Ransomware Splash Screens, Loss Aversion and Trust: Insights from Behavioral Economics

Ransomware is a fast-evolving form of cybercrime in which a ransom is demanded to restore access to a victim’s encrypted files. The business model of the criminals relies on victims being willing to pay the ransom demand. In this paper we use insights from behavioural economics to see how the framing of a ransom demand may influence willingness to pay the ransom. We then report the results of an experiment in which subjects (n=93) were shown eight different ransom demand splash screens, based on well-known examples of ransomware. The subjects were asked to rate and rank the ransom demands on six criteria that included willingness to pay and willingness to trust the criminals. This allows a within-subject comparison of different ransom demand frames. We find that trust is the main determinant of willingness to pay. We also find that positive framing is likely to increase willingness to pay compared to negative framing.