Security News > 2021 > June > Ransomware experts urge victims not to pay, but are they listening?
The number of attacks from, and payouts to, ransomware extortionists continue to rise despite only 20% saying giving into demands is the best course, Menlo Security finds.
There's a growing reluctance to play ransomware demands, Menlo Security found in an online poll, but that reluctance may not reflect what victims are actually doing when hit by an attack.
Factor in recent high-profile and high-dollar payouts from the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack and similar incidents and you have a clear signal to cybercriminals: Ransomware works.
"Ransomware isn't going away any time soon and with the rise of ransomware as a service it's an increasingly easy way for cyber criminals to launch a profitable attack," said Mark Guntrip, Menlo Security senior director of cybersecurity strategy.
"If an organization doesn't have in place before a successful ransomware attack then the options to recover are limited. A company can either pay the ransom and hope that their data is actually restored, or wipe everything and start again," Guntrip said, noting that depending on the size of the business and the size of the ransom, an attack that wasn't prepared for could spell the end of a business.
Don't rely on reactive security technology, which has shown time and again that it's not effective against ransomware attacks.