The Politics of Ransomware U.S. Ill-Prepared for Cyber Hijackers June 20, 2021 –A U.S. Defense Secretary once ranked the United States a three out of 10 in its ability to stop computer hacker cyber-attacks. That number hasn’t changed much in a decade; an NBC News reporter told the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields on Sunday Computer hijackers are extorting tens of millions of dollars from American businesses handcuffed by the seizure of their technical operations. “There really seems to be no solution,” Jon Allen said. “Our government has not figured them out, our corporations have not figured them out, and other organizations have not figured out how to stop this from happening,” Allen, an award-winning former congressional reporter and author of the new book, Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency, discusses how the president is faring and the road potholes ahead.