John Carlin spoke to DarkReading about ransomware attacks that have affected more than 1,000 U.S. schools in 2019.
“It is a difficult decision, but continuing to pay [ransoms] causes the criminal market to surge and will just lead to more attacks,” he said, advocating for no-pay policies to become standard practice. “If that becomes the policy, though, we should support state and localities with additional federal funding and assistance to ensure the best protection against ransomware: resilient systems.”
He also said insurers could provide incentives for “resilience” to ransomware attacks.