How will banning the payment of ransomware effect most companies affected by cyber attacks?

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How will banning the payment of ransomware effect most companies affected by cyber attacks? The Department of Treasury issued guidance in 2020 on making ransomware payment to threat actors who are sanctioned persons or in comprehensively sanctioned jurisdictions risk violating OFAC regulations and related laws. Updated in 2021 (https://lnkd.in/e-vgq_qQ)

Now breaches in OFAC do not come cheap, they come with both financial penalties and jail time of up to 30 years. So they should not be taken lightly. This begs the question of all the ransomware attacks that result in the payment of a ransom. How many of the threat actors were on an OFAC list, I’m guessing many of the obvious jurisdictions would be covered. How many prosecutions has the Department of Tressure made for the payment of ransom, resulting from a cyber attack by a person, group or jurisdiction on an OFAC list?

Now one can agree that any proposed ban on paying ransomware would cover all threat actors and all denominated payments, not just U.S dollar. But would it be easier to start by enforcing existing regulations than take the hammer to the proverbial nut? It would only take a few case to send a clear message about paying ransomware, along with support to those companies affected to bring the oil taker than is cyber compliance around.

Ted Dziekanowski Rachel V. Rose, JD, MBA Stephen Pitt-Walker, JD, FGIA

#cybersecurity #cyberattack #cyberregulation #cyberrisk #ofac #ransomware

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