Should cities pay cybercriminals?

Cities that refuse to pay cybercriminals a ransom can often end up paying more in recovery costs and lost revenue, says a new report by Deloitte’s Center for Government Insights.
It cites the City of Baltimore which refused a US$76,000 ransom demand, only to suffer over US$18 million in recovery costs and lost revenues.
In 2019 alone, governments reported 163 ransomware attacks with more than US$1.8 million in ransoms paid and tens of millions of dollars spent on recovery costs, a nearly 150 percent increase in reported attacks from 2018.
According to the report, Ransoming Government: What state and local government can do to break free from ransomware attacks, refusing to pay ransom dem...