Betsy was devastated. She had single-handedly invited a criminal into her company’s inner sanctum. She might as well have opened the door of the office building to a thief and offered him (or her—it took all sorts, she reminded herself) a cup of coffee. She felt like she’d just betrayed a family member.

DISCLAIMER: This case study depicts a fictional cyber incident based on real-life scenarios described by expert interviewees, media reports, and other publicly available resources. While the details surrounding the characters, company, and ransomware attack are imagined, the business concerns and legal issues raised are plausible and based on actual cases.

Aly McDevitt is Data & Research Journalist at Compliance Week. She has a background in education and college consulting. Prior to teaching, she was an editor/author at Thomson Reuters, where she reported...