Streisand effect: Businesses that pay ransomware gangs are more likely to hit the headlines | Computer Weekly

"Companies that pay ransom demands to cyber criminals in the hope of restoring their IT systems may be at risk of greater negative publicity than those that refuse. An initial analysis of data seized by the National Crime Agency (NCA) in the takedown of the LockBit ransomware group suggests that the best way to avoid bad publicity may be to refuse to pay."

""It turns out that you are more likely to have a story written about you if you have paid than if you have not paid," he said in an interview with Computer Weekly. Smeets' conclusions fly in the face of claims by criminal ransomware gangs that companies that pay up can avoid bad publicity. He calls it the Streisand effect, whereby in paying a ransom to avoid publicity, companies end up attracting the very publicity they are trying to avoid."

An analysis of LockBit data seized by the National Crime Agency compared press coverage of 100 companies that paid ransoms with 100 that refused. Companies that paid were more likely to attract news stories than those that refused. Paying ransoms can produce a Streisand effect, where payment intended to avoid publicity instead draws attention. Law enforcement argues against paying because it funds criminal ecosystems and offers no guarantee of data recovery. The analysis found many organisations were poorly prepared for negotiations, with some admitting lack of backups and desperation, weakening their bargaining position with LockBit affiliates.

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