Everyone's making a lot of good points about game theory and economic motivations, but there is a much more important and self-serving point: when you pay a ran

Everyone's making a lot of good points about game theory and economic motivations, but there is a much more important and self-serving point: when you pay a ransom, hackers come after your shit x10. Paying a ransom signals 3 things: 1) you are vulnerable to attack 2) you cannot recover from an attack 3) you've got cash The result is that you get attacked much, much more. You could ask me how I know, but I wouldn't tell you :)