If we have objectively decided that we are going to pay something, then I tell the threat actors that.

We intend to pay you.

And then every message after that, I remind them of that fact.

Hi and welcome to Sabirousin's malicious life besides.

I'm Renlin. Well, it finally happened.

Well, it finally happened.

The threat you were worried about, materialized. The shit has hit the fan. Things went

south. All hell broke loose. I'm actually out of cliches. Your organization was hit by ransomware and it is now time to reach

out with the hackers and negotiate the terms of a deal that will bring back your data and hopefully

won't leave the company's coffers empty.

But before you sit down in front of your computer and fire off a message to the hackers,

stop. Are you sure that you know what you're doing? Are you

certain that you won't screw up the negotiations and do more harm than good?

Curtis Minder is an experienced ransomware negotiator, and he has plenty of examples of clients who took

their ransom negotiation into their own hands and blundered it badly.

In the following conversation with Nate Nelson, our senior producer, Curtis talks about the various

negotiation techniques he and his colleagues at Group Sense, a digital risk

protection services company founded, employ when negotiating a deal with the bad guys.

Why shouldn't you lie to the hackers?

How does one decide what's a reasonable amount to pay and why sometimes working with clients

is as difficult as dealing with the hackers.

It's an utterly fascinating peak into the mind of a ransomware negotiator.

...