Ride the Lightning

Cybersecurity and Future of Law Practice Blog
by Sharon D. Nelson Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc.

U.S. Conference of Mayors Opposes Ransomware Payments

July 18, 2019

The US Conference of Mayors unanimously adopted a resolution (you'll have to scroll WAY down to get past all the other resolutions) not to pay any more ransom demands to hackers following ransomware infections.

The resolution reads as follows (this is complete which will save you the scrolling):

Opposing Payment To Ransomeware (sic) Attack Perpetrators

  1. WHEREAS, targeted ransomware attacks on local US government entities are on the rise; and
  2. WHEREAS, at least 170 county, city, or state government systems have experienced a ransomware attack since 2013; and
  3. WHEREAS, 22 of those attacks have occurred in 2019 alone, including the cities of Baltimore and Albany and the counties of Fisher, Texas and Genesee, Michigan; and
  4. WHEREAS, ransomware attacks can cost localities millions of dollars and lead to months of work to repair disrupted technology systems and files; and
  5. WHEREAS, paying ransomware attackers encourages continued attacks on other government systems, as perpetrators financially benefit; and
  6. WHEREAS, the United States Conference of Mayors has a vested interest in de-incentivizing these attacks to prevent further harm,

    NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the United States Conference of Mayors stands united against paying ransoms in the event of an IT security breach.

I completely agree with the resolution. You may or may not get a decryption key. Chances are that you won't. In any event, we don't want to encourage the bad guys. You are far better off having a backup implementation that will survive a ransomware attack so you can tell the perpetrators to take a hike. A recovery plan is also essential.

Take the profit out of ransomware and the business will dry up.

Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President, Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
3975 University Drive, Suite 225|Fairfax, VA 22030
Email:    Phone: 703-359-0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
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