The Negotiator You Hope You'll Never Need

An alarming surge in ransomware attacks has spawned a mini-industry of specialists who handle the dirty work of bargaining with hackers on behalf of corporate clients.

- ADRIAN CROFT

KURTIS MINDER HAS some advice about how to negotiate with criminals who extort millions of dollars by crippling companies’ computer systems and stealing their data: Don’t call them “bad guys.”

“The bad guys know they are bad guys—they are trying to pretend to be business people,” says Minder, who, as CEO of cyber-intelligence specialist GroupSense, has negotiated on behalf of at least two dozen organisations targeted with so-called ransomware. “As long as you pretend with them that this is just a normal business transaction, it goes better.”

Imagine the nightmare scenario: You start work one day but can’t access crucial customer information on your computer because hackers have encrypted your files and are demanding big money in exchange for the decryption key. In most cases, the attackers also steal sensitive company data and threaten to publish it.

At best, the extortion demands could severely disrupt your company’s operations for days. At worst, they could ruin its reputation and put it out of business.

Companies that fall victim often seek help from a mini-industry of ransomware negotiators who are experienced at responding to such attacks. Their job is to talk with the hackers, ideally securing a hefty reduction in the ransom in the process. They also arrange payment in Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency, the hackers’ preferred form of payment because it’s hard to trace.

Ransomware attacks have thrived during the COVID pandemic, their numbers rising 62% globally last year to 305 million, according to cybersecurity firm SonicWall. Another security firm, PurpleSec, said the worldwide cost to businesses in 2020 was $20 billion, up from $11.5 billion a year earlier.