Should We Pay Ransom To Hackers?

It may be your worst nightmare. You turn on your PC only to find that it has been hijacked by a ransomware that will not decrypt your files unless you pay. You should? What are the pros and cons of paying cybercriminals?

It is a difficult and layered problem. To access your files, you may have to pay a hefty ransom. And then there is the problem of cryptocurrency, which is the ransomware's preferred payment method. Unless you are already a crypto investor, you may have no idea how to begin the process of obtaining a Bitcoin account, and time is ticking.

And don't forget: if you pay, there's a great chance that you won't be able to regain access to your files anyway. There are also ethical questions about how to pay offenders. As any good economist will tell you, whatever behavior you reward, you will invariably get more.

So what should I do?

That's an easy prospect when it's not about your files being held at virtual gunpoint, but still, it's probably the right decision. There's a reason the US has an official policy of not dealing with terrorists, and giving in to ransomware demands seems to encourage criminals.

Paying "has given rise to ransomware as a service," says Sean Allan, a cybersecurity consultant who writes frequently about ransomware. In recent years, ransomware has become such a successful and lucrative business that hackers have packaged turnkey ransomware kits. These allow criminals with little (or no) technical experience to launch their own ransomware attacks with ease. And according to the report, there was a 400 percent increase in the number of attacks. Much of that growth is arguably due to the number of people and organizations who have paid the ransom.

What if you pay?

However, you cannot decide whether to pay a ransom demand based on the better angel’s argument. This is your information we are talking about. So, keep in mind that if you decide to pay, there is no guarantee that you will get your files back anyway. Experts disagree on the chances of recovery, but there is a strong chance that you will pay and not receive the decryption key or receive a key that does not work.

In fact, a decryption key may not even exist for your ransomware variant. If you are somehow caught in the crossfire of an attack directed at a nation-state, or by a tool initially designed to attack states that has been repurposed for mundane criminal acts, there may not be a key by design.

The good news if you don't pay

It could be argued that it is simply immoral to pay for ransomware because the money can be used to fund additional cyber-attacks, terrorism, and other illegal activities. But it doesn't have to depend on moral authority. There are also excellent practical reasons not to pay.

First of all, it is usually not very difficult to prepare for a malware attack. If you're doing things right, you should never get infected in the first place or have to pay if you get bitten.

With the right protections, such as antivirus, updates and excellent computer hygiene, you don't have to worry about attacks.

If you are attacked by ransomware, the good guys are more prepared than ever. No More Ransom

Now if you are infected, you can go to the No More Ransom site and upload some sample encrypted files from your computer. If they have cracked the ransomware family, you can unlock your PC at no cost.

No More Ransom is not foolproof and it is not a guaranteed remedy. But it offers the opportunity to unlock your rescued computer without having to learn how Bitcoin works.

Of course, if you can restore your files from backup, that's always a better solution. Backups are essential as they protect you from everything, including ransomware and hard drive failure.