Many Factors to Consider

Proofpoint’s Joe Sykora said paying or not paying is going to depend on the size of the organization and what they can afford, and how soon they can get back online.

“That’s what’s going to determine it,” he said. “Some industries do not have the option, like if I’m a health care provider and it’s a life or death situation. Most of the time, at least what we’ve seen across our customer bases is, yes, they have. We just had a study where we did a lot of research with people who initially made payments and got the data back, those who made second payments and then also people who didn’t. On the business side of it, is there is a cost for being down? Then it becomes a business decision. And I think that’s the way a lot of C-levels view it on the end user side. So it’s going to depend on the situation. There are a lot of variables to it.”