Less than 1 in 4 ransomware incidents are reported to the authorities

[Andra Zaharia]

The true financial impact of ransomware still relies on (educated) guesswork, but I still think that the problem is much bigger than we can imagine.

That's because so few ransomware attacks get reported, which I think is the key takeaway from this article.

"According to an FBI tally, ransomware attacks cost their victims a total of $209 million in the first three months of 2016, a stunning surge upward from $24 million in all of 2015."

 

[_CyberGhosT_]

Might want to edit your "Yes" option up there

 

[frogboy]

No i do not think i would report, i would not know who to report it to. I would just stick in my USB and run Macrium Reflect and go about my day. Oh and i guess i post here at MT about my experience.

 

[Andra Zaharia]

Might want to edit your "Yes" option up there

I think an admin added it, and, unfortunately, I can't edit it. Sorry. But thanks for the heads up!

 

[CMLew]

My answer: NO.

I lived in Malaysia. So whenever I need lodge a report, I have to pay a certain amount of $$. And for this case, I'm literally paying a "mediator" to fix my ransomware.

 

[LabZero]

I think that ethically it is correct to report to the authorities.

In fact, even if criminals are not easily identifiable, I believe that only by reporting to the authorities these events we can help to suppress this crime, thus providing also an important and fundamental collaboration in the investigative activities.

But I've never been infected by a ransomware, except voluntarily for testing purposes and honestly I would not do it for a very simple reason: they already know the situation, it's from years that this crap is around and, in my country, I have never seen a public safety campaign to educate the common people.
In business environment it is different, people do updating courses, paying...of course!

 

[_CyberGhosT_]

Thanks Klipsh, an honest answer
I being here in the US would not report it. The US being focused intently and exclusively on
the almighty dollar, above even the corruption in politics, leaves no room for stuff like this.
When Ransomware costs the US enough money it will then and only then become a area of focus
and until then reporting it will be akin to beating a dead horse.

 

[LabZero]

Thanks Klipsh, an honest answer
I being here in the US would not report it. The US being focused intently and exclusively on
the almighty dollar, above even the corruption in politics, leaves no room for stuff like this.
When Ransomware costs the US enough money it will then and only then become a area of focus
and until then reporting it will be akin to beating a dead horse.

Good points, agreed on this!

 

[Aura]

I'll say Yes, even though I'm sure it wouldn't change anything. I know the RCMP here takes reports for a lot of stuff when it comes to Cybercrime, and it looks like ransomware infections are also accepted.

B.C. RCMP - Computer Fraud Warning – 'Ransomware' and 'Scareware'

 

[Exterminator]

Yes it should be reported.The FBI does take this crime seriously,believe it or not,with a unit just dealing with cyber crime.
As stated in the article the best action is to report it and not pay the ransom.
Again this goes with being informed and some of that burden falls on the user.
Cyber crime of all types has been in the news all over the world.A small amount of self education and prevention goes a long way.
Law enforcement can only do so much.Local law enforcement does not have the manpower,expertise and resources to deal with this and other cyber crimes.
On the federal level the average Joe takes a back seat to Institutions,Banks and big businesses.
Unfortunate as that is there is just no way to delegate those resources to every average citizen that falls victim to this crime.
Reporting it does help as sooner or later the government law makers will have to realize that this cyber virus needs a cure and the average citizen needs help.
This could be accomplished by educating citizens on the safeguarding of personal info,do's & don'ts,what to look for,securing and backing up your most precious data.
This could be done on a local level in probably most every city.

 

[DardiM]

As a "user", I choose "No".

But my data are well protected.

I'm French, I don't think the government will be interested , 2017 : presidential election, they are too busy

 

[JakeXPMan]

No,
I never had one ... and hope I don't!

Brother got one in late 2014, really messed with the laptop too, killed the Windows Firewall... and I took a scan and reported the file to MT here It's in the Avira signatures now... heh heh

Since then I restored the laptop HDD firewalls back to normal. Last time any ransomware got in.

 

[hjlbx]

I'd just clean install my OS and keep moving...

 

[OokamiCreed]

I feel like I should but I probably never would. There are many valid arguments to be made on both sides. One such argument is that the more reports a particular crime has, the more likely a government organization will intervene. On the other hand, if you report a crime like this (which is most of the time difficult to find the culprit) and there is little attention due to lack of reports or being focused on something else, you might just be wasting your time.

As a US citizen, there are many laws that have protected me in the past but in the cyber world I don't feel like I could rely on anyone but myself for the well being of my data. To be fair though, anyone who uses IoT devices should learn or already know ways to protect themselves. The true and tried method to defend against ransomware is backing up and a few others include; encrypted files/drives so they can't be touched in the first place, keeping files offline and only connect to a device when it is needed, etc.

In my mind you should never rely or be dependent upon something/someone else when you have the power to do it yourself. It's more efficient this way. If we were talking about a DDoS attack on a home network then yes I would report it. Some things you really can't just do yourself.

At this time, I've never been affected by ransomware (apart from purposefully running it on a VM).

 

[Lucent Warrior]

It is all about allocation of resources. As stated above, agencies tend to direct resources to bigger entities and will more then likely not waste them on a single home user. While reporting this would help build their statistics and graphs, it will more then likely take a serious backseat to government and corporations. I would personally wipe my system and reinstall and move on as well.

 

[jamescv7]

Actually it is a case to case basis.

Since I'm not an American individual, the place where living [Philippines] already known for inconsistent against cybercrimes. So hunting will go down to the FBI instead on local investigators especially ransomware production came along like in China, Russia, or even US.

The natural part is to report to authorities especially if your data holds important for business scale; but for home users likely reformat is the solution and does not care much about the attack.