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:
- Mobile Rotexy Malware Touts Ransomware, Banking Trojan Functions
November 26, 2018
A mobile malware has accelerated its activity in 2018, launching more than 70k attacks in August through October. Mobile malware, dubbed Rotexy, has evolved from being spyware to now a dangerous banking trojan packing a host of new clever features. Researchers report 70,000 attacks between August and October with targets primarily based in Russia. In a technical brief released ...
- Ukrainian police arrest hacker who infected over 2,000 users with DarkComet RAT
November 23, 2018
Ukrainian police have arrested a 42-old-man on charges of infecting over 2,000 users across 50 countries with the DarkComet remote access trojan (RAT). The man was arrested this week after police executed a search warrant at his residence in the city of Lviv, in Western Ukraine. In a press release published today, Ukrainian police said they found ...
- L0rdix becomes the new Swiss Army knife of Windows hacking
November 21, 2018
A new hacking tool making the rounds in underground forums has been deemed the latest “go-to” universal offering for attackers targeting Microsoft Windows PCs. The software is called L0rdix and according to cybersecurity researchers from enSilo is “aimed at infecting Windows-based machines, combines stealing and cryptocurrency mining methods, can avoid malware analysis tools.” In a blog ...
- Emotet Returns with Thanksgiving Theme and Better Phishing Tricks
November 20, 2018
After a short break, Emotet malware has been observed concealed in documents delivered through emails that pretended to be from financial institutions or disguised as Thanksgiving-themed greetings for employees. In early October, Emotet activity dropped off the radar, only to come back towards the end of the month with a new plugin that exfiltrates email subjects and 16KB ...
- True Identity of Notorious Hacker tessa88 Revealed
November 20, 2018
In early 2016, a previously unknown hacker operating under the alias of tessa88 publicly emerged after offering an extensive list of compromised, high-profile databases for sale. The hacker offered for sale the databases of companies such as VKontakte, Mobango, Myspace, Badoo, QIP, Dropbox, Rambler, LinkedIn, and Twitter, among others. Within several months of incredibly active ...
- Hacking group returns, switches attacks from ransomware to trojan malware
November 16, 2018
A prolific hacking group has returned with a new campaign which looks to deliver a new remote access trojan (RAT) to victims in order to create a backdoor into PCs to steal credentials and banking information. The campaign is suspected to be the work of TA505, a well-resourced hacking group which has been active since at least 2014. ...