Paying cyber-ransoms should be outlawed, UK ex-security boss says

Martin wants to make it illegal for companies to pay hackers when hit by ransomware. — 123rf.com

Ciaran Martin, who stepped down as head of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre this month, will call on Boris Johnson’s government to make it illegal for companies to pay cyber hackers a ransom.

“If I had one policy card to play in the next year, I would ask for a serious examination of whether we should change the law to make it illegal for organisations in the UK to pay ransoms in the case of ransomware,” Martin will tell the Royal United Services Institute on Sept 18.