Ransomware Payment: To Pay, or Not to Pay? That Is the Question

When Colonial Pipeline was brought down by a group of hackers in 2021, the company was forced to shell out $4.4 million in ransom to restore their oil operations. In early July last year, REvil demanded $70 million in ransom, the highest ever. Despite federal and homeland security agencies dissuading companies from attempting to pay ransoms, the Veeam 2022 Ransomware Trends Report found that 76% of organizations admit to paying ransomware criminals, with one-third still unable to recover data.