Bad news — paying a ransomware demand might cause hackers to come back and ask for more
Pro Security Bad news — paying a ransomware demand might cause hackers to come back and ask for more News By Sead Fadilpašić Published 24 July 2026 Hackers really have no incentive to walk away from a victim, experts say When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. At the same time, there is no guarantee that the decryption keys will work, that the attackers will really delete the files they had stolen, and that they won’t strike again in a few weeks.This final argument has now been proven. While around half (56%) of victims paid one ransom and regained access, more than a third (37%) faced a second extortion demand soon after paying.
- ▪Pro Security Bad news — paying a ransomware demand might cause hackers to come back and ask for more News By Sead Fadilpašić Published 24 July 2026 Hackers really have no incentive to walk away from a victim, experts say When you purchase t
- ▪At the same time, there is no guarantee that the decryption keys will work, that the attackers will really delete the files they had stolen, and that they won’t strike again in a few weeks.This final argument has now been proven.
- ▪While around half (56%) of victims paid one ransom and regained access, more than a third (37%) faced a second extortion demand soon after paying.
TechRadar publishes from United Kingdom and files mainly under tech. We currently carry 1,077 of its stories.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Pro Security Bad news — paying a ransomware demand might cause hackers to come back and ask for more News By Sead Fadilpašić Published 24 July 2026 Hackers really have no incentive to walk away from a victim, experts say When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Getty Images) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Proofpoint 2026 AI‑Era Ransomware Report found 54% of victims paid attackers despite warnings37% faced repeat extortion after paying; 2% paid but never regained access to filesExperts urge prevention: phishing awareness, offline backups, and…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at TechRadar.
Discussion
0 commentsMore from TechRadar
