New UK law would ban ransomware payments by publicly funded orgs

The British government has announced plans to move forward with a law that would bar public organizations from paying off ransomware attackers. The proposed legislation would add schools, town councils, National Health Service (NHS) hospitals and critical infrastructure managers to a ban which already applies to the national government.

The logic behind banning payments is simple. If cybercriminals know a ransomware attack against a UK school or hospital won't get them paid, they'll look somewhere else for a more lucrative target. Security Minister Dan Jarvis said that the government is "determined to smash the cyber criminal business model," and added that laws in the proposed package will require even private businesses to seek guidance from the government before paying a ransom.

Since the WannaCry attack on the NHS in 2017 launched the...