UK to ban ransomware payments by public sector organizations

The UK government is proposing to "ban" public sector organizations and critical national infrastructure from paying criminal operators behind ransomware attacks, under new measures outlined today.

This means the NHS, local councils and schools – all of which have been in the crosshairs of various miscreants in recent years – will no longer be able to negotiate with the scumbags that lock up their systems and extort them. Almost three quarters of respondents to a government consultation backed this, we're told.

The idea is to make the public sector and CNI (which includes utilities and datacenters these days) less attractive targets for financially motivated attackers. The exact timeframe for implementing the proposals was not confirmed today.

"Ransomware is a predatory crime that puts the public at risk, wrecks livelihoods and threatens the services we depend on," said Security Minister Dan Jarvis in a statement. "That's why we're determined to ...