As cybercrime is at all-time high levels across the world, many are calling for governments to forbid making ransom payments to hackers. So-called ransomware-cyber criminals hold important computer systems hostage on a daily basis, and in order to restore order and ownership, they demand large payments from their victims.

One group of hackers, DarkSide, is reported to have made at least $90m (£63m/€74m) since August 2020, according to Bitcoin records. Not to mention, the CEO of Colonial Pipeline, the United States' largest pipeline system for refined oil products, admitted to paying almost $4.5m last week after an attack forced the firm to halt its fuel transportation.

On the other hand, Bitcoin analysts stress that these occurrences and figures are "just a drop in the ocean," with many other prolific online gangs making huge profits from their victims - ranging from tech companies, educational establishments, governments to healthcare systems.

But, with no legal rules governing the Internet in its entirety since it's not actually owned by anyone and is a public commodity - what recourse do leaders have against a rising problem? The hackers work anonymously, thus making them hard to track down and usually live in countries that are unwilling to arrest them.

Law enforcement agencies urge victims not to pay such ransoms in the hope it would discourage the crime if its profit-driven motivation no longer succeeded, but, paying the ransom is not illegal and many organisations choose to do so in private - to protect their company.

The question remains, what are these large multi-million ransoms funding - child exploitation? Human trafficking? Terrorism?

What do you think could be done to end this problem? Would banning ransom payments altogether work as intended or create even more undesired effects?

Do companies paying such sums behind closed doors reinforce the behaviour of hacking?

Are you worried about the protection of your data or national services due to the spike in such cybercrimes?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Influence your world,
Toluna Team