"Paying Ransom is Now Illegal! U.S. Dept of Treasury Warns"

The U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has issued an advisory highlighting potential sanctions risks associated with paying a ransom to cybercriminals. According to the official advisory, companies such as financial institutions, cyber insurance firms, digital forensics companies, and organizations involved in incident response that facilitate ransomware payments to cybercriminals on behalf of victims, encourage future ransomware payment demands and risk violating OFAC regulations. The agency also brought further attention to the increased sophistication and cost of ransomware attacks between 2018 and 2019, as well as the targeting of small- and medium-sized businesses in addition to large corporations. This article continues to discuss OFAC's advisory on potential sanctions risks for facilitating ransomware payments and other reports on the rise in the average ransomware demand from 2019 through 2020. 

CISO MAG reports "Paying Ransom is Now Illegal! U.S. Dept of Treasury Warns"