Never Trust Cybercriminals—even When They Offer to Help

Aug 31

3 min read

Cybercriminals arguing with each other might sound like good news.

One ransomware group threatens another. Accusations start flying. Secrets may be exposed. One side may even offer to help the other group’s victims recover their files.

For a moment, it almost feels like justice.

But there’s only one thing you can rely on cybercriminals to do: look after themselves.

Recently, one ransomware group threatened to expose members of another group, leak their information, and help victims unlock encrypted files.

If your business had been attacked, that offer might be tempting. Your systems are down. Employees can’t work. Customers are getting frustrated. Someone claims they can help you recover your data.

What could go wrong?

Quite a lot, actually.

Cybercriminals Are Not Fighting for You

When cybercriminal groups fight with each other, they’re not suddenly trying to protect innocent businesses.

They’re trying to gain control, hurt a competitor, build their reputation, or make more money. Their methods may change, but the goal stays the same.

Even an offer to help ransomware victims could be part of another scam.

The group might ask for money and then disappear. It could provide a fake recovery tool containing more malware. It might use the conversation to gather information about your network. It could also recover some files and then demand another payment.

It’s like being trapped between two scammers and asking which one has better customer service.

Neither one deserves your trust.

Why You Should Never Trust Cybercriminals

Cybercriminals have no legal or ethical reason to keep a promise.

They don’t offer contracts, warranties, or a helpful customer satisfaction survey. If they take your money and fail to unlock your files, you can’t exactly leave them a bad Google review.

Even if one group really does have a working recovery tool, using it could create new risks.

You don’t know what the tool contains. You don’t know what information it collects. You don’t know whether it creates another way into your network. You also don’t know if the criminals will come back and attack you again.

That’s why you should never trust cybercriminals, even when they claim to be helping.

Prepare Before You’re Under Pressure

A ransomware attack creates confusion. Systems stop working, employees start calling, and every minute of downtime can cost your business money.

That is not the best time to start building a response plan.

Your business should know what to do before an attack happens. That includes knowing:

Who has the authority to shut down systems
Who should contact your IT and cybersecurity team
How employees should report suspicious activity
Where clean backups are stored
How those backups will be restored
How customers and employees will be notified
Whether legal counsel, insurance providers, or law enforcement need to be involved

When these decisions are made ahead of time, your team can respond faster and avoid panic-driven mistakes.

Backups Need to Be Tested

Having backups is important. Knowing those backups work is even more important.

A backup that has never been tested is a little like a spare tire you haven’t looked at in ten years. It may save you—or it may be flat when you need it most.

Your backups should be separated from your main network so ransomware cannot easily encrypt or delete them. They should also be monitored and tested regularly.

You need to know what data is being backed up, how often backups run, and how long a full recovery would take.

“We think the backups are probably fine” is not a recovery strategy.

Early Detection Can Limit the Damage

Ransomware attacks do not always begin with an immediate ransom message.

Attackers may spend days or weeks inside a network before anyone notices. During that time, they can steal data, create new accounts, disable security tools, and search for backups.

Security monitoring can help identify unusual activity before the entire network is affected.

That could include a strange login, unexpected changes to an account, or a computer suddenly accessing large amounts of data.

The sooner suspicious activity is investigated, the better your chances of stopping the attack before it becomes a full business crisis.

Work With People You Can Trust

If your business is attacked, your response should involve trusted IT professionals, cybersecurity specialists, legal counsel, your cyber insurance provider, and law enforcement when appropriate.

Your recovery plan should never depend on finding a more helpful criminal.

Cybercriminal groups may argue, threaten each other, and pretend to take the side of victims. None of that changes what they are.

They’re criminals, not an emergency IT help desk.

If you’re not confident that your business could respond to a ransomware attack, now is the time to create a plan. We can help you strengthen your security, test your backups, monitor for threats, and build a response strategy before an attacker forces you to improvise.