In 2021, North Carolina became the first state to prohibit public ransomware payments, even going so far as to ban negotiations with cyber criminals. It was a groundbreaking move. Florida followed suit in 2022, but its legislation took a less stringent approach, covering a narrower range of entities and omitting some of the stricter provisions found in North Carolina’s law.
North Carolina and Florida’s bans are the only ones that exist at the state level, but they have ignited a nationwide conversation about the best way to combat this pervasive cyber threat. Years later, experts still haven’t come to a unified conclusion about whether it’s the right approach. The heart of the matter lies in a moral and fiscal dilemma: Should governments refuse to fund criminal enterprises, even when the alternative could mean crippling disruptions to essential services like hospitals, schools and public safety?
Read more…
Source: Government Technology
Related:
- Arkanix Stealer: C++ and Python infostealer
February 19, 2026
In October 2025, Kaspersky researchers discovered a series of forum posts advertising a previously unknown stealer, dubbed “Arkanix Stealer” by its authors. It operated under a MaaS (malware-as-a-service) model, providing users not only with the implant but also with access to a control panel featuring configurable payloads and statistics. The set of implants included a publicly ...
- Chinese hack exposes data of 5,000 Italian counterterrorism officers
February 18, 2026
Personal data of roughly 5,000 Italian Digos officers — including names, roles and postings — was reportedly obtained by hackers linked to China after a cyber intrusion into the Interior Ministry’s network between 2024 and 2025. The breach potentially exposes officers involved in counterterrorism and monitoring Chinese dissidents, raising serious national security concerns and complicating Italy’s ...
- Data breach at fintech giant Figure affects close to a million customers
February 18, 2026
The data breach that hit blockchain-based lending giant Figure affected nearly a million customers, according to a security researcher. Last week, Figure confirmed a data breach allowed hackers to steal “a limited number of files” from its systems. The company did not provide specifics on what kind of data was stolen nor say how many customers ...
- Divide and conquer: how the new Keenadu backdoor exposed links between major Android botnets
February 17, 2026
In April 2025, Kaspersky reported on a then-new iteration of the Triada backdoor that had compromised the firmware of counterfeit Android devices sold across major marketplaces. The malware was deployed to the system partitions and hooked into Zygote – the parent process for all Android apps – to infect any app on the device. This allowed ...
- China remains embedded in US energy networks ‘for the purpose of taking it down’
February 17, 2026
Three new threat groups began targeting critical infrastructure last year, while a well-known Beijing-backed crew – Volt Typhoon – continued to compromise cellular gateways and routers, and then break into US electric, oil, and gas companies in 2025, according to Dragos’ annual threat report published on Tuesday. Dragos specializes in operational technology (OT) security, and as ...
- OpenClaw AI agents targeted by infostealer malware for the first time
February 17, 2026
Thanks to its overnight success and widespread adoption, OpenClaw has painted a large target on its back and is now being attacked by infostealers, after security researchers Hudson Rock claimed to have seen a first-of-its-kind attack in the wild. OpenClaw (previously known as Clawdbot and Moltbot) is an open source AI assistant software designed to actually ...