Lawfare Daily: The Shadowy World of Ransomware with Professor Anja Shortland
From The Lawfare Podcast: Patreon Edition by The Lawfare Institute
April 28, 2026 · 34 min
About this episode
The episode features a discussion on ransomware and its impact on the global economy with Professor Anja Shortland.
Lawfare Book Review Editor Jonathan Cedarbaum sits down with Anja Shortland, professor of political economy at King's College London, to discuss her new book, " Dark Screens: Hackers and Heroes in the Shadowy World of Ransomware ." The book offers a history of the development of ransomware into perhaps the most important form of cyber crime, costing the global economy $75 billion a year. In the book, Shortland depicts the evolving strategies of ransomware organizations and the efforts by governments and corporations to defend themselves from this often crippling type of cyber attack. Shortland and Cedarbaum talk about the emergence of organized criminal groups specializing in digital extortion over the past 15 years, some of their most spectacular hacks, how target organizations have worked to make themselves more resilient to ransomware attacks, and how governments have sought to disrupt ransomware groups. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
People in this episode
Host: Jonathan Cedarbaum
Guest: Anja Shortland
Topics covered
- ransomware
- cyber crime
- political economy
- digital extortion
- cybersecurity
Keywords
- ransomware
- cyber crime
- Anja Shortland
- Jonathan Cedarbaum
- Dark Screens
- digital extortion
- cybersecurity
- organized crime
- government response
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: King's College London
Books & works: Dark Screens: Hackers and Heroes in the Shadowy World of Ransomware
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