Business

Ransomware-as-a-Service and other bad incentives

The cyber pirate industry is booming.

16 August 2021

The global Covid-19-lockdown work-from-home migration has turned companies into sitting ducks, at the mercy of their least responsible, least tech-savvy employees. It just takes one sleepy, pyjama-clad remote worker, accidentally clicking on one suspect link, or opening one malicious file containing ransomware to leave your company held hostage at the mercy of cyber pirates.

At that point, most businesses (and, indeed, public institutions) are prepared to negotiate with the terrorists in order to get back online as fast as possible. Unfortunately, as we should know, negotiating with terrorists of any kind only tends to encourage them. Encourages them, that is, not only to attack more businesses in the future, but also to renege on their earlier promises to victims and demand even more payments before releasing the digital hostages. After all, who said criminals had to play fair?

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