems in 150 countries were crippled. The WannaCry ransomware attack had a substantial financial impact worldwide. It is estimated this cybercrime caused $4 billion in losses across the globe.

Ransomware protection

Now you understand how the WannaCry ransomware attack took place and the impact that it had, let's consider how you can protect yourself from ransomware.

Here are our top tips:

Update your software and operating system regularly

Computer users became victims of the WannaCry attack because they had not updated their Microsoft Windows operating system.

Had they updated their operating systems regularly, they would have benefited from the security patch that Microsoft released before the attack.

This patch removed the vulnerability that was exploited by EternalBlue to infect computers with WannaCry ransomware.

Be sure to keep your software and operating system updated. This is an essential ransomware protection step.

Do not click on suspicious links

If you open an unfamiliar email or visit a website, you do not trust, do not click on any links. Clicking on unverified links could trigger a ransomware download.

Never open untrusted email attachments

Avoid opening any email attachments unless you are sure they are safe. Do you know and trust the sender? Is it clear what the attachment is? Were you expecting to receive the attached file?

If the attachment asked you to enable macros to view it, stay well clear. Do not enable macros or open the attachment as this is a common way ransomware and other types of malware are spread.

Do not download from untrusted websites

Downloading files from unknown sites increases the risk of downloading ransomware. Only download files from websites you trust.

Avoid unknown USBs

Do not insert USBs or other removal storage devices into your computer, if you do not know where they came from. They could be infected with ransomware.

Use a VPN when using public Wi-Fi

Exercise caution when using public Wi-Fi as this makes your computer system more vulnerable to attack.

Use a secure VPN to protect yourself from the risk of malware when using public Wi-Fi.

Install internet security software

Update your internet security software

To ensure you receive the maximum protection your internet security has to offer (including all the latest patches) keep it updated.

Back up your data

Be sure to back up your data regularly using an external hard drive or cloud storage. Should you become victimized by ransomware hackers, your data will be safe if it is backed up. Just remember to disconnect your external storage device from your computer once you've backed up your data. Keeping your external storage routinely connected to your PC will potentially expose it to ransomware families that can encrypt data on these devices as well.

Want to sleep easy with maximum ransomware protection? Protect yourself with free Kaspersky Anti-Ransomware Tool or Premium Kaspersky Anti-Ransomware Products

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What happened to the WannaCry hacker? We discuss the WannaCry ransomware attack and how to protect your computer.

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By targeting Sony Pictures Entertainment, a significant film studio and division of Sony Corporation, the high-profile Sony Pictures hack happened in late 2014. A large amount of private and sensitive data was stolen in an incident that caused the company to suffer financial losses as well as extensive disruptions.

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The Story Behind The Hack That Wreaked Havoc on Hollywood - The Vault

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The cyberattack against Sony Pictures started in late November 2014 when the computer systems of the company were compromised by a hacker collective known as "Guardians of Peace" (GOP).

A significant amount of private data, including executive emails, unreleased films, employee personal information, and private company documents, were compromised by the attackers. Pre-release screenplays for films, internal correspondence, and salary information were all among the stolen files.

Initially, it was unclear why the attack was carried out, but the hackers eventually revealed their goals. They insisted that Sony halt the distribution of the comedy "The Interview," which plays out a fictitious assassination of Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea. Therefore creating suspicion that the hacking was a result of alleged north Korean hackers.

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On Jan. 23, 2015, a manager at Sony Pictures Entertainment shot off an email to a group of 12 in the studio's distribution department that offered intel about an upcoming film from rival Disney. "Midwest exhibitors went into McFARLAND USA expecting a boring track & field movie but came away pleasantly surprised," the manager noted about the sports drama that had been screened the day before. It was a mundane missive: a Hollywood executive sizing up the competition.

What is extraordinary about the email is what sources say it reveals about the 2014 Sony Pictures hack - and the official FBI narrative that pins it on North Korea. The email was drafted nearly nine weeks after the now infamous cyberattack ostensibly had been contained. It was passed along to a U.S. cyber researcher in February 2015 by a Ukrainian hacker as alleged proof that his Russian associate had breached Sony and could still do so at will. Despite FBI director James Comey's "very high confidence" that Kim Jong Un was to blame, the Ukrainian source was maintaining that hackers were still accessing Sony's system - and they weren't North Korean.

Exactly five years have passed since the Sony hack, a seismic event that announced itself just before the Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 24, 2014, when a menacing skeleton simultaneously popped up on thousands of Sony computer screens with the message: "We've obtained all your internal data including your secrets."

That was followed by 22 days of massive data dumps that exposed embarrassing executive email exchanges (like one between then-co-chairman Amy Pascal and producer Scott Rudin in which he refers to Angelina Jolie as "a minimally talented spoiled brat"), trade secrets (including overtures from Marvel to bring Sony-owned Spider-Man into its universe) and five upcoming full-length films (such as Brad Pitt's Fury). The breach, which former National Intelligence director James Clapper dubbed "the most serious cyberattack ever made against U.S. interests," rocked the industry and forever altered how studios think about cybersecurity and the global impact of their content. In the aftermath, nearly all of Sony's top management was swept out.

Although the FBI's North Korea attribution was swift (it took just 25 days) and has never wavered, many of those impacted still harbor questions about what exactly happened when a previously unknown hacker group named Guardians of Peace decimated Sony's computer infrastructure and brought one of the six major studios to its knees. THR spoke to more than two dozen insiders and executives who worked at Sony at the time, including some who still do, and more than half say they harbor doubts about the FBI's official narrative, which maintains that the hack was a response from North Korea because leader Kim Jong Un objected to his depiction in Seth Rogen's comedy The Interview.

"I never believed it had anything to do with The Interview," says former Sony Pictures Television head Steve Mosko, who along with former CEO Michael Lynton and Pascal, witnessed his entire email account dumped into public view by GoP.

Mosko, now CEO of Village Roadshow, declined to say exactly why he is personally so skeptical of the FBI's account. But he's hardly alone. Rogen himself remains uncertain. For him, there was one glaring red flag in the North Korea narrative. In the wake of the breach, he hired a cyber risk team at the private investigative firm Kroll, Inc. to comb through all his devices and accounts as well as those of the film's co-director Evan Goldberg. Not only did they find no breaches, but they discovered that no hack attempts had been made. That offers a peculiar twist given that Rogen was by far the highest-profile person associated with the movie, which he starred in, directed, produced and co-wrote.

"I've got to say, the fact that we were never really specifically targeted always raised suspicions in my head," Rogen tells THR.

The FBI declined to comment, noting that the hack remains the subject of an active investigation. Meanwhile, North Korea continues to deny any involvement in the attack, even as it proudly boasts each time it launches a ballistic missile into the sea.

Many, including Lynton, who left the studio in 2017 and now is chairman of Snap Inc., do accept the official explanation. "I believe the experts, and the experts told me it was North Korea. I have no reason to believe otherwise," he says. Through a studio spokesperson, Sony says, "We have no reason to suspect anything other than what the FBI concluded based on their investigation. The studio has moved on."

Still, alternate theories and conspiracies circulate widely among former and current executives. Some believe it was the work of Russian hackers hired by a Sony investor looking to profit from a post-hack stock collapse. Others speculate it was a disgruntled former employee who specifically targeted top executive brass. Perhaps the wildest rumor that still enjoys traction involves the wife of a former head of a rival studio, who is said to have helped her friend land a job at Sony sometime before the hack - and that friend turned out to be a Russian honeypot who gave hackers entry into the system.

If a Russia connection seems far-fetched, there's at least some reason to indulge a closer look. Max Popov, a Soviet-born hacker and former FBI informant, claimed in early 2015 that a Russian cyber associate gave him a cache of documents from Sony that were dated both before and after the hack, but were never released in the public dumps. (They included the McFarland, USA email referenced earlier.)

At the time, Popov sent the cache to Jeffrey Carr, a researcher and the author of Inside Cyber Warfare: Mapping the Cyber Underworld (Seattle-based Carr had been communicating online with Popov in Ukraine for years). Carr, who has provided intelligence briefings to the CIA and is the founder of the annual Suits & Spooks summit, passed along the emails and documents to the FBI in early 2015.

"I said, 'Look, before you jump on the North Korea bandwagon, I'm getting these documents from a Russian hacker who seems to have unlimited ability to pull more documents, even after Sony's network was down.' Literally after their network was in shambles, this guy was still able to send me documents," says Carr. As for the government's reaction, Carr notes: "The FBI doesn't give you a response. They say, 'Oh, thanks for sharing this information with us,' and that's the last you hear about it."

Former FBI agent E.J. Hilbert, who ran Popov as a source for years in the early aughts, says the hacker might very well have been telling the truth. "With any attack, and very likely with the Sony attack, they thought they had full containment, and they probably did not, and therefore information could have continued to have been extracted by the bad guys from various methodologies," says Hilbert, who now works in cybersecurity in the private sector. "It is very likely that Mr. Popov got his hands on it. He knows people."

Although Popov, who lived in the U.S. for two and a half years, was well connected in cybercrime circles, Hilbert says he knows of no instance in which he liaised with North Koreans. "With North Koreans, no. With Iranians and Russians, yes," he says.

Lynton says he was never made aware of any Russian hackers having access to Sony's then-crippled system. That point was echoed by a number of top executives who were in contact with law enforcement at the time. Adding further intrigue, one former executive recalls being bombarded with emails written in Cyrillic beginning in the summer of 2014.

It is, of course, very possible that Russian hackers never actually breached any Sony corporate accounts and instead these additional emails were stolen from employees' personal accounts (some staffers were using Gmail for work in the hack's aftermath). There also was at least one other break-in of the studio's system nine months before the infamous public hack in 2014. According to leaked emails, vp legal compliance Courtney Schaberg briefed general counsel Leah Weil about a breach in February of that year, noting that "credentials ... for an SPE system may have been obtained by an unauthorized party, who then may have uploaded malware." (The leaked emails show that Sony decided to keep that breach quiet.)

Popov isn't likely to step forward to clarify why he believes Russian contract hackers attacked Sony. Carr says Popov enlisted with the Ukrainian military and has since been deployed to the eastern front.

***

All GoP communications stopped Dec. 20, 2014, with a final missive that mocked the FBI: "The result of investigation by FBI is so excellent that you might have seen what we were doing with your own eyes. We congratulate you [sic] success. FBI is the BEST in the world."

In 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice finally laid out its 179-page criminal complaint, naming North Korea's Park Jin-hyok as the key player behind the attack. According to the document, the programmer also lived in China before the Sony breach, which FBI special agent Nathan Shields pinpoints as having happened in late September 2014, after the undisclosed February breach.

The idea of Russians idling in the system before and after the hack is never mentioned. The complaint concedes that "because of the harmful nature of the attack on SPE in which vast amounts of data were overwritten and computers were rendered unrecoverable, a complete reconstruction of the [hackers'] activities during the period of the intrusion was not possible through a forensic analysis."

North Korea maintains Park does not exist.

Naysayers remain unimpressed by the government's evidence. "The Sony attack was just so loud and so clownish," says Carr, who sees "weaknesses" in the attribution. "There was nothing sophisticated about it. It's not what you think about with a nation-state that has a military arm that does cyberattacks."

Former News Corp. chief security officer Hemanshu Nigam says there are major holes in the theory that North Korea carried out the hack as payback for The Interview. "North Korea would have needed someone on the ground - an almost impossible-to-imagine scenario that also contradicts the criminal complaint - in order to exfiltrate that much data, including at least five full-length movies, without anyone noticing at Sony," he says. "From day one, I didn't believe this had the hallmarks of a nation-state, and I still don't. Pointing the finger at an enemy is the easy way out."

Also, as many former and current executives note, GoP never attempted to retaliate further with additional leaks when The Interview was released in theaters (albeit at small art houses rather than cineplexes) on Christmas Day 2014 and on streaming platforms. North Korea skeptics find that odd, given that the group threatened 9/11-style attacks on movie theaters just days earlier.

(At the time, President Obama said the studio "made a mistake" when it pulled The Interview from theaters. "That statement from Obama was erroneous," says one former executive, noting that the studio was actively negotiating with smaller theaters to carry the movie at the time. "It was very difficult for people to hear that.")

Rogen finds the poorly worded GoP threat that invoked 9/11 to be off-key for a nation-state.

"That didn't seem like North Korea's M.O. That seemed more like young, amateurish hackers than like a foreign government launching a systematic attack on another country," he says, floating the possibility that someone used the North Korea narrative as cover. "What if it's someone started robbing a bank and someone else saw it was happening and decided they would jump in on it and weaponize it in a different way than it was meant to be weaponized? That's a conversation that we've had in trying to hypothesize what the fuck might've happened here."

While it's true that the crime itself was unsophisticated - a semi-competent hacker could have done it, given that servers had passwords like "sonypictures" - the rollout of the info indicated someone who understood showbiz players and practices well. Despite the hackers' broken English (which could have been intentional), the media acumen on display strikes some as exceeding that of the hermit kingdom. "They would have needed someone with exceptional insider tribal knowledge of Hollywood in order to know what would damage reputations. You can't google that," says Nigam, who was once a federal prosecutor of online crime and now has his own firm that advises Hollywood entities.

The hackers knew exactly which journalists to approach and seemed to anticipate the media's reaction. The rollout of leaks also appeared to be strategically planned, peaking with the release of Mosko's and Pascal's inboxes followed by the movie theater threat.

Some skeptics say that pushing back on the government's narrative came with a reputational cost. Marc Rogers, who is head of security at famed hacking conference Defcon and a consultant on Mr. Robot, says he took heat from the government for knocking down the Pyongyang angle and noting that North Korean proxy IP addresses don't necessarily translate into a smoking gun.

"At least one official described me as either an idiot or someone trying to sell something," he says. "I literally have no dog in the fight. But when people start making statements about things that I know to be factually questionable, I find it often difficult to keep my mouth shut, so that's why I piped up. My original statements weren't to say, 'No, the FBI is completely wrong.' It was to say, 'No, the evidence the FBI is pushing does not say what they're claiming it says.' "

In late December 2014, Kurt Stammberger, then senior vp at cybersecurity company Norse, was making the rounds of the news shows with findings from his firm's report that the attack was an inside job. "The thing that really lifted our eyebrows was, I was giving an interview on CNN, and [the anchor] says, 'I've talked to the FBI and the National Security director, and they say this report's a load of BS,' " Stammberger recalls. "I said, 'That's really interesting because we haven't even transmitted it to them yet.' They started basically trashing us before they had even seen the data."

Although the disgruntled-staffer angle generated headlines back in 2014, less explored is the prospect of someone using the hack as a weapon to manipulate the Sony share price. A number of investors sold large chunks of stock in 2014 between the supposed late September breach and the day the world learned of the attack on Nov. 24. There was also one spike in short-selling activity in the weeks leading up to Nov. 24. It is unclear if the SEC ever looked into Sony shortings or sell-offs given that SEC investigations are confidential unless it files an action in court.

Gabelli & Company's John Tinker, a Wall Street analyst who covers Sony, says the nefarious investor angle is possible and that it's happened before. For instance, there was an attempted bombing against publicly traded German soccer team Borussia Dortmund. "It was originally said to be terrorism," says Tinker. "But [investigators later said] it was someone who shorted the stock and had basically hoped to kill the team. The stock would collapse. There's some pretty weird people out there. You never know the lengths to which people will go."

In any case, the hackers appeared to be bent on humiliating Sony, particularly Pascal, who was in the middle of negotiating her contract renewal at the time of the hack. (Leaked emails showed Pascal making inappropriate jokes about President Obama and later fighting with Rudin.)

Sony fought to keep its composure as executive and talent salaries became public (the fact that Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence made less than their male co-stars in American Hustle became a Hollywood rallying cry). Internally, fear reigned. Top executives were given old BlackBerrys that had been stored in the basement of the Thalberg Building. Pascal enlisted a nurse to give sleep-deprived staffers B12 shots. Another former executive says he hired a private investigator after being hacked multiple times following the 2014 incursion.

Rival studios shunned Sony executives and wouldn't take their calls, one former president notes. "They wouldn't open our emails," he says. "They thought they'd be infected."

As a sign of their resilience, staffers created a video of how they were carrying on, in which they extolled the virtues of going back to basics and having face-to-face conversations. The Sony legal team advised that it should not be released to the public. "It was extraordinary that every single employee stepped up, and in the end, we got through it. In a strange way, it was our finest moment," says Mosko. "But the video was buried. No one wanted to tell that story."

The studio has never assigned a final dollar figure to losses from the attack, but in a 2015 earnings report, Sony said it would cost $35 million for the "investigation and remediation" for the full fiscal year (that tally did not include lawsuits). SPE's Japanese parent company finally seems to have gotten its groove back (the stock is now triple what it was at the time of the hack, trading at $62.13). But in an increasingly data-driven industry, the attack provided a wake-up call for the rest of Hollywood. Timothy Toohey, who heads up Greenberg Glusker's cybersecurity practice, says the studios all the way down to the smallest vendors have strengthened their firewalls in response to the Sony fallout.

"Reporting structures have improved. The internal management of security and privacy issues has improved. They've devoted more resources to the issue. But there's no such thing as perfect security," he says. "Could it happen again? Absolutely."

Attorney Bryan Freedman, who represented several parties affected by the Sony hack, says studios share an ethical responsibility to work together to prevent it from happening again. "From an industry standpoint, I'm not sure enough has been done in terms of collective coordination," says Freedman. "While you do hear more about cybersecurity, it's not a topic that's readily discussed as a group with law firms, studios, talent agencies and management companies all participating."

Whether or not the government ever arrests Park (if he exists), there likely will always be those who hold on to their doubts.

For his part, Rogen has moved on, even if he's still a bit curious about what really went down. "It would be nice to know the truth," he says. "I don't think I would feel drastically different on a personal level if it was or wasn't North Korea. I do think other people would probably feel vindicated."

***
The Hack Was Just The Start: Legal Fallout As if the damage done by the hack wasn't severe enough, Sony was then sued for negligence by its employees and by one of its partners for breach of contract. Angry Employees
The multiple lawsuits filed by current and past Sony employees in late 2014 and early 2015 were consolidated into a class action led by Michael Corona, who worked for the company from 2004 to 2007. The employees claimed the studio's negligence compromised their private information, including Social Security numbers, account routing information and medical records, leaving them vulnerable. Sony settled after losing a bid to get it tossed. As part of the deal, Sony created a $2 million fund to reimburse employees (up to $1,000 each) for preventative measures they took to protect against identity theft. The company also agreed to provide identity protection services for two years and to reimburse another $2.5 million (a max of $10,000 per person) for those who could show unreimbursed loss as a result of the hack. Sony also had to foot the bill for more than $2.5 million in attorneys' fees.
Piracy Problems
In July 2016, To Write Love on Her Arms producer Possibility Pictures sued Sony, claiming the film was illegally distributed online as a result of the hack. Possibility claimed Sony violated a provision in its contract that requires it "to protect the Picture worldwide on the internet directly or through third party vendors, representatives or agents." That dispute settled in early 2018, and the details weren't released.
USA v. North Korea
The DOJ in September 2018 charged North Korean national Park Jin-hyok with conspiracy to commit computer fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. They allege he was not only involved in the Sony hack, but also the 2017 WannaCry 2.0 global ransomware attack and "numerous other attacks or intrusions" on industries including entertainment, defense and utilities. Park, who also is alleged to be part of a government-sponsored hacking team known as the Lazarus Group, is on the FBI's most wanted list. North Korean officials have denied Park's existence and any responsibility for the hack.

***
3 Other Big Hollywood Hacks Although many Hollywood breaches never come to light, with companies quietly paying the ransoms demanded by the criminals, several are known. UTA
On April 11, 2017, UTA's IT department discovered that a cyber intruder had hacked the voicemail system and computer network, and the agency quickly shut down its systems, sending agents to conduct business on their iPads. Soon a demand from a hacker arrived: Pay a ransom or watch the agency's most confidential data be posted online. It was said to be one of at least a half-dozen extortion attempts against Hollywood firms around that time. UTA says no personal data of its clients or employees had been compromised.
Netflix
Sometime in late 2016, a hacker collective known as TheDarkOverlord breached the network of postproduction facility Larson Studios and stole unaired episodes of Netflix's Orange Is the New Black, CBS' NCIS: Los Angeles, Fox's New Girl and IFC's Portlandia. In March 2017, TheDarkOverlord demanded a ransom of 50 bitcoin (roughly $60,000 at the time) by an April 30, 2017, deadline. Netflix never responded to the hackers (it's unknown if the other networks paid up), and two days before the deadline, TheDarkOverlord posted the first of 10 episodes of season five of Orange Is the New Black on Pirate Bay.
HBO
On July 27, 2017, HBO became the victim of a coordinated cyberattack in which a staggering 1.5 terabytes of data was pilfered from the company's servers. In a letter addressed to former CEO Richard Plepler, the hackers warned: "We successfully breached into your huge network. ... HBO was one of our difficult targets to deal with but we succeeded (it took about 6 months)." Going by the name of Mr. Smith, the hackers demanded money (though the figure was redacted in the version of the letter THR viewed at the time) and claimed that HBO was their 17th target. Mr. Smith released everything from a script summary of an upcoming Game of Thrones episode to a month's worth of emails from the inbox of one of the company's production executives, as well as unaired episodes of Ballers, Insecure and Room 104. Nearly five months later, federal prosecutors pinned the theft on an Iranian military hacker.
This story first appeared in the Nov. 25 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

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Five Years Later, Who Really Hacked Sony?

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It's been five years since a massive cyberattack crippled Sony, embarrassed executives and dramatically reshaped Hollywood. For many that lived it, the official FBI narrative - that the breach was ...

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The compromised data was made public online, which disadvantaged Sony Pictures' brand. Top executives' private email exchanges were leaked which revealed sensitive subjects and internal discussions.

Amy Pascal, the co-chair of Sony Pictures, resigned as a result of the incident, which cost the business money.

The United States placed economic sanctions on North Korea in reaction to the cyberattack and the alleged threat to the country's right to free speech. Moreover, the American government demanded that the public and private sectors step up their cybersecurity efforts.

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The hack of Sony Pictures brought to light how cyberattacks can affect not just the targeted organisation but also more general geopolitical relations. It emphasised the need for improved cybersecurity measures to safeguard sensitive data and the susceptibility of large corporations to sophisticated cyber threats.

The Sony Pictures hack forced other companies to review and fortify their security postures, raising awareness of cybersecurity threats in the entertainment sector.

The Sony Pictures hack is still remembered as a prominent illustration of a cyberattack with serious repercussions, including financial losses, harm to one's reputation, and geopolitical ramifications. It emphasised how crucial cybersecurity is in the digital age and how organisations must constantly watch out for new cyberthreats.

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International cyber law: interactive toolkit

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From International cyber law: interactive toolkit

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Date

Sony Pictures was made aware of the hack on 24 November 2014. However, it is likely that the hackers had been granted physical access into Sony's networks months before the malicious act happened.

Suspected actor

A group of hackers called "Guardians of Peace" (GOP). Following an FBI investigation, the US Government blamed the North Korean government as being the supporters of the malicious group. Despite the FBI claimed to have several evidence linking the attack to the Northern Korean regime, no proof has been officially disclosed. Officially, North Korea denied any involvement in the attack.

Target

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) in New York

Target systems

Microsoft Windows-based systems

Method

The wiping malware was spread after being physically introduced into the Company´s networks. An executable "dropper" installed itself as a windows service once executed. The malware used Microsoft Windows' own management and network file sharing features to propagate and shut down network services. Once propagated into the system, the Trojan-Wiper created a link between Sony's network and the hackers, who were able to steal protected information as well as destroy data on the infected systems.

Purpose

The hackers were taking retaliatory action for Sony's failure to meet a previous demand to halt the release of " The Interview ", a then-upcoming satirical movie published by Sony Pictures. The movie depicted a CIA assassination attempt against Kim Jong-un, the North Korean Supreme Leader.

Result

Leaking of not-yet-released films and scripts - theft of employees' personal information such as social security numbers, medical records; disclosure of salary lists and sensitive email correspondences. Moreover, Sony had to cease all online activity, severing their network's connection and going offline for days.

Aftermath

On 19 December 2014 President Obama claimed that the US would respond "proportionally" against these attacks and, in particular, against the North Korean government. The attack not only damaged the company's employees and families, but also undermined the economic and social prosperity of the US citizens. The US Government may have retaliated in response to the malicious activity against Sony. In particular, attacks on its own critical infrastructures were claimed by the People´s Republic of Korea to have been conducted by the US. On December 22 and 23, North Korea´s internet temporarily blacked out. If these events and attributions are true, this would mark the first time that the United States has been known to react against a cyber-attack on American soil.

Analysed in

Scenario 05: Criminal investigation

Collected by: Samuele De Tomas Colatin

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Sony Pictures Entertainment attack (2014)

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Who is Behind The Silk Road Deep Dark Web Site? | American Greed [BONUS EDITION]