Despite the FBI's typical stance against negotiation with terrorists, Assistant special agent in charge of its Boston CYBER and counterintelligence program, Joseph Bonavolonta, recently recommended that victims of ransomware pay the fee, according to Gizmodo.
"The ransomware is that good," he said. "To be honest, we often advise people just to pay the ransom."
Ransomware is a form of malware that encrypts all of the victim's files and then demands payment in Bitcoin to regain access. Given the fact that the payments are typically around $500, paying the fee is much more feasible than trying to legally fight the encryption and risk the loss of your files.
"The amount of money made by these criminals is enormous and that's because the overwhelming majority of institutions just pay the ransom," said Bonavolonta.
As of yet, the FBI has yet to create a solution to the attacks, although the recommendation to pay the fines seems to be helping keep the fees demanded fairly low, according to Business Insider. Despite their suggestion to pay the fine, the FBI still encourages victims to file reports to help them devise a solution in the future.
Currently, Cryptowall is the strongest form of ransom-malware on the Internet, replacing Cryptolocker as the most prevalent form, according to Inside Bitcoins.
