Glossary
Ransomware
Malware that encrypts your systems and demands payment for the decryption key, now almost always paired with data theft.
Ransomware encrypts your files and servers and holds them hostage until you pay for a decryption key. In practice the encryption is only half of it. Modern operators steal the data first and threaten to leak it, so paying for decryption does nothing about the copy sitting on their infrastructure. See double extortion.
The cost is rarely the ransom itself. Recovery, downtime and lost customers usually dwarf it, which is why the pay-or-don't-pay decision comes down to whether you have tested immutable backups. Estimate your own exposure.