Ransomware attacks seem to be one of the more common cyber attacks that we’re seeing in recent times. For those unfamiliar, basically a hacker will get into your system and encrypt the files on your computer in which they hold the key, and you’ll only be able to unlock it once you’ve paid them a ransom.However it seems that security company McAfee doesn’t think that victims of such hacks should bother paying the ransom. This is because they believe that paying the ransom doesn’t necessarily guarantee users anything, and that it has the potential to mark the user as a preferred target for future hacks because they have been so compliant.
Speaking to IANS in an interview, Anand Ramamoorthy, Managing Director of McAfee South Asia, “Meeting hackers’ demands will not necessarily guarantee compliance from the hackers. In many cases, the likelihood of receiving decryption keys is almost nil. What is certain, however, is that victims who pay will be recognised as willing to pay, making them a preferred target in the future.”
Ramamoorthy also spoke on the rise of cyber security threats where ten years ago, McAfee Labs would see about 25 threats a day, but fast forward to today and they are looking at as many as 500,000 threats on a daily basis.