UK government to ban public bodies from paying ransoms to hackers

The UK government is planning to ban public bodies from paying ransoms to computer hackers, and private companies will be required to inform authorities if they plan to cave into cash demands.

The stance, announced on Tuesday by the Home Office security minister, Dan Jarvis, is intended to send a message to international cybercriminals “that the UK is united in the fight against ransomware.” It follows crippling ransomware attacks on the British Library in 2023 and NHS hospitals in London last summer.

The government said almost three-quarters of responses to a consultation backed the proposal and that “public sector bodies and operators of critical national infrastructure, including the NHS, local councils and schools, would be banned from paying ransom demands to criminals.”

Read more at The Guardian