Paying a ransom is no joke. Being victimized by ransomware can leave you breathless and concerned for the future of your business, and anyone who would inflict this type of harm cannot be trusted. With any ransomware incident, you are dealing with criminals who will not hesitate to harm you further to extort payment. But you may not have much choice but to make payment if your backups are outdated or deleted by the attackers, as what happens with most ransomware victims. So, you’re wondering: should I trust the word of these cyber criminals ? And the answer is no, you shouldn’t. However, these threats actors do have a reputation they must maintain in order to sustain the criminal industry’s business model. If the cybercriminal industry is known for having individuals that don’t provide a decryption key when paid,then their leverage factor gets significantly reduced. No one would pay a ransom knowing that the most likely scenario will be that they’re getting scammed. These cyber criminals are making too much money, and they wouldn’t want to risk running that. Now, that doesn’t mean there have been zero instances where a cybercriminal didn’t provide a decryption key. In one case, the ransom was paid, but the victim had still not gotten their decryption keys after several days, which was highly unusual. After a “customer complaint”was made on the dark web, peers to the bad guy in question intervened and put pressure on the individual to “wake up” and deliver the keys. As it turns out, this individual was on a drug binge and not responding; but his fellow peers didn’t want the republicans of the ransomware gangs tarnished, so they intervened. As hard as is to believe, that’s a true story. Therefore, if you decide to pay a ransom, we recommend engaging an experienced ransomware negotiation firm, as they can help you through the process and make sure you are complying with federal regulations, not to mention reducing your ransom payment. Make sure you get assistance, because there are federal money laundering laws that you can run afoul of if not informed. Stay vigilant in all of your security practices and processes, and if you need assistance in ransomware prevention or recovery efforts, Santoshi Hackers Intelligence always available 24/7,365 days a year .