As cyber security national policy shifts, what do leaders need to know?
- sarah5977
- Sep 22
- 2 min read
The UK is set to ban public sector organisations from paying ransomware demands, aiming to reduce incentives for cybercriminals.
What does this mean for all of us? Tony Daly gives his thoughts on how this will impact across industries and organisations;
The “so what” of the UK Gov banning public sector organisations from paying ransomware demands will have a profound impact and we can break it down into the following areas.
Organisational risk calculus – senior leadership will no longer be able to treat ransom payments as a last-resort option to recover data / resume operations. Instead, they will be forced to invest in proactive resilience – tested backups, network segmentation, cyber-insurance that focuses on recovery rather than payout, and ensuring that Incident Response plans are fully tested and mature.
Disruption of the criminal business model – the ransomware industry is a lucrative one because organisations pay out. Making it illegal to pay will result in several courses of action – criminals may shift to more lucrative markets where payment is not illegal or a pivot to double extortion where the data is stolen and leaked. This in turn raises significant reputational, regulatory, and legal consequences even if payments are not made.
Repositioning of accountability – senior leaders (especially in regulated sectors) must demonstrate due diligence under the likes of NIS2, GDPR and sector-specific rules. Regulators will be closely monitoring to ensure that there is a clear record of preventative controls, detection capability, and rapid breach reporting rather than negotiating with criminals.
Geopolitical implications – the UK’s Cyber Security Strategy 2022 – 2030 aims to make the UK the safest place to live and work online. By making the UK a hard target through the UK policy on ransomware payments in the public sector, there is the potential that a divergence in international policy could complicate multi-national operations. If the policy were to spread to private sector organisations too, how do you deal with UK companies with overseas subsidiaries (where ransomware payments would still remain legal) for example?
The insurance market will tighten – coverage that previously reimbursed ransomware payments will be rendered obsolete and policies will shift towards covering business interruption, forensic investigations, crisis communications, and regulatory fines.
In summary, paying criminals will no longer be an option for UK public sector organisations – resilience, preparation, and leadership accountability will be the only defensible strategy.
Don't just train your team – give them the power to excel.
Don't let strict regulations and evolving cyber threats hold you back.
Equip your team with the specialised consultancy and training with Seiber.
Comments