Episode 8: Ransomware – To Pay, or Not to Pay? Over the past few years, there has been an increasing number of ransomware attacks, often targeted towards critical infrastructure with the potential to create a national emergency. The extent and impact of these attacks has turned ransomware into a global problem, affecting both public and private organizations. In this episode we explore the typical style of ransomware attacks, look at who is carrying them out, and discuss some best practice protective strategies Joining our regular host, Neira Jones, for this episode are Paul Chichester, Director of Operations of the UK National Cyber Security Centre, and Bob Burns, Chief Product Security Officer at Thales.

Paul Chichester Paul is Director of Operations of the UK National Cyber Security Centre. He has worked in the UK government intelligence and security community for over 25 years in a variety of offensive and defensive cyber roles. Paul was awarded the MBE in 2005 for his ground-breaking work in cyber.

Bob Burns Bob is the Chief Product Security Officer for Thales Cloud Protection and Licensing. While formally trained as a computer scientist, he caught the security ‘bug’ early in his career, and never looked back. With over 20 years’ experience in the design, development and delivery of high-assurance security products, Bob leads the team of product security and certification specialists in charge of securing the next generation of Thales products and technologies.