Top law firm warns banning cyber ransom payments will backfire

The federal government’s proposal to ban cyber ransom payments will expose Australian businesses to even more cyber extortion than they already face, and could put a target on the back of those organisations that might be exempt from such a ban, the head of cyber at one of Australia’s largest law firms warns.

She warned that making it a crime to pay ransoms would come at a social cost so unbearable it would ultimately “backfire” on the government., so Australia would no longer be viewed as a soft target for cyber criminals.because they would mean that companies with no choice but to pay ransoms would then be exposed to re-extortion by the criminal gangs, which could threaten to make the ransom payment public.

There was a good argument to be made that “unless we put a line in the sand” by banning such payments, “we are not going to break the backs of these criminal regimes”, Mr Hopkins said.“Sometimes there is a morally right reason to make a payment, and that moral reason might be that if you make the payment, you are absolutely minimising the harm that many, many, many other people will suffer,” he said.“I know of businesses that would now be insolvent if paying ransoms had been banned in the past.

Right thing to do or thing that mitigates the most risk? 🤔

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