Over the past few months notorious cyber crime groups have been targeted individual PC users as well as with either a cryptoware that encrypts files till a bitcoin ransom is paid or demanding ransom after carrying out hack attacks on corporations. The Ashley Madison and the TalkTalk hack attackers apparently demanded ransom in bitcoins for not exposing the data stolen during those hack attacks.
More often than not, hackers often prefer bitcoin as their main medium of payment, due to its peer to peer decentralized ledger, which enables instantaneous transactions and asset settlement.
Nevertheless, FBI, the USA’s top law enforcement agency which used to be the last resort for the companies that got hacked for help, has also left the victims in dismay.
Last week, the FBI recommended that all victims of these hacking threats and data breaches pay the hackers. “The ransomware is that good,” FBI Assistant Special Agent Joseph Bonavolonta explained to an audience of business and technology leaders during the Q&A at the 2015 Cyber Security Summit.
“We often advise people just to pay the ransom.” said Joseph Bonavolonta, FBI Assistant Special Agent during the event.
“The amount of money made by these criminals is enormous and that’s because the overwhelming majority of institutions just pay the ransom,” Bonavolonta added.
FBI has admitted that the task to get all of the data is next to impossible if the users are attacked with Cryptolocker, Cryptowall or any other forms of ransomware such as the Windows 10 ransomware scam without the payment.
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