Paying the ransom is the stupidest thing you can do when you’re hit with an attack.

Why?

• Emboldens the attacker to keep attacking you because now they know you’ll pay them
• Funds the attacker’s future attacks
• No guarantee they’ll actually stop or recover your data
• No guarantee they’ve actually left your environment without a complete rebuild.

A better use of ransom money would be to invest in a decent cybersecurity infrastructure to prevent this from happening in the first place, and to keep offsite backups.

**Never trust your attacker. **