On Tuesday, the UK government published a Home Office-led consultation proposing a ban on the public sector and critical infrastructure organizations making ransomware payments with the hope of disrupting ransomware gangs’ financial models and gather intelligence to help law enforcement target their operations.
The Home Office said that expanding an existing ban on ransomware payments would help make critical services such as hospitals, schools, railways, and other essential public services less attractive targets for ransomware attacks.
In addition to the ban, ransomware incident mandatory reporting has also been proposed aiming to boost UK law enforcement agencies’ access to intelligence on attacks and support international law enforcement operations targeting ransomware gangs.
“With an estimated $1bn flowing to ransomware criminals globally in 2023, it is vital we act to protect national security as a key foundation upon which this Government’s Plan for Change is built.
“These proposals help us meet the scale of the ransomware threat, hitting these criminal networks in their wallets and cutting off the key financial pipeline they rely upon to operate,” UK Security Minister, Dan Jarvis, commented.
Furthermore, the consultation will explore the implementation of ransomware payment prevention regime, offering victims guidance on how to respond to cyber incidents. It would also help block payments to known criminal groups and sanctioned entities.
The consultation will run for 12 weeks, ending on April 8.
Evan Dornbush, former NSA cybersecurity expert had this to say:
“Something needs to change. The economics of cybercrime favor the aggressor. Until solutions can effect an increase in attackers’ costs and/or a decrease in attackers’ revenues, there is nothing to suggest the increasing rates of attack will diminish.”
I have said for a while that nobody should ever pay a threat actor who is holding their data hostage or is threatening to leak their data. Or perhaps both. It emboldens them to do more of this which is bad for all of us. This is a start, but more needs to be done to make sure that crime doesn’t pay.
UPDATE: Lawrence Pingree, VP, Dispersive adds this:
“The benefit of this approach is that the reward for doing the ransom goes away. Australia did a similar mandate. I think it will likely have a positive effect on larger entities where the targeting often happens.”
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This entry was posted on January 15, 2025 at 2:24 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags UK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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UK considers ban on public sector ransomware payments
On Tuesday, the UK government published a Home Office-led consultation proposing a ban on the public sector and critical infrastructure organizations making ransomware payments with the hope of disrupting ransomware gangs’ financial models and gather intelligence to help law enforcement target their operations.
The Home Office said that expanding an existing ban on ransomware payments would help make critical services such as hospitals, schools, railways, and other essential public services less attractive targets for ransomware attacks.
In addition to the ban, ransomware incident mandatory reporting has also been proposed aiming to boost UK law enforcement agencies’ access to intelligence on attacks and support international law enforcement operations targeting ransomware gangs.
“With an estimated $1bn flowing to ransomware criminals globally in 2023, it is vital we act to protect national security as a key foundation upon which this Government’s Plan for Change is built.
“These proposals help us meet the scale of the ransomware threat, hitting these criminal networks in their wallets and cutting off the key financial pipeline they rely upon to operate,” UK Security Minister, Dan Jarvis, commented.
Furthermore, the consultation will explore the implementation of ransomware payment prevention regime, offering victims guidance on how to respond to cyber incidents. It would also help block payments to known criminal groups and sanctioned entities.
The consultation will run for 12 weeks, ending on April 8.
Evan Dornbush, former NSA cybersecurity expert had this to say:
“Something needs to change. The economics of cybercrime favor the aggressor. Until solutions can effect an increase in attackers’ costs and/or a decrease in attackers’ revenues, there is nothing to suggest the increasing rates of attack will diminish.”
I have said for a while that nobody should ever pay a threat actor who is holding their data hostage or is threatening to leak their data. Or perhaps both. It emboldens them to do more of this which is bad for all of us. This is a start, but more needs to be done to make sure that crime doesn’t pay.
UPDATE: Lawrence Pingree, VP, Dispersive adds this:
“The benefit of this approach is that the reward for doing the ransom goes away. Australia did a similar mandate. I think it will likely have a positive effect on larger entities where the targeting often happens.”
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This entry was posted on January 15, 2025 at 2:24 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags UK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.