Meat producer JBS put $11m into the hands of its hackers. Is paying such a ransom ever justifiable?

James Moore considers the options open to companies that face ransom demands – and whether they can ever really win

JBS: The world’s biggest meat producer has been battered by hackers (Getty Images)

To pay or not to pay?

This is the impossible dilemma faced by any number of organisations that fall victim to the current epidemic of cybercrime.

One of them, the US arm of JBS, the world’s biggest meat producer, has just opted to meet its hackers’ ransom demands. And how.