Cyber extortion: A growth industry

The prevailing wisdom in law enforcement has been that it is a bad idea to negotiate with extortionists. Cave to their demands and all you’re doing is encouraging more extortion. And you don’t even have a guarantee that paying a ransom will produce the return of your loved one unharmed, or your stolen assets.

Better to refuse the demands, find the criminals and punish them in a way that will discourage them and others from doing the same thing.

But, in the digital world, where criminals encrypt data and then demand a ransom to provide the key, that prevailing wisdom is getting a forcible adjustment.

[ Ransomware: Pay it or fight it? ]

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