[Jaepa]

From what I understand there's a market for ransomware negotiators, and reputation (and tooling) is very much a thing that affects settled price.

Understand: For the ransomer's point of view this is another monday, albeit one where a big fish walked away.

[FirmwareBurner]

So there's honor among thieves.

[barryrandall]

Only to the extent that they derive value from being perceived as consistent.

[ben_w]

There's an iterated prisoner's dilemma, I wouldn't go as far as calling that honour.

[GuB-42]

That's fundamentally what honor is.

[ben_w]

The result may be the same, but I think honour requires a state of mind where you do the "honourable" thing even if nobody will know.

[__MatrixMan__]

Agreed. Honor may have its roots in a prisoner's dilemma, but you're not actually practicing it until you have Stockholm syndrome.

[deaddodo]

"states of mind" are all externally influenced. If you have a fundamentally "honorable" mindset, it's because your history has reinforced that acting honorable nets you an overall positive outcome.

Which just reinforces the "honor = iterative prisoner's dilemma" argument.

[LastTrain]

I’m not doubting this - but can you provide anything to substantiate that reputable ransomeware negotiators are a thing? [edit - nm I googled it, it’s a thing]