Here I was thinking this is a very good example why paying ransoms should indeed be outlawed. It's a classic case of the individual's short-term interests conflicting with the long-term interests of both society at large and the individual being blackmailed. My main reservation is, I'm not sure how effective a ban on ransom payments would be, in reality.

Well if it had been made illegal and people stopped paying long ago maybe these hackers wouldn't have bothered since they wouldn't expect a payout. It's only going to get worse as people continue to pay.