"FBI Gives Hollywood Hacking Victims Surprising Advice: "Pay the Ransom""

HR:

The frequency of the attacks has overwhelmed the FBI's Los Angeles field office, which has been unable to properly investigate all of them. The FBI's surprising advice, according to industry sources: Pay the ransom. After all, the hackers aren't asking much more than a Cannes hotel tab. In all of the Hollywood extortion cases, the hackers demanded less than $80,000. A law enforcement source says that in California, losses would need to exceed $50,000 for the U.S. Attorney's office to prosecute, thus keeping the FBI from pursuing most of these cases.

But an FBI spokesperson in the L.A. office denied that the agency is telling companies to cough up the bitcoins in cases of ransomware. "The FBI does not encourage payment of ransom as it keeps the criminals in business," says Laura Eimiller. "Of course, the individual victim must weigh their options."