The question of whether or not to pay up to ransomware criminals has been handed fresh significance by this week’s crippling NHS attack.
A ransomware attack on NHS London pathology partner Synnovis on Monday has led to some operations at London hospitals being cancelled or redirected, NHS London confirmed yesterday, as ransomware levels continue to spiral.
IT Channel Oxygen asked leaders from four of the UK’s top cybersecurity partners their opinion on whether there are any circumstances under which they’d recommend paying the ransom.
Here is what they said:
“In my opinion you should never pay ransom under any circumstances”
Marion Stewart, CEO, Red Helix
What would you advise customers who are hit by a ransomware attack? Are there any circumstances where they should consider paying the ransom?
This is not a straightforward question to answer. Many organisations are making the decision on this after an attack has hit as they haven’t taken time to really think about it as part of the risk planning governance. In my opinion you should never pay ransom under any circumstances.
In paying these threat actors you are facilitating and rewarding their crimes. This generation of wealth by these threat actors can be used not just for criminal means but also potentially to fund state or terrorist threats. As long as ransoms are paid, the ransomware epidemic will continue in my view. We need to stop it paying. It is far better for an organisation to invest in resilience and cyber protection up front in order to prevent or mitigate an attack of this type.
Will advancements in AI help or hinder ransomware levels, and in general do you expect ransomware attacks to continue increasing?
The AI arms race is real. The race between the attackers and the defenders is ongoing and will continue at pace. AI is continually advancing capabilities within security tooling to significantly bolster defences by improving threat detection, automating responses, and adapting to new threats as they arise, thereby reducing the success rate and impact of ransomware attacks. Conversely, AI is also being leveraged by cybercriminals to develop more advanced and efficient ransomware, conduct more effective phishing campaigns, and execute attacks at greater speed and scale. This is making attacks more sophisticated and harder to detect. As AI continues to evolve, the defenders need to outpace the attackers.
The advent of quantum computing will offer significant defensive capabilities through enhanced security measures and quantum-resistant cryptography, however, it will also pose a threat by potentially breaking existing cryptographic systems. The cybersecurity community needs to prepare for both the opportunities and challenges presented by quantum computing to effectively combat future ransomware threats.
I think as long as ransomware attacks pay then we will continue to see ransomware attacks.
To pay or not to pay? What does SEP2 CEO Paul Starr think? See next page for more…
