Do hackers ask for ransom as a single payment, or there is more of a scalable repeatable business model with recurring revenue? A subscription service seems convenient.
The hackers offer a lifetime licensing model for their ExtortionPro SaaS service. With a single convenient payment you can be guaranteed that your enterprise security and confidential information is in good hands. At least until the hacking group is acquired and they reposition their offering as a two year subscription.
> Do hackers ask for ransom as a single payment, or there is more of a scalable repeatable business model with recurring revenue? A subscription service seems convenient.
Given that in many cases they are more skilled than the actual cybersec folks in those companies, they should charge a fee to monitor their systems.
There's prior art for that business model. I'm told it was popular in Italy many years ago.
Pen testing is a thing even though I don’t know how attractive it is for hackers to do, full time. And probably black hat hacking is more rewarding in financial terms but also riskier.
I like that you’re discussing revenue streams. They also add social proof on the pricing page (“We blackmailed hospital xyz with success”) and play dopamine effects (“Play PasswordGuessr to unlock a file, or pay to unlock all files”). The infinite scroll is coming to show what your API keys have access to (highly addictive, look at all those bank transactions and, mmh, revenge pics with your ex).
If the hackers haven’t even figured out a business model to really scale out, maybe WD should just acquihire their firm. Not only do they get their data back, but they get a world-class red team to handle their customers’ security.
Sounds too expensive, and outside of WD’s core value proposition. What’s the value to the bottom line here? I’m just not seeing it. Time to buyback some stock!
