I feel this is actually a decent service for a few reasons:
- Many average users don't want to understand cryptocurrencies, how to safely and securely buy and use it is a challenge in and of itself.
- They're on the hook and the client pays nothing if the ransomer fails to provide a working key.
- They'll also manage the ransom decryption software - if there's problems with it there are 3rd party tools that can often do a better job of decryption than the original decryption tool, again, this is something that's going to be complicated for average users to deal with.
- For some ransomware there are decryption processes available without the need to pay the ransom, figuring out which of these applies can be challenging
- Certain institutions may be unable or unwilling to work with the attacker directly - introducing a middle man to broker can help solve this.
Overall the piece seems somewhat hyperbolic.
- Many average users don't want to understand cryptocurrencies, how to safely and securely buy and use it is a challenge in and of itself.
- They're on the hook and the client pays nothing if the ransomer fails to provide a working key.
- They'll also manage the ransom decryption software - if there's problems with it there are 3rd party tools that can often do a better job of decryption than the original decryption tool, again, this is something that's going to be complicated for average users to deal with.
- For some ransomware there are decryption processes available without the need to pay the ransom, figuring out which of these applies can be challenging
- Certain institutions may be unable or unwilling to work with the attacker directly - introducing a middle man to broker can help solve this.
Overall the piece seems somewhat hyperbolic.