Ride the Lightning

FBI Advises Ransomware Victims to Pay Up

October 28, 2015

According to a story in SC Magazine, the FBI is advising those whose data has been encrypted by a ransomware attack to pay the ransom. Joseph Bonavolonta, an assistant special agent with the FBI, is quoted as saying “the ransomware is that good,” and “To be honest, we often advise people just to pay the ransom" because efforts by the Bureau to defeat the encryption used have proved futile.

Of course, as any security company can tell you, if the victim had properly engineered their backup, they wouldn't need to worry about paying a ransom.

But if they don't, and there is no other recourse, paying out $500 or more to get your data back doesn't sound like such a bad deal.

Frankly, I don't like rewarding bad guys. It just breeds more of them. I'd rather be proactive and make sure I've properly engineered my backup so that I am impervious to ransomware. Not sure why the FBI isn't promulgating that message . . .

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