Why Won’t U.S. Law Enforcement Promote Anti-Ransom Tools?

According to Europol, the police agency of the European Union, its library of free online tools has helped more than 200,000 ransomware victims recover their files, saving victims roughly $108 million in ransom since the initiative, dubbed “No More Ransom,” was rolled out three years ago. This is in contrast to the U.S. experience, where law enforcement is “strangely quiet” about promoting alternatives to paying a ransom, according to Josephine Wolff in a New York Times oped. Recommendations from U.S. officials typically consist of generic advice about reducing the chances you’ll be hit in the first place – e.g. keep your software patches up to date – or obvious advance measures that will minimize damage after the fact, like doing frequent backups. As for what to do once you’re hit, initially the advice of the FBI was to pay up, but now “don’t pay” is the prevailing message from the FBI and other U.S. officials – in any case without mention of possible recovery options. A few U.S. victims do go to the Interpol site: Roughly 10 percent of those using it are from the U.S., according to Wolff.