Quote:New research bolsters the often ignored advice to organizations not to pay a ransomware demanded by attackers. The report found paying a ransom to unlock systems can actually cost companies more financially than recovering data themselves in the long run.
 
Research conducted by Vanson Bourne and commissioned by security firm Sophos shows that ransomware victims that refused to pay a ransom reported, on average, $730,000 in recovery costs. However, organizations that did pay a ransom reported an average total cost, including the ransom, of $1.4 million, according to the report, The State of Ransomware 2020. “Paying the ransom doubles the overall clean-up costs,” researchers wrote in the report.
 
Indeed, security experts and law enforcement officials have long argued that paying ransoms is a bad idea for a number of reasons. For one, it funds future endeavors by cybercriminals who receive payouts and gives them more incentive to launch more attacks.

It also can inspire other cybercriminals to mount similar attacks if they see it garners a big payout for their cohorts. The new research suggests that it literally doesn’t pay for organizations to meet cybercriminals’ ransomware demands.