University ransom payout ‘better than battling hackers’

Paying a CAN$20,000 (US$15,700) ransom may seem like a lot of money, but one expert says it's better than trying to wrestle control of the system back from hackers at the risk of losing data, write Dave Dormer and Stephanie Wiebe for CBC News.

University of Calgary officials announced last week they paid hackers a week after ransomware encrypted staff and faculty emails. John Aycock, an associate professor in the computer science department at University of Calgary, told the Calgary Eyeopener the decision deserves a bit of context. With a faculty of more than 1,800, he said an hour of their time – even if they made minimum wage – would cost more than CAN$20,000.

"In context, even if you say you've saved an hour of everyone's time, you're actually ahead of the game in the big picture, so you could actually argue the university in fact got a bargain in some ways."
Full report on the CBC site