'This is a sales tactic': Experts warn ransomware hackers will often lower their prices - with some giving discounts up to 96%
Ransomware hackers are reportedly using various sales tactics to negotiate payments, including offering steep discounts. Research indicates that while leaking stolen data remains a common pressure tactic, many negotiations result in significant price reductions, with discounts averaging 57% and reaching up to 96%. Experts advise caution, as the promises made by these cybercriminals are often unverifiable.
- ▪A quarter of ransomware negotiations result in payment, but most pay less than the initial asking price.
- ▪Discounts offered by ransomware actors can be as high as 96.2%, with a median discount of 57%.
- ▪Attackers often employ tactics like bundling services and upselling to manipulate victims into paying.
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| Original publisher | TechRadar |
| Canonical URL | https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/this-is-a-sales-tactic-experts-warn-ransomware-hackers-will-often-lower-their-prices-with-some-giving-discounts-up-to-96-percent |
| Publication time | Mon, 25 May 2026 18:24:43 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-25T18:32:40.143Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-25T18:32:40.143Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
| Excerpt method | First ~120 words (~800 chars) of extracted publisher body, fair-use limited. |
| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | fwBCR3hu8X-g |
| Cluster logic | Grouped by semantic title/content similarity across sources within a rolling window. Same-publisher template collisions are excluded from coverage comparison. |
| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
| Substitutes article? | No — link-out required for full text |
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| Indexing | May the item be indexed (stored, ranked, made findable)? | Allowed |
| Snippet | May a short excerpt of the publisher's text be shown? | Allowed |
| AI summary | May WeSearch generate its own short summary of the article? | Limited |
| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
| Model training | May the content be used to train AI models? | Not asserted |
| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Pro Security 'This is a sales tactic': Experts warn ransomware hackers will often lower their prices - with some giving discounts up to 96% News By Sead Fadilpašić published 25 May 2026 Ransomware actors use a whole range of different tactics When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Shutterstock) 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 NordStellar finds many ransomware negotiations go unpaid, usually at steep discounts (median 57%, max 96.2%)Attackers used varied tactics: bundling “services,” offering fake security audits, proof of data, press threats,…
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