We hear this story. OFTEN

We came across this article recently. It’s the story of a Chicago based attorney, John, who’s files become encrypted after a ransomware infection.  The protagonist resists paying the $600 ransom and searches for help from local IT firms. All the IT firms declined to assist, except for one, which charged him $7,000 and caused him 3 days of downtime.  He received his decrypted computer back, files intact and got back to his work and life with a new sense of security awareness.

This story angers us for a couple reasons.

It is likely that the reason his case was rejected by the local firms was because the strain of ransomware on his machine could not be decrypted.  Without a backup, there was only one option...pay. The firm that took the case on likely just paid the ransom, and charged John over 10x the ransom price for the privilege. This is predatory, usurious and happens all the time.

John stood his ground, and did not pay the perpetrators.  Rather, he incurred over 10x the cost, and suffered 3 days of downtime. The perpetrators still got paid, and the valuable data from the case is lost in the ether.  Stories like this need to end.