4 ms·

Are there any companies that would actually pay the ransom? Because I have never seen one.

by GaggiX 3y ago

rnewme 3y ago
Yes, there are. Some ransonware groups are reputable, and keep their word so they keep being trusted by future victims.
nxobject 3y ago
One of the key insurance claims clearinghouses in America's hilariously privatised health care system was hacked – and they paid $22 million to one ransomware group (which is chump change to their corporate parent, United Health, robber capitalism incarnate.) What they didn't anticipate was that the same data was _hacked twice_. [1] [1] https://www.wired.com/story/change-healthcare-ransomhub-threat/ https://www.wired.com/story/change-healthcare-ransomhub-thre...
agilob 3y ago
It's like to be another survivorship bias. The paying ones aren't talked about in media because their business isn't obstructed that much. Pay, get data back, no harm to the reputation, maybe we never even hear about it.
TrexArms 3y ago
I got a panic phone call from one of of the companies I used to do contract work for, "Do you know how to buy bitcoin? We got hacked and the website isn't working and we're trying to pay so we can use our computers again." I stopped what I was doing and drove over there. Luckily someone DDoS'd the pay site so they couldn't pay. I asked them what they were thinking. They told me that they were going to pay with their super prestigious credit card and refute the charge as fraud because in their words, "Technically, this is fraud." I shook my head and cleaned it up and restored the backups. I asked them a week later how much data was lost. They asked me what I was talking about. Apparently they didn't have anything important they did since the backup ran the night before. They switched to a SaaS shortly afterwards. Then raided by the government & shut down a couple years later. Good times.

4 ms·

Are there any companies that would actually pay the ransom? Because I have never seen one.

by GaggiX 3y ago

Are there any companies that would actually pay the ransom? Because I have never seen one.

rnewme 3y ago
Yes, there are. Some ransonware groups are reputable, and keep their word so they keep being trusted by future victims.
nxobject 3y ago
One of the key insurance claims clearinghouses in America's hilariously privatised health care system was hacked – and they paid $22 million to one ransomware group (which is chump change to their corporate parent, United Health, robber capitalism incarnate.) What they didn't anticipate was that the same data was _hacked twice_. [1] [1] https://www.wired.com/story/change-healthcare-ransomhub-threat/ https://www.wired.com/story/change-healthcare-ransomhub-thre...
agilob 3y ago
It's like to be another survivorship bias. The paying ones aren't talked about in media because their business isn't obstructed that much. Pay, get data back, no harm to the reputation, maybe we never even hear about it.
TrexArms 3y ago
I got a panic phone call from one of of the companies I used to do contract work for, "Do you know how to buy bitcoin? We got hacked and the website isn't working and we're trying to pay so we can use our computers again." I stopped what I was doing and drove over there. Luckily someone DDoS'd the pay site so they couldn't pay. I asked them what they were thinking. They told me that they were going to pay with their super prestigious credit card and refute the charge as fraud because in their words, "Technically, this is fraud." I shook my head and cleaned it up and restored the backups. I asked them a week later how much data was lost. They asked me what I was talking about. Apparently they didn't have anything important they did since the backup ran the night before. They switched to a SaaS shortly afterwards. Then raided by the government & shut down a couple years later. Good times.