Do Cryptos Aid Criminal Activity?

Anonymity has its benefits and its disadvantages it seems. Could this anonymity aid criminal behaviour and end up being a tool to help criminals get away with their crimes?

In a recent news release Disney appears to be being held ransom for the 5th Pirates of the Caribbean movie and demanding bitcoin as a ransom payment. Disney does not appear to be the first victim either. Netflix has been effected by this too and it appears they were unwilling to give in to the demands so their content was apparently released.

While this may just be propaganda from those who don't like the anonymity of the crypto currencies the potential does remain a threat. We have seen an apparent increase of hackers infecting personal computers with malware, encrypting the files and demanding a ransom.

According to a quote from the hackers they consider themselves to be reasoning people who don't seem to stop anytime soon.
“We figured a pragmatic business such as yourselves would see and understand the benefits of cooperating with a reasonable and merciful entity like ourselves,” the hackers continued. “And to the others: there's still time to save yourselves. Our offer(s) are still on the table – for now.”

As cryptos aren't going away anytime soon the threat remains. Where can this go from here and how do we protect ourselves? Are cryptos another tool in the toolbox of criminals? Only time will tell.