Paying ransom doesn’t always guarantee that a ransomware victim will be able to recover all of the encrypted data. Some more food for thought in a news story today about ransomware in the New York Times that highlights how small government entities are being targeted recently:
The F.B.I. said it had received nearly 1,500 ransomware reports last year, a number the agency acknowledges does not begin to reflect the size of the problem, in part because some private institutions may decide to handle things quietly to avoid damage to their reputation. An Illinois computer programmer who offers free help decrypting ransomware said the automated website he designed, ID Ransomware, receives 1,500 requests for assistance every day. Hospitals, businesses and other networks have been attacked for years, but the new wave of ransomware directed at government agencies has made them much more visible to the public.
Read more on NYT.