If you pay a hacker’s ransom, chances are that they’ll come back for more
- ID
- 6889
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 22 Jul 2026, 11:29 PM
- Fetched
- 23 Jul 2026, 12:24 AM
- Provider
- TechCrunch
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/22/if-you-pay-a-hackers-ransom-chances-are-that-theyll-come-back-for-more/
- Source URL
- https://techcrunch.com/feed/
Summary
- Score
- 6.5
- Created
- 23 Jul 2026, 12:25 AM
- Tags
- Audience
- developerssaas_startup_founders
What happened
Security researchers confirm that paying ransomware demands rarely ends the threat, as attackers often return for repeat payments once a victim is identified as willing to pay. The article reinforces the long-standing consensus that extortion rackets operate without good-faith incentives, making negotiation fundamentally unreliable.
Why it matters
For Malaysian startups, SaaS founders, and developers managing infrastructure, this underscores the importance of preventative security measures—backups, access controls, and incident response plans—over hoping a payment will resolve a breach. Ransomware groups increasingly target SMEs and regional businesses where defenses are weaker, making this a practical operational risk for local builders.
Discussion angle
What baseline security practices (immutable backups, MFA, network segmentation) should Malaysian startups prioritize given that paying a ransom is not a viable recovery strategy?