According to a growing number of risk management specialists, cyber insurance companies are increasingly to blame for a sharp uptick in ransomware attacks in both the private and public sectors. A new ProPublica investigation, for example, unveiled that cyber insurance companies are far too eager to pay ransom demands, and that is only encouraging hackers, criminals and cyber terrorists to ask for more and more money. In many ways, it’s a vicious cycle, in which each new cyber insurance payout emboldens hackers to carry out even more of these ransomware attacks.
Why cyber insurance companies are so eager to pay ransoms
Despite constant warnings by law enforcement authorities such as the FBI that organizations should never pay ransom demands, the evidence is mounting that the entire system of cyber insurance now available to organizations, both large and small, is only exacerbating the problem. Every time a cyber insurance payout is made, it only fuels more criminal activity, and emboldens more hackers to get into the game of shaking down corporations and public sector entities for cash by taking their computer systems offline. As a result, cyber…
