GovInfoSecurity Insights from industry experts SonicWall Was Hacked. Was It Also Extorted? Hacker Claims SonicWall Paid Ransom; SonicWall Stays Silent Jeremy Kirk ( Twitter Inside SonicWall's headquarters in Milpitas, California. (Photo: Arctecinc) Cybersecurity companies advise their clients not to pay ransoms for good reasons: Pay once and the attackers may come back with their hand out again. It also promotes a cybercrime business model: When one pays, it's likely that other victims may pay with the right pressure. Curiously, SonicWall hasn't said much about the extent and damage of its own breach since its announcement. But there are strong indications that SonicWall may have been targeted by an extortion attempt.