back to article Ransomware scum find the sweet spot to coin it without copping it

RSA chief information security officer David Martin says ransomware scum may have reached the sweet spot between extorting users and avoiding law enforcement heat. Martin says ransomware extortionists' demands top out at about US$10,000, a sum sufficiently low to get reluctant companies to pay and to prevent time-poor police …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    $10,000?

    I didn't think that the M$ Office 360 Annual Licence Fees to be able to continue to access your data and documents were that large !

  2. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Joey M0usepad Silver badge

      It does however mean that you probably lose the last 6 months or more of work , illustrating that ransomeware that bides its time is more of a pain in the arse. Imagine an I.T dept admitting they hadnt done a backup for six months after everything goes down. thats the situation - even if you have a working 12 month setup and month 7 is ok.

  3. W Donelson

    Advice to criminal? You see it all the time now.

    Advice to criminal? You see it all the time now.

    Is this supposed to blackmail people and companies into being safer?

    We should all try to be safer, but even the best are not foolproof.

    Honestly, blackmail is a crime too.

  4. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

    This one-off payment to decrypt data...

    ... is it annual or monthly?

    1. phil dude

      Re: This one-off payment to decrypt data...

      A bit like that Douglas Adams quote.

      "There are 2 sorts of people in the world. Those that backup and those that will backup".

      P.

    2. Gis Bun

      Re: This one-off payment to decrypt data...

      One time but once you get your data back, backup your data and wipe your hard disk clean. They can try again.

  5. adam payne

    Keeping yourself safe has never been an easy task but it's up the company to do their level best to protect themselves.

    Patched computers / servers, decent and updated anti-virus software, ban the use of weak passwords, web / email filtering, a decent firewall and a good backup rountine are just some of the ways to minimise risk.

  6. Gis Bun

    Those with portable drives who do on the fly backups get scr?wed as well since the backup will also be hit.

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