A second Florida municipality paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to ransomware extortionists. Such actions set a terrible precedent and greatly encourages criminals to target cities. Additionally, those who cave and pay the demands will earn a reputation of being an easy victim. In many cases not all data is recovered intact and attackers are motivated to leave-in backdoors that they can use at a later date to re-infect systems.
Yes, it can be expensive and impactful to resist. It will take time to rebuild and restore systems and data. Learn the lesson, put ransomware prevention, detection, and response capabilities in place. It is better to invest in stronger cybersecurity versus paying criminals to continue to advance and victimize others.
Cyber criminals go where the money is! Don't pay.
BBC News: Second US town pays up to ransomware hackers https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48770128
It’s a bad precedence to start
What about the people who can't afford to resist?
In the end they will spend more paying the attackers than securing their systems.
And if they refuse to pay, what is the alternative?
If they are not prepared, they will likely struggle to get services restored and data recovered. It is not pretty, but giving into the threats is a far worse proposition.
Paying ransom is just a bad idea. It gives the attackers the reward they see, provides them resources to innovate, and motivates them to continue victimizing others.