Meet the Ransomware Negotiators

Dark Reading Confidential

Episode 2: When a business gets infected with ransomware - its systems and data locked down by cybercriminals - there is rarely a quick fix to get back up and running. Sometimes the nature of the attack and the lack of backup options force the victim organization to pony up and pay ransom to the attackers. That's typically where a ransomware negotiator – often a third-party incident responder – steps in. These are the experts who communicate and negotiate with the ransomware attackers on the ransom demands, with the goal of decrypting locked-down systems so the victim business can get fully back up and running. In Episode 2 of Dark Reading Confidential, we meet two professional ransomware negotiators who share their real-world stories of the delicate deal-making process with cybercriminals who hold victims' computer systems and data for ransom. Among their stories: How they negotiated with cybercriminals to restore operations in a hospital NICU where lives were at stake, and a negotiation on behalf of a church, when the attackers themselves got "a little religion."