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# Cybersecurity Firms Expand Ransom Negotiation Teams as Extortion Attacks Surge
- URL: https://adjacent.media/signals/cybersecurity-firms-expand-ransom-negotiation-teams-as-extortion-attacks-surge/
- Published: 2026-04-07T01:23:09.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-07T01:33:56.000Z
- Description: Palo Alto Networks and Sophos are staffing up specialized negotiation units to broker ransomware payments. Enterprises now treat hostage diplomacy with criminals as a core security service rather than an ad-hoc crisis response.
- Author: Jonathan Greene
- Tags: #signal, theme-connected, cybersecurity, infrastructure

Source: [Financial Times](https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/9aa781b9-8505-4ce0-9127-361a8d5dacac?ref=adjacent.media)

Palo Alto Networks and Sophos are staffing up specialized negotiation units to broker ransomware payments. Enterprises now treat hostage diplomacy with criminals as a core security service rather than an ad-hoc crisis response. Paying ransoms has become normalized enough that security vendors can monetize the negotiation process itself, creating perverse incentives where the infrastructure of capitulation becomes a revenue line. The ransomware market has matured from opportunistic attacks into a structured extortion industry with established intermediaries.