The Extortion Economy examines "the money, people and technology behind the explosion of ransomware that is delivering hundreds of millions of dollars to cybercriminals around the world."

Cybercrime is a growth market with a variety of tools, services and practices. It is an industry that is quickly professionalising to become a systemic threat to society.

In this episode of MetaPod we talk to Meg Marco about the growth and professionalisation of cybercrime. Meg explains how the business of ransomware works and the actors and technologies, including insurance and cryptocurrency.

We also discuss how victims of ransomware have become "consumers" of cybersecurity services, complicit in a vicious cycle of business-like crime.

Show notes

• The Extortion Economy: How Insurance Companies Are Fueling a Rise in Ransomware Attacks, ProPublica, August 27, 2019
• The Lazarus Heist

About Meg Marco

Meg Marco is the Editor in Chief of Observer leading all editorial operations for the Observer brand. Before joining Observer Media, Meg held senior editorial positions at ProPublica, The Wall Street Journal and Axios.

At ProPublica her team’s work was honored with the 2021 National Magazine Award for Social Media. She was part of the team of editors whose work was a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

She is also formerly the editor and head of product of Consumerist, a Gawker Media publication that was later acquired by Consumer Reports. During her tenure, Consumerist produced deeply reported coverage of topics such as fraud, surprise medical bills, for-profit colleges, telecom policy, consumer privacy and product safety.

Meg is author of Field Guide to the Apocalypse, a satirical guide to surviving the end of the world published by Simon & Schuster in 2005, well in advance of the actual end time.

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