FBI: Beware! More Americans Are Losing Money to Ransomware.

RP Members keep an eye out for this!

According to the FBI, the number of Americans being hit with ransomware is increasing, and likely to continue to grow throughout 2016. Here is what you need to know.

On Thursday, The FBI disclosed to The Wall Street Journal that the number of Americans being hit with ransomware - that is, computer malware that encrypts users' files unless they pay ransoms to criminals - is increasing, and likely to continue to grow throughout 2016.

According to data from the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, in 2015 there were 2,453 reported ransomware incidents versus only 1,838 in 2014. Overall, losses in 2014 amounted to $23.8 million and grew to about $24.1 million in 2015, meaning that while actual losses are increasing, there is at least some glimmer of hope in that the average loss per incident has dropped. (Loss figures include lost productivity, etc. and are typically far larger figures than those of just the ransoms.)

Once ransomware has hit, there is often little better advice offered to victims than to simply to pay the ransom. In fact, despite all the official bravado we often hear from government officials about never yielding to felons, according to the Wall Street Journal, "an official in the FBI's Boston field office said at a cybersecurity conference last year that he often tells victims simply to pay the ransom."