Black Hat Europe 2025: Reputation matters – even in the ransomware economy

A Black Hat Europe 2025 write-up summarizing a presentation on the LockBit ransomware-as-a-service ecosystem: how affiliate reputation and perceived trustworthiness shape negotiations and payments, the economic trade-offs victims face when paying versus recovering, the role of insurers, law enforcement efforts to undermine LockBit’s trust, and a recommendation to tightly segregate cyber insurance information to limit extortion targeting.