Deal With the Devil: Ransomware Experiment Proves you Can Negotiate Price Down

It would seem to defy logic, but the company that takes your ability to access your digital files is very keen on giving it back to you. A cybersecurity firm named F-Secure did a study on five ransomware firms to judge their pricing and customer service. They found that on average the companies gave a 29 percent discount on the ransoms they offered and often times these ransoms can be cheaper than your cable or insurance bill. According to a security expert at F-Secure, these Ransomware companies discovered that the way to get customers to pay their ransoms is to give them a comfortable experience with prompt and helpful responses to victim inquiries. F-Secure reports that some of these queries by email or otherwise could be responded to within minutes. Not all of the firms scored such high a rating, it was dependent upon the firm but mostly the customer service was good so as to ensure a high probability of payment. It is also suggested that victims take the initiative and haggle over prices with the ransomware companies and that even if you are told no it does not necessarily mean that things will get worse for you.