Ciara Martin, who proposes the law, believes that ransomware attacks “will get out of control.” A legal barrier could prevent insurers from inadvertently paying criminals.
Payment of ransoms in bitcoin (BTC) to cybercriminals could bring a ban due to the UK. It is a proposal by Ciaran Martin, a former official of the National Cyber Security Center of Great Britain. Martin has advocated promoting a new law that prevents insurance companies from covering ransomware attacks in their policies.
Martin warned The Guardian newspaper that insurers “would be inadvertently financing organized crime.” In recent years, these companies have been paying their clients’ claims who have been victims of ransomware viruses, a type of attack that cyber hackers gain access and control of computers and systems through complex encryption of files.
Criminals that adopted those systems usually beg for ransoms in bitcoin to free the violated networks, a request that companies can’t evade nor deny but accept.
For Ciaran Martin, nobody should avoid this problem. She says that people pay with bitcoin to criminals and at the same time demanding cash. In his view, this practice only exposes citizens to the possibility that ransomware “gets out of control” and affects even more business sectors.
In this sense, Martin considers that a legal barrier would serve to protect the business sector so that companies do not claim reimbursement to insurance for these bailouts. A practice like these only benefits criminals. There is already a precedent in the UK with the “Extortion Laws of Great Britain,” which provide a ban on ransom payment to terrorists, even when it comes to kidnappings.
The former official points out that there must be a change of the insurance law and warned that it might be necessary to forbid any of these payments. He also explained that his proposal would need more consultation. The industry needs to discuss the implications of this practice. Users and other organisms that make life in the bitcoin-environment should see this as something avoidable.
United States (OFAC) has also determined that the payment of ransomware ransoms could receive punishment according to law. The institution believes that these payments encourage criminals to commit even more attacks. Every civilian will suffer the possibility of a sanction if they fail to comply with the measure.
The Healthcare System is a Target for Ransomware
The possibility that ransomware cases could spiral out of control due to the proliferation of ransom payments worries Ciaran Martin. Martin fears that they could affect the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) system amid the pandemic. The institution suffered a scathing attack in 2017 with a WannaCry virus.
The (FBI) warned last year that cybercriminals were again attacking hospitals and medical institutions in the middle of the quarantine. Due to this sector’s vulnerability and its importance due to the coronavirus outbreak, health organizations have become an easy target to intervene in their systems and request ransom payment.
By: Jenson Nuñez
