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Last week, the servers of ransomware giant REvil vanished.

The rush to go digital during Covid-19 has coincided with a marked rise in ransomware attacks.

Guest Kurtis Minder from GroupSense joins Dave to discuss divergent ransomware trends, the guys have a listener reminder about it being CompTIA, Joe, Dave has a story about a coupon scam in the Houston area, Joe's story is about a real estate rental scam and a scammer who likes to talk about his work, and our Catch of the Day is from a listener named Craig with an email about an unprofessional colleague and a questionable attachment.

If you have been reading about or watching news shows discussing ransomware, more than likely, you have seen Kurtis Minder. He has been nearly omnipresent across multiple platforms because his team at Groupsense has been putting in the work to help the victims of ransomware attacks negotiate with attackers in order to get their data back.

In the past year, several Illinois organizations have been compromised by ransomware groups, which often demand payment in cryptocurrency under threat of compromising services or leaking sensitive data.

Kurtis Minder speaks to Razia Iqbal of BBC News on what happens when a ransomware attack occurs and if they can be prevented. In his discussion he explains the basic steps he takes when starting a ransomware negotiation and his experiences throughout the process. 

Hackers are making millions from ransomware attacks. What can be done to stop them? Ed Butler speaks to professional ransomware negotiator Kurtis Minder, about the increasing professionalisation of the ransomware business. Kimberly Grauer, head of research at Chainalysis explains why following the bitcoin trail may be the best way of bringing ransomware gangs to justice and Vishaal Hariprasad, boss of cyber insurance company Resilience, tells us why the ransomware threat means there needs to be a stepchange in how companies view cyber security.

The U.S. government says it's taking ransomware attacks as seriously as terrorism after meat plants and a major U.S. pipeline network were temporarily shuttered by hackers. But will that make it any easier to catch the perpetrators? Joe Uchill, a senior reporter with online cybersecurity publication SC Media, brings us the view from Washington. We also speak with Kurtis Minder, founder and CEO of GroupSense, which helps organizations defend against cyber threats; and David Shipley, co-founder and CEO of Fredericton-based cybersecurity startup Beauceron Security.

Ransomware attacks that lock up a victim's systems have become more common. So have people who negotiate with the hackers on behalf of the victims. Kurtis Minder, co-founder of the cyber reconnaissance startup GroupSense, discusses what those negotiations are like, and cybersecurity reporter David Uberti discusses how this approach is viewed within the cyber community. Christopher Zinsli hosts...

First a pandemic, then a major economic crisis . . .why not throw in an epic cyber attack? GroupSense CEO Kurtis Minder breaks it down for #FedHeads Francis Rose and Robert Shea and throws in a few ransomware war stories, too. Chilling.