Classes

089 - The Ransomware Epidemic Explained

The Digital Butterfly Effect: From the Dry Cleaner to the D.I.B. argues that modern cyberattacks rarely begin where the damage lands. Drawing on Kurtis Minder's frontline experience as a ransomware negotiator, the talk traces how a single reused password at a small business — a dry cleaner signing up for a hobby website — can cascade through credential leaks, inbox surveillance, and targeted phishing into a full compromise of a Defense Industrial Base (D.I.B.) contractor. Today's incidents look nothing like those of five years ago: ransomware has matured into an industrialized ecosystem of victim sites, shame sites, and platforms, and blockchain analysis shows exactly where ransom payments flow. The presentation reframes the problem away from any one breach and toward the aggregate exposure of billions of leaked credentials, then makes the case that defense alone is insufficient — resilience is the goal. It closes with a concrete cyber-hygiene checklist, a warning about how generative AI is accelerating both attacks and defenses into a "war of the robots," and a civic call to action: good cyber hygiene is a shared duty because everyone is a target and everyone matters. (Class limit: 100)

Thu 10/29/26, 10:00 AM-11:00 AM

Koinonia Church - Sanctuary
730 - 25 Road
Grand Junction, CO 81505

Kurtis Minder

Kurtis Minder is an author, cybersecurity executive, and speaker on cybercrime, ransomware, and digital risk.

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