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:
- Ursnif Banking Trojan Spreading In Japan
October 26, 2017
Attackers behind the pervasive banking Trojan Ursnif have made Japan one of their top targets, delivering the malware via spam campaigns that began last month. For years, Ursnif (or Gozi) has targeted Japan along with North America, Europe and Australia. But according to a recent IBM X-Force analysis of the malware, hackers have stepped up Ursnif ...
- Bermuda cyber hack: Offshore law firm data hack leaves super-rich bracing for financial details to be released
October 25, 2017
A leading offshore law firm with clients including the super-rich and international corporations has revealed it suffered a “data security incident” that may result in customers’ private information being leaked. Bermuda-based Appleby, which has offices in a number of British overseas territories, said some of its data had been “compromised” in the 2016 cyber incident. The firm ...
- Millions of Networks Compromised by New Reaper Botnet
October 24, 2017
A new and growing botnet called Reaper or Troop (detected by Trend Micro as ELF_IOTREAPER.A) has been found currently affecting more than one million organizations. According to the security researchers from Check Point and Qihoo 360 Netlab, the botnet they discovered is more sophisticated and potentially more damaging than Mirai. Reaper actually uses some of the code from ...
- Bad Rabbit: New Ransomware Attack Rapidly Spreading Across Europe
October 24, 2017
A new widespread ransomware attack is spreading like wildfire around Europe and has already affected over 200 major organisations, primarily in Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and Germany, in the past few hours. Dubbed “Bad Rabbit,” is reportedly a new Petya-like targeted ransomware attack against corporate networks, demanding 0.05 bitcoin (~ $285) as ransom from victims to unlock ...
- Dark web vendors are selling remote access to corporate PCs for as little as $3
October 24, 2017
Dark Web marketplaces are selling remote access to desktop PCs for as little as $3, allowing criminals to spy on firms without resorting to malware. The sale of remote access credentials is allowing attackers to steal data from organisations in healthcare, education, government, retail, and other sectors. In Window PCs, Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) allows individuals ...
- Latest Sofacy Campaign Targeting Security Researchers
October 23, 2017
Sofacy, the Russian-speaking APT group connected to interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, has been targeting researchers, admins and others interested in cybersecurity. Cisco’s security research arm Talos published a report on Sunday describing a campaign linked to Sofacy, also known as Fancy Bear and APT 28 among other names, using a decoy document related to the CyCon ...