Companies hiding ransomware payments
Ransomware attacks are ugly. For every ransomware attack news story we see in our feed, a different reality hides behind it. Victims secretly pay their attackers. The shadow economy feeds on corporate guilt and regulatory hysteria.
Companies are hiding the true numbers of ransomware incidents. For each attack that makes headlines, five more companies quietly push it under the carpet, keeping it secret, and wire cryptocurrency payments to attackers, in hopes of avoiding detection. We can call it corporate cowardice, but this gives confidence to the ransomware cybercriminals. It costs the victims $57 billion annually and directly damages the devices that we use.
Paying attackers fuels future attacks
According to the FBI, it “does not support paying a ransom in response to a ransomware attack. Paying a ransom doesn’t guarantee you or your organization will get any data back. It also encourages perpetrators to target more victims and offers an incentive for others to get involved in this type of illegal activity.
The patches in our smartphones exist because companies suffer attacks. Our laptop endpoint protection was developed from enterprise systems compromised by ransomware groups that used secret corporate ransoms to invest in more advanced malware.
Corporate guilt is a reason for keeping payments secret
Few experts believe that for every reported ransomware attack, five more are kept hidden, and the payments are made secretly to escape market panic and regulatory enquiry. The transactions travel through the cryptocurrency networks, managed by negotiators who deal in digital extortion.
Companies justify their actions by keeping quiet to avoid regulatory scrutiny and falling stock prices, and quietly resolving the issue. The average ransom demand is around $5.2 million, but actual payments hit $1 million, a relative discount that may fund future ransomware attacks.
According to Gadget Review, “This secrecy creates a feedback loop more vicious than algorithmic social media engagement. Ransomware groups reinvest payments into advanced encryption, better evasion techniques, and expanded target lists that inevitably include the consumer technology ecosystem you depend on daily.”
It adds that “even as payment rates drop to historic lows—just 25% of victims now pay—the total damage keeps climbing. Companies face average costs exceeding $5.5 million per attack, combining ransom payments, recovery expenses, and reputation management.”
