“The news is also a little worrying because of how a successful ransom might encourage hackers in future. Over the years, we’ve heard reports of smaller companies and local government entities paying ransoms to regain access to their computers, but this is perhaps one of the most high-profile examples of ransomware yet.” Colonial Pipeline reportedly paid the hackers nearly $5 million. (That’s an interestingly low number considering the stakes. It costs about half that to fill ‘er up with premium in California…)