Crooks

Cybercriminals reaping large sums is becoming more common in the wake of a wave of ransomware attacks in the U.S.

One of the most recent large hauls was from Sherwood, Ark.-based The Heritage Company, which had to temporarily shut down operations after making a ransom payment of “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to the criminals behind the attack.

Heritage's CEO Sandra Franecke "broke the news in a letter to her 300 employees that the 61-year-old firm would suspend activities,” Fox16 previously reported.

Heritage was eventually "forced to pay the crooks to get the ‘key’ just to get our systems back up and running," according to the letter, which also noted the company's IT department has been struggling to bring its systems back up.

“Paying a ransom and not receiving an effective decryptor key is one of the primary reasons why law enforcement and cyber security pros warn against giving in to a ransomware attacker’s demands.”